Asking the Right Question

Transcript

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[0:00] text. Job, in essence, is asking God, why is this happening to me? You've got a list of all the things that happened to Job, and they were terrible, of course. And God responds in a way that doesn't really answer Job's question. This is the thing about God that sometimes happens. So that's where I want you to be thinking as we're reading this, as you hear this read. First, ask yourself, why does God not answer the question directly? Why doesn't he answer directly? Why does he answer indirectly? He answers it, but kind of in a roundabout way, or in a different way than is expected. So why does God do that? That's the first question. Second is, what is the answer that God gives? Listen for what the answer is. It's a long answer. There's a lot to it. So what is the answer? And three is, what God is answering, is that bad news or good news? So ask yourself that. Is this bad news or good news that God is answering with? So those are some questions I'd like you to keep in mind as we read. Let's go to our next question. Our reading is Job 38, 1 through 21. Chapter 38, verse 1. Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.

[1:21] Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations? And who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

[1:43] Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb? And as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness? For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, this far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop.

[2:05] Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and cause the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth to bring an end to the night's wickedness? As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal. It is robed in brilliant colors. The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence.

[2:32] Have you explored the springs from which the sun rises? Have you watched the seas come? Have you explored their depths? Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom? Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know.

[2:52] Where does light come from? And where does darkness go? Can you take each to its home? Do you know how to get there? But of course you know all this. For you were born before it was all known. All created and you are so very experienced.

[3:10] Well let's pray. Father, thank you for this word. And we ask that you would add your blessing to it. In Jesus name. Amen. Quick note. Did you sense any sarcasm there at the end? What does that tell you that God can be sarcastic? So then you can be sarcastic. It's okay. I don't know. Don't. Only God can be, right? But God is sarcastic. There's something going on here. So let's go back to our question. Why does God not answer this question directly? And I'm going to give a little background on that. This isn't new. In the Bible, and we see it in the New Testament, sometimes there's a very direct question, like why is this happening? And there's not a straight answer. Not a direct answer. So when Jesus is asked questions, sometimes he gives a straight answer. Sometimes he tells a parable. Right? Sometimes there's not misdirection, but there's a direct answer. And it's like, I'm going to tell you a story instead. You want an answer? I'm going to tell you a story. Because you need to think about this. You need to work this through yourself.

[4:14] David and his men sought guidance from the Lord with something called the Urim and the Thummim, which was like a primitive divining device. And sometimes God would answer them, and sometimes God wouldn't answer them. And, you know, it's not like this super reliable vending machine, where you can put, you know, a question in, and you're going to get a straight answer out. That's not how God works. God is not a machine. God is not an automaton. God is, as we see from God's answer, he's far more than that. But the question is really a good one. Why am I suffering? Job is suffering. This is before he gets everything back double. He's lost everything. There's more to the story, too. He's covered in boils. His friends show up. They're kind of idiots. You know, he's got a lot of problems, right?

[5:05] But the question is, why am I suffering? And as far as Job could tell, it's not just that he was suffering, it's that in his own understanding of how the world worked, he hadn't done enough wrong things to warrant all the bad things that had happened to him. In his mind, there's like, if I'm righteous, I'll be blessed.

[5:27] These bad things will happen. And he keeps going back to, well, what did I do wrong that all this bad stuff happened? Because I thought we were on a good track here, right? And so he, in essence, Job has called God into the courtroom. There's a lot going on with courts recently, right? A lot of law cases. Very interesting, right?

[5:49] Basically, Job wants to cross. He wants to put God in the dock. He wants to put God in the witness stand or the defendant table. And he wants to put God in the witness stand and he wants to cross-examine God as a witness and say, why is this happening? You need to explain. So this is Job saying to God, you need to explain yourself. You need to explain yourself.

[6:13] So what is God's answer? So that's why, why does God not answer directly is basically tied up in the answer that God gives. And here's why. God's answer is, where were you when the earth was created? So God's, in fact, God's answer is just a set of questions. Isn't that funny? You're going to ask me questions, I'm going to answer your questions with questions. But the questions are an answer. The questions are actually an answer because they're, in a way, they're rhetorical questions. Where were you when the earth was created?

[6:46] That's a rhetorical question. We all know the answer. Job wasn't there. Job didn't exist yet. God was there. So God is in essence saying in a roundabout way, I was there at the foundation of the universe. You were not.

[7:00] So thus I understand a lot of things that you don't understand. And that's where this is going a lot. But the other thing he's in essence saying to Job is, are you my equal that you would think that you could understand these great things about the universe and of the world? Are you my equal? And you want to keep it in the idea of a court of law. And a lot of, actually a lot of the Old Testament, especially when it's talking about God, there is sort of a juridical sense to it. Like there's a law court and God is answering a law court. People bring God to court almost in one ways. But in one way God is saying, we need a change of venue. You know what a change of venue is? Like, I'm not going to get a fair trial in this courtroom because I'm not going to find a jury of my peers here. We need to, the jury pool has been contaminated by all the media or something like that, right? That's not what God is saying. He says, God says, we need a change of venue because I'm not going to be tried in your court because I don't belong in your court. I created the court. You can't judge the creator of the court in this court, right? You can't put me in it. So there's some ways that God can't answer Job's questions because Job has no standing,

[8:10] he has no legal standing to ask these questions. You are not on the same level as God, so you can't ask God to communicate back to you as an equal. This is what Job is missing, right? But, the question does come up so often. Why do bad things happen?

[8:28] And I'm going to tell you exactly why. That's the point. We don't have answers to this. Okay? Now there are some answers, right? Why do bad things happen? Sometimes you say, why do bad things happen to good people? I don't like it when it's phrased that way because I don't really think there are any good people, if I read my Bible right. Why do bad things happen to people? Why do bad things happen? Why do good things happen to bad people? That's a more interesting question. That's a different question. Why do bad things happen? Let's leave it like that. And I think, I think you'll understand this, a fair amount of it can be answered if the bad thing is because of the action of another person. Right? That's, and God's not responsible for that. We can't call God into the dock for that. Right? I was robbed because another person is a thief. That's it. Right? So if there's something that happens to me that's the result of another person's action, God's not responsible for it. That other person absolutely is, if they have free will, if they did what they did. Right? And God lets them be a thief. This is the thing about God, right? The justice for that theft will come later. He won't intervene in the theft as it's happened.

[9:36] I've actually had things stolen from me. And I actually saw it happening. I was like, what's that person doing in my car? Looking around in my glove box. And then when I got there, it was gone. The stuff in my glove box was gone. And they were gone. And I saw it in real life. I did not blame God for that one bit. I just, I blamed myself for not locking my door. You know? And you know what else I blamed myself for? Putting something valuable in the glove box. That's where everybody looks. You know? Put it somewhere else. Put it under the seat. That's the second place they look. Put it somewhere else. Put it in the first aid kit. I don't know. Now you're going to go looking there in my car. Okay. So, God lets them be a thief. The justice for that theft that occurred to me will come later. And he didn't stop it. And I kind of didn't expect him to.

[10:34] George, that's the very next point in my sermon. Thank you for asking that. That's good. So, there are this is exactly what it says right here. George, you're so smart. There are the other questions. Bad things that happen that aren't somebody else's doing. Right? So, earthquakes and natural disasters.

[10:55] Did you know that insurance companies call these acts of God? I don't like that. I don't like that. That's what the insurance business they've got it wrong. They're not, I mean, God created the earth, so I guess earthquakes kind of are a follow on. But I don't think God made the earthquake really. Right? So, I don't like that they're called acts of God. There's things like that. There's cancer and other conditions that seem to come not from other people or even the environment, but they just happen. You can make a whole list of things like autoimmune diseases. There's a whole host of those. Right? Why does that happen? To the good and the bad. Right? The rain falls on the good and the bad alike. And guess what? Nobody has a good answer for it. I'm not going to give you a good answer for it. I'm not going to give you a direct answer for it. And God won't give you a direct answer for it. Right? The people who say they have the answer all have bad answers. If somebody has a direct answer to this, they have a bad answer to it. Right? God's answer is that he is beyond us in so many ways that we can't comprehend the answer. And that's not a super satisfying answer, but it's actually more satisfying than a direct answer. Right?

[12:09] God, instead of challenging the concept of suffering itself, there's this rich Christian doctrine of living with and in suffering and letting it shape us and driving us to God in absolute need. So not that suffering is good. Not at all. But some good can come from suffering if it drives us towards God, if it drives us to God in absolute need. Right? So that's the only that's the only positive thing that really can come from that suffering, is an awareness of our need for God. But God doesn't do that so that we'll know that we need him. That's just a side effect of it, I think. And that side effect is a choice. It doesn't happen for everybody. Not everybody chooses to go in that direction when they're suffering.

[12:59] You know, I think God would have preferred Job to have said, I don't know why this is happening to me, but I trust in your faithfulness, O God, and I abandon myself and my sense of justice to you. I'm not going to stand on what I think my rights are. I'm just going to put this all into your hands.

[13:17] So God's answer in the end is that this is beyond us and you and me for now. And that's not easy to take. That's not super satisfying. But isn't it true? Isn't it true? God is beyond us. There must be things that God understands that we can't understand. It seems like this is one of those things that he understands and we don't understand, but in some day I think, I hope we will. Think about what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. You notice the passage about love. But he says, now we see in a glass darkly or dimly. He's talking about a mirror. Mirrors weren't that good back then. He says, but then we shall see face to face. Now we know in part, but then we shall know in full, even as we are fully known. So there's this hope that in the life after this life, our ability to understand the things of God will increase. And our ability to perceive the things of God will increase. So that we might actually have answers to these questions when we're in the presence of God. But until then, we just don't know why they happen, right?

[14:32] I think it's bad news if we think we can demand that God answer all of our questions in a way that we will understand or that will satisfy us. If we think we can do that, then God's not going to ask for a change of venue. He's going to say, I don't belong in this court.

[14:47] And I think that if God did answer directly, it wouldn't satisfy Job. And it wouldn't satisfy us. For example, if he said, well, you're suffering so that my glory would be revealed, right? Then we would say, well, that's terrible. You've got to find some other way to reveal your glory than in my suffering. I don't really want that, God. So there's really no direct answer for it that would actually satisfy us. So, the question though, the third question is, is this bad news? That God answers in this way? Or is it good news? Right?

[15:20] Um, I think it's bad news if we think we can demand that God answers all of our questions. It's bad news if we think like Job. But it's good news in another way. And I want you to look back at verse 11, and maybe you could bring up verse 11 on that alternate screen there, Steve.

[15:40] And I think this is a key. Um, this is what it says in verse 11. I said to the sea this far and no farther you will come. Doesn't that remind you a little bit of the gospel text from Mark where Jesus tells the waves to stop? This is, God has this power over the water, right? Here your proud waves must stop. There it is, right there. Good. Okay. You can set it aside now, Steve. Thanks. Um, and eventually, you know what, I've kind of teased this a bit. Eventually we're going to have a sermon about chaos. The concept of chaos. Because chaos is this opposition to God, this because it keeps coming up. And so, someday soon, I'll tell you in advance if you're excited about it, or you can skip it if you think it's terrible, you know, there should be a sermon about chaos. Because it's kind of an important topic within Christianity and in the scriptures. But the ocean and chaos are often linked ideas in the Old Testament. Right? And if you've been to the ocean, you know what I'm talking about. It's a bit chaotic. You watch the waves come in, it's very dynamic. And the waves move things around, they move the sand around. If you're on a ship in rough waters, it's chaotic. You might even feel like in the next minute the ship is going to fall apart. Right?

[16:55] Because the water does what it wants. It moves in all sorts of random directions. It's destructive. Right? So this is the chaos. So God says to the chaos, He says, this far you will come, the sea, this far you will come and no farther, the shoreline I've established it. I'm keeping this barrier between life that I love and protect and the chaos that surrounds it, the ocean. Right? This is the good news. This is what God is saying. It's not just that I'm so much smarter than you, I'm so much better than you. You can never understand this. The other half of God's answer is, I care for you. I'm protecting you. You may feel like you're suffering, you may feel like you're sort of rudderless right now, but you're safe in my arms. You can't understand all of it right now, but I am with you. Okay? And I'm going to protect you. Um, so, if, if chaos is opposed to God, then God contains chaos. He keeps it at bay. He balances the forces of the universe. He holds things together so that they don't fall apart. He holds the ship in his hands, right? Now, this is, you know, I'm glad Stan is here. God bless that Stan came to see this, this for Caitlin. And so good to see you guys, both of you, Stan and Marian. Uh, I think God holds each atomic nucleus together.

[18:19] Do you know about atomic nuclei? Protons and neutrons. They're stuck together in this tight ball, right? Um, they're packed tightly together. I think God keeps those packed together. I think he keeps the electrons in orbit around the nuclei. He manages the attractive and the repellent forces between atoms and other sorts of matter, like gravity and the strong atomic force, the weak atomic force, all the other forces, right? Um, all of that together, now think about this on a sort of a very micro level. If all these things weren't held together, life would not be possible. Do you get that? Right? If our, if all the atoms in the universe just flew apart, right? If the protons didn't stay together with the neutrons and etc., everything would fly apart. The planets wouldn't form without gravity, for example. The stars wouldn't form. We wouldn't have the light of the sun and life would not be possible, right? So everything that God does, managing the earth, sustaining it every second, makes life possible, allows us to flourish and thrive. It's an ordering of the world that chaos is always trying to destroy. So chaos is always trying to destroy what God makes, but God holds things together. God doesn't let chaos prevail. So, here's what I think is

[19:43] a better question, okay, that maybe Job could have asked if he knew a little bit of physics, but not, you know. But even so, a better question to ask God is, why God do you keep the atoms in my body together?

[20:00] Nanosecond after nanosecond. Why do you keep the sun shining day after day? Why do you create and sustain gravity without which stars and planets cannot form and hold together? Why God, why? Why do you order the universe this way so that I can even ask you this question? That's the question I want to ask you. Ask God, why are you doing this? Why are you making this possible? Why are you sustaining the world and keeping chaos at bay?

[20:25] And that I think God could give a direct answer to. Do you get that? God can answer that question directly and he would gladly answer it. And I think this is what God would say. He would say this, and the reason he would give a direct answer to this is because we're finally starting to ask the right question. And we're beginning to ask it in the right way. Not from a place of arrogance, deciding that we're equals to God, where we can accuse God, but from a place of absolute dependence of God, claiming that God is the source and creator of all life and the sustainer of it all. So the attitude of this question is completely different, and then God could actually give an answer to that.

[21:05] God's answer to that question is, I do this because I love you. I've always loved you. I will always love you. I would create the whole universe just for you. I will make you to exist and to ask me that question. And I will keep protecting you from as much as I choose to, but I won't protect you from everything, and I won't protect you from death, and I can't explain all of that to you in a way that you would understand right now, but even in suffering and even in death, you are mine. And I will call to you from beyond time and raise you again.

[21:41] That's how God, I think, would answer that question. Why are you holding things together? Why are you doing this for me? Because I love you, God says. This is what Job says, and I'll end with this in chapter 19. Even in the book of Job, this is what Job says, even in the midst of his unknowing and un-understanding of what God is up to. Chapter 19, verse 25. I'll just read the three verses and we'll be done. This is what Job says, he says, But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last, and after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God. I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought. Let's pray.

[22:31] Father, we we come to you often with this question. Why do we suffer? And so, Father, we ask you now also, why do you love us so much? And thank you that you love us so much. And Father, we pray that you sustain us in our suffering, that you drive us to you and to your Son. And we thank you for everything that you've made in this world, including ourselves.