life isn't fair

Job 1:1, 2: 1-10

The book of Job starts out as many of our modern day fairy tales- There once was a man from Nantucket or Once upon a time….  Job is a story that contains a lot of truth about who God, even if it is not a historical book.  It teaches morals and values, and gives us a window into a world full of suffering.  This book is an attempt to explain something that is very difficult to understand- Why is there suffering in this world?  Why do bad things happen to good people? 

Our scripture today picks up in Chapter 2- Job is a righteous man who is blameless in God’s sight.  He is wealthy with animals, servants, a big family and prestige.  All of a sudden that comes to an end.  Several events happen where his servants, animals and children all die.  If that isn’t bad enough Job gets sick.  His body is covered in lesions and a wife who is none too happy that she is suffering too and blames God for this catastrophe on her life and thinks- We’d be better off dead!

Later on in the story we read of Job’s friends who decide Job must have done something to deserve this punishment from God.  We often feel this way.  If something bad happens it must be because we deserve it.  This is especially true when the “something bad” is happening to someone else.  Even when we don’t know what it is- we assume that they must have done something to deserve this suffering. 

This isn’t the way life works though- Life isn’t fair. 

Some people seem to get away with everything, sometimes the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, and sometimes, bad things happen for seemingly no reason at all.  We hear stories of tornadoes which destroy entire towns randomly missing some homes and demolishing others.  There is no rhyme or reason for this- there is no reason why some people lose everything and others lose nothing- Life isn’t fair.

The description of Job in the first verse we read today is not just a description of Job’s character- Job is blameless and upright, feared God and turned away from evil.  This isn’t just saying that Job was a good man who was nice to people and tried to do the right thing.  It is saying that Job’s faith was strong- his faith in God was his grounding and foundation in all that he did.  Through all his suffering this did not change.  Later on in the story we read that Job argued with God, cried out to God, and he even got angry with God from time to time but his faith in God never wavered. 

Sometimes people see God as a fair weather friend.  They are all about loving and worshiping God as long as everything is going their way- as soon as things stop going their way they begin to question God.  He was fair and just as long as I got what I want- but now- I’m not so sure.  (NIV)

Prosperity and a fun life are not what God promises us – if that were so the only reason to have faith would be to see what we would get out of it.(NIV)  When we have this attitude we quickly forget that God is there- all the time- during the good times and bad.

At the beginning of Job- he is a blessed man.  He has status, family, wealth, why wouldn’t he praise God?  We are held in suspense as we wait to see if Job will pass this test- What is his response?  In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Pain and suffering are real but our relationship with God deepens as we rely on God more and ourselves less.  Sometimes this means facing the fact that the world doesn’t revolve around us and we are not in control.  It is hard to make sense of it all when you see a child confined to a wheel chair or dying from starvation, when you meet an elderly person who is ready for this life to be over or a woman living with an abusive spouse. (WBC, Williams Arnold-GP)

It doesn’t make sense.  It is something we will probably never understand but what we do understand is we serve a God who loves us, is willing to be in that pain with us, willing to hear our cries, and willing to send people into this world of hurt and pain to comfort and love those who feel discarded and abandoned. 

Life isn’t fair- hard times will come.  We may get sick, lose a loved one, lose our job, watch a loved one suffer, lose our home to storms of nature or storms of government- bad times will come- it is almost guaranteed but it is faith in God and support from those God sends into our lives that will get you through.  God doesn’t cause these things to happen- it is part of living in a messed up- human world. 

God didn’t cause Job’s suffering, and doesn’t cause a tornado to destroy a home but God sends God’s people to respond.  Volunteers who feed rescue workers and help rebuild homes and those who offer a shoulder to cry on, a word of hospitality and the love of Christ to those who need it. 

That is one of the reasons we take communion – to remind ourselves that this is why Jesus came.  Jesus understands our pains.  He experienced hunger, abandonment of friends, public ridicule, watched loved ones grieve over the loss of family, watched his family morn over him as he was tortured and hung on the cross.  No matter how bad it gets we are not alone. 

God sent his son to comfort those who no one else cares about and that call continues to us today.  Today our eyes are open to the injustices in our world- we see it every time we turn on the news.  We know that life isn’t fair. Just as Jesus came to remind us of God’s never failing love God sends us into the world to share God’s love with the those who don’t know it who are weak, weary, lonely and hurting.

 God doesn’t send pain into our lives.  He doesn’t want us to suffer- Just has he didn’t want Jesus to have to suffer- but this is a messed up world and pain is all around us.  Where God abounds is in how we as Christians respond to that pain.  Where is the pain in our community?  Where is the pain in this world?  How is God calling us to respond?  (Why-Adam Hamilton)

Are we to throw up our hands in defeat or say –oh well, it’s not my problem?  No, God is calling us to do something about it!  Today is World Communion Sunday- it is a chance to remember this together- all denominations, all countries, all people-we come to the Lord’s Table together- we are in this together.   It is not just about me, or you, or even this town, or country- we are all in this together- called to experience the saving grace of Christ together and called to serve together.