Farewell to a Church, Part 4:

Last Sunday was my final day with the church that I have been working at for the past year or so.  The pastor asked me to speak and I am now posting a slightly modified version of the manuscript here in bite sized chunks.

Part 4:  The Faith of Job

So it seems like God is saying to Job in essence- “You don’t get an answer to your confusion. You don’t have the right to question or challenge me.” And maybe it’s just our American love of freedom, but I feel like I’m not alone in saying that just doesn’t sit well. But before we throw Job out of our Bibles, we need to look at the next part of the conversation. God starts throwing another barrage of questions at Job, this time questions that probably should alarm us- God begins talking about some frightening monsters that he apparently keeps around.  I’ll leave that for you guys to read about on your own- but after this barrage Job answers in chapter 42:

Then Job answered the Lord: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

This, I think, contains the entire point of this lengthy book. Job says to God- “You are in control, I know that now, and so whatever comes to pass, I trust you to be doing what is ultimately best, even if I don’t understand how.” The conclusion of the book of Job is that in good and bad we can trust God whether or not he explains to us what he is doing because he is in control, there is none who can match his power. The God who made the world, the God to whom none can compare in power or splendor, that is the God to whom we pray when sorrows come, the God we can trust in any and every circumstance.