03/05/2020
Message for today, May 3, 2020
Title: Job’s trial
Text: Job 1:1-13
Intro: Trees snap or break suddenly, houses collapse, a hurricane or typhoon cuts and tears, and only solid foundations its uncontrollable fury. For any building, the foundation is critical or crucial. It must be deep enough and solid enough to withstands the weight of the building. Lives are like buildings, and the quality of each one’s foundation will determine the quality of the whole. Too often inferior materials are used or low quality, and when tests come, lives crumbles.
Job was tested. With a life filled with prestige (maayo ug dungog, verse 1), possessions and people, he was suddenly assaulted on every side, devastated (brought to a state of ruin or destruction-ruin means pagkalumpag, paggun-og, pagguba), stripped down to his foundation, sama ug gilangkatan, gitangkasan, gi uyog sa Guinoo ang iyang kinabuhi, but his life had been built on God, ang iyang kinabuhi napundar diha sa Guinoo.
The purpose of Book of Job: is to demonstrate God’s sovereignty and the meaning of true faith. It address the question, “Why the righteous suffer?”.
Job, faced trials and suffering to an extent rarely known by any person today.
I. The nature of his trial:
1. God permits Satan to destroy Job’s wealth (Job 1:14-17).
2. God permits Satan to destroy his family (1:18-19).
3. God permits Satan to destroy Job’s health (2:7)
4. God permits Satan to destroy Job’s wife spirituality ( Job 2:9-10)
5. Criticism of so called friends (Job 19:14).
II. How he handled his trials, did Job complain?
1. Job 1:20-22, Job did not hide his overwhelming grief. He had not lost his faith in God; instead, his emotions showed that he was human and the he loved his family. God created our emotions and it is not sinful to express them as Job did. If you experienced a deep loss, a disappointment, or a heartbreak, admit your feelings to yourself and others, and grieve. Job lost his possession and family in this first of Satan’s test, but he reacted rightly toward God by acknowledging God’s sovereign authority over everything God had given him. Satan lost this first round. Job passed the test and proved that people can love God for who He is, not for what He gives.
III. The result of his trial
1. God blesses Job more than before, God gave double of all that he lost (Job 42:10-17).
Here are six questions to ask ourselves when we suffer; and what to do if the answer is “yes”
1. Am I being punished by God for sin? Our response: confess known sin.
2. Is Satan attacking me as I try to survive as a Believer? Our response: call on God for strength.
3. Am I being prepared for a special service, learning to be compassionate to those who suffer? Our response: ask God to open up doors of opportunity and help you discover others who suffer as you do.
4. Am I specifically selected for testing, like Job? Our response: accept help from the body of believers. Trust God to work his purpose through you.
5. Is my suffering a result of natural consequences, for which I am not directly responsible? Our response: recognize that in a sinful world, both good an evil people will suffer. But the good person has a promise from God that his suffering will one day come to an end.
6. Is my suffering due to some unknown reason? Our response: don’t draw inward from the pain. Proclaim your faith in God, know that He cares, and wait patiently for His help.
God bless us all.
