Ten years ago, in the span of one year, I lost a salary, discovered that my 4th child was disabled and lost my father to an accident. It was a brutal year.
It almost felt orchestrated. But a senseless orchestration, like the discordant avant-garde music of John Cage in the 1950’s.
There are seasons in life when the pain is acute and just keeps piling on. Have you experienced that? Are you prepared to handle that?
This morning we are going to continue our My Bible Year series in the book of Job. The story of Job is a story of suffering. It is a very raw and profound exploration of the human experience.
Victor Hugo wrote that Job is “perhaps the greatest masterpiece of the human mind.”
Tennyson called it the greatest poem ever produced. For thousands of years, countless souls have found fellowship and inspiration in the extraordinary account of Job, his suffering and his God.
Let’s read chapter 1.
The surprising feature of Job is that it gives no direct answer for the problem of suffering. Job never gets an answer for the “why?” of his pain.
For some, that’s what makes the book so beautiful. It meets us in the confusion and chaos of our lived experience.
God gives no answers, but there are some principles we can infer from the book.
This morning we’ll see that
- Suffering has value beyond our present experience.
- Suffering reveals the limitations in our theology.
- Suffering reveals the priorities in our worship.
- Suffering prepares us for a more direct experience of God.
- Suffering ties our story into the story of Jesus
Tom Brown is the planting pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Wichita. Tom and his wife, Mandy, have worked together in ministry for 18 years and have four children. More about Pastor Tom Brown