Imagine sitting in a café with three teachers of wisdom and asking them what makes a good life, and the last of them, instead of answering, tells you about a man who did everything right and lost absolutely everything. That is how this reflection on the book of Job begins, holding together three truths that seem irreconcilable: God is good, goodness should be rewarded, and yet an innocent man suffers. The sermon shows that God never answers Job’s question why, but gives him something far greater instead. Listen if that same question will not leave you alone.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In the opening chapters of Job, the reader hears a conversation between God and Satan that Job and his friends never hear. How does knowing this change the way we read the whole book?
- Job's friends were convinced that God rewards good and punishes evil here and now, so Job must have sinned. Why did their reasoning sound logical, and where did they go wrong?
- Where do you encounter the thinking of Job's friends today, for example at the bedside of the sick, and how can it hurt people, as in the story of the writer's family mentioned in the sermon?
- God never answers Job's question why; instead He asks Job questions about the creation of the world. What did this face to face encounter give Job that a simple answer could not?
- At the end Job says: I had heard of you, but now I have seen you. How do hard experiences shape your knowledge of God and your trust in Him?
- What why question are you or someone close to you wrestling with right now, and how can you practically show trust this week in Jesus, who Himself knew hunger, pain and death?
