Gaining What’s Most Important

Gaining What’s Most Important

(Job 42:1-17)

Yearly Theme:  “Peace is…”

Series Title:  “Peace Lost”

May 30^th, 2021

Something to think about:

One thing that seems to set men and women of God apart from everyone else is their response to trials. In the book of Job we see him face almost unfathomable pain and trauma. We see him lose his family to death and abandonment, we see him lose his business, we see him lose his home, we see him lose every support system, and finally he is attacked by his friends and given bad advice.

Further along in the Bible, David is called a man after God’s own heart. Many theologians argue that the thing that set David apart was his willingness to admit his sin and repent of it.  In a similar way, Job shows he shares God’s heart when he chooses to respond to all that has happened to him in a way that shows his humility towards God. Let us take a look at how Job responds to God after all this tragedy.

42 Then Job replied to the Lord:

² “I know that you can do anything,
    and no one can stop you.
³ You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’
    It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about,
    things far too wonderful for me.
⁴ You said, ‘Listen and I will speak!
    I have some questions for you,
    and you must answer them.’
⁵ I had only heard about you before,
    but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
⁶ I take back everything I said,
    and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”

⁷ After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has. ⁸ So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.” ⁹ So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

¹⁰ When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! ¹¹ Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money^[a] and a gold ring.

¹² So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. ¹³ He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. ¹⁴ He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵ In all the land no women were as lovely as the daughters of Job. And their father put them into his will along with their brothers.

¹⁶ Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. ¹⁷ Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life.

So, what can we learn from the story of Job?

Key Point:  “Trusting the Wisdom of God requires humility which brings peace to the soul.”

The Bible tells us that fearing God is the beginning of wisdom. This sounds nice on paper but what does it actually mean? To have peace we need wisdom, and wisdom can only be found in God. We see this in Job 28:23 which says, “God alone understands the way to wisdom; He knows where it can be found…”. The whole book of Job is about him looking for wisdom and peace, realizing that true wisdom is trusting God’s plan because God is wisdom, and that trusting God brings peace.

Let’s talk about the lesson that Job learned and the steps we can take to learn the same lesson.

• We must know our  in relation to  .

Job 42:3  (NLT), You asked, ‘who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I – and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.

• Everything  to God.

Job 1:20-21 (NLT), ²⁰ Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. ²¹ He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”

•  and  can coexist.

Job 42:6 (NLT), I take back everything I said and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.

• God is  and he is  .

Job 36: 22-31

   “Look, God is all-powerful.
    Who is a teacher like him?
²³ No one can tell him what to do,
    or say to him, ‘You have done wrong.’
²⁴ Instead, glorify his mighty works,
    singing songs of praise.
²⁵ Everyone has seen these things,
    though only from a distance.

²⁶ “Look, God is greater than we can understand.
    His years cannot be counted.
²⁷ He draws up the water vapor
    and then distills it into rain.
²⁸ The rain pours down from the clouds,
    and everyone benefits.
²⁹ Who can understand the spreading of the clouds
    and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven?
³⁰ See how he spreads the lightning around him
    and how it lights up the depths of the sea.
³¹ By these mighty acts he nourishes^[d] the people,

Something to take home:

It is hard for us to humble ourselves, hard to keep in perspective who God really is, and it is hard for us to trust in God. The Bible is clear that peace in this life is only achievable through trusting in God. Paul tells us to consider it pure joy when we face trials and tribulations, which he said while in prison awaiting death. I am sure there was fear, I am also sure there was pain involved in Paul’s situation just like Job’s. However, peace is also possible by acknowledging that a God who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and who loves us, has a plan and it is good.

Key Point:  “Trusting the Wisdom of God requires humility which brings peace to the soul.”