"Grab Bag: Feeling Like Job" Job 42: 1-6

This sermon grows out of a story I was told by a member about a person who was suffering daily, but when asked how she dealt with all the misery noted that her time was not spent being miserable because she had conversations with Jesus all day long.    In other words, her time of misery (as defined by others) did not seem miserable to her because of her faith and opportunity to grow in relationship with Jesus.

This, of course, is a question that comes to mind in a variety of ways for most of us.  Consider the following examples:

    1.  Sometimes I hear people say things to other people in the midst of crises that make me cringe.  For me, being told that "God needed a drama professor in heaven," (or something similar) for example, offered very little comfort in the face of my father's death.  I also am not sure I can or want to buy into that theology. But, I recognize the need people have to offer words of comfort and to find comfort in the face of challenging circumstances.

   2.  I have often heard people say, "I now know why God made me go through... (fill in the blank with whatever crisis they had dealt with in the past)."  Those comments make me wonder about what kind of God would intentionally cause a crisis in someone's life to teach them a lesson. But, I also want to affirm the God who is at work in the midst of crises leading us to new opportunities and understandings.

   3.  Of course, not too far away from these thoughts is the eternal question - "Uh, God, why did you let (fill in the blank) happen to me or my loved one?"

   4.  I can confirm that again and again I have seen people's faith strengthened in the face of crisis, which seems counter-intuitive to me.  Yet as one who proclaims the incarnation of God means that God finds us even in the midst of our crises, why should I be surprised?

I have been drawn to Job as I have reflected on this passage.  Job seems to touch on all feelings of helpless, desire for faithfulness, inability to grasp God full, and much more.  Interestingly, when I preached my first sermon before a congregation after starting seminary (I had preached once at the church I attended in college on a College Sunday), I chose Job as the text.  I tried to find a copy of the sermon in my files, but (probably mercifully) could not find it.  As I recall, I found great joy in proclaiming Job's discovery that since Job did not create the world like God did, Job was happily content to let God be God and Job be Job.  I must be less agreeable now because that answer does not seem to satisfy.  Or at least it only satisfies with lots of protest.

But I find Job's example instructive in lots of ways:

  1.  Job can only tell his story after the fact with its theological implications after the fact.  In the midst of his crisis, he can call out to God, he can shout and scream, he can grasp at what comforts him, but only later can he look back and see God in his midst.  I often note that we do our best theology in our rear-view mirror (which takes me back to the country western song "Texas in My Rear View Mirror," which I will not sing as part of the sermon!).

  2.  Job has friends that come by to support him -- they don't say the right things, but they are there for him.

   3.  The idea that Job's troubles are part of a game between God and the devil is a bit troubling.  Not sure the biblical writers got that right.

    4.  There is comfort in God's answer to Job (were you there when I created the world...); but that comfort can  only be heard after the anguish and anger have been expressed.

We also read Paul's letter to the Romans in which Paul notes that "all things work together for good." To me, that suggests that God is at work in all things working to redeem and heal us as we move through life; it does not mean that God has deemed the crisis confronting us as good.

Obviously, I have lots of work to do for this sermon!