Ultimately Job points us to Jesus, the truly innocent sufferer who focused his attention and his affection on the Father no matter how much He suffered unjustly! After all the loss, in the midst of all the grief Job is still choosing to worship God!
Job 1:20-22 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. ESV
I may be wounded but I’m still worshiping. In Job’s obedience and faithfulness to worship everything immediately got better. But it didn’t. Dig deep and keep on worshiping!
Job 2:7-8 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. ESV
Have you ever stood your ground in faithfulness and things got worse instead of better? You’re not alone! After all the loss of family, financial ruin, business devastation and now Job’s health is taking a hit. And it gets worse. Job’s wife adds insult to injury.
Job 2:9-10 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. ESV
GUARD YOUR CONFESSION! If you’re whining, you’re not worshiping. Your voice is a God-given resource that is misappropriated when you complain.
Joel 3:10 Let the weak say I am strong!
Stop rehearsing the storm! Water can't sink a boat unless it gets in the boat. Challenging situations in this fallen world cannot bring you down unless you rehearse them allowing them to get inside.
Job 2:11-13 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him...They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. ESV
In Jewish mourning traditions, a seven-day period called “shiva” (Hebrew for “sitting”) was common and is still practiced today. The silence is a form of honor and respect. Words are powerful and potentially dangerous, especially in times of deep grief. Saying the wrong thing could dishonor the pain. Silence acknowledged the depth of suffering better than casual words ever could.
You paid a great price for your pain. Don’t waste it! Your struggles should not be in vain. Let your pain drive you deeper into the purposes of Christ.
I observed this as a couple experienced a miscarriage and focused together in prayer on how God must have felt in the sacrifice of his son. It’s the woman who experienced relational betrayal. She focused the hurt into a place of greater understanding of how God has felt considering the times when she had walked away from His love.
You can rehearse the hurt or you can rehearse the healing.
It’s the person who lost a family member and showed up for church the very next day. The Pastor was surprised to hear, "I know I look a mess, but I couldn't stay away. My pain is too great to just waste. I came here to give it to God, because I knew he was the only one who could do something beautiful with it."
Worship has a supernaturally transforming impact on every level of our existence! This is the atmosphere for which we were designed! A group of scientists in Texas have developed Genesis Park, where they study the results of recreating an atmosphere that resembles the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 1:6-8 Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." God made the expanse and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 God called the expanse heaven…
This expanse in the midst of the waters suggests waters above and waters below. This describes a very different atmosphere to what we experience today, as a result of the flood. You might notice it was after the flood that humans stopped living hundreds of years.
The scientific theory is that the earth was like a hyperbaric chamber in its early stages with three times the pressure and three times the oxygen. Hyperbaric refers to an environment or condition with higher-than-normal pressure, often used in medical treatments like hyperbaric oxygen therapy because the atmosphere is so enriching.
Scientists created a resembling environment, and a tomato plant grew over 30 ft high producing more than 13,000 ripe tomatoes in six months. You can read more about this here:
https://genesispark.com/exhibits/the-early-earth/atmosphere-experiments/
GP2RL: Purpose to spend some time in a personal place of worship with God this week surrendering every wound to him.
