Life is Hard – God Is Good A Study of Job

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Life is Hard God Is GoodA Study of Job

• When Life Falls Apart
• Job 11 210

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Introduction

• If you could ask God one question, and you knew
  that He would give you the answer, what question
  would you ask of Him?
• Why is there so much pain and suffering in the
  world?
• the question mark turned like a fish hook in
  the human heart.

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John 1633

• 33 I have told you these things, so that in me
  you may have peace. In this world you will have
  trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the
  world.

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Introduction

• If you could ask God one question, and you knew
  that He would give you the answer, what question
  would you ask of Him?
• The biography of Job has a lot of insight about
  suffering from Gods perspective.

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Job 11-3

• 1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name
  was Job. This man was blameless and upright he
  feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons
  and three daughters,

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Job 11-3

• 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three
  thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and
  five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of
  servants. He was the greatest man among all the
  people of the East.

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Introduction

• If you could ask God one question, and you knew
  that He would give you the answer, what question
  would you ask of Him?
• The biography of Job has a lot of insight about
  suffering from Gods perspective.
• Bible is teaching us about Job - not that he was
  wealthy, but that he was a very good man.

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Job 14-5

• 4 His sons used to take turns holding feasts in
  their homes, and they would invite their three
  sisters to eat and drink with them.

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Job 14-5

• 5 When a period of feasting had run its course,
  Job would send and have them purified. Early in
  the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering
  for each of them, thinking, Perhaps my children
  have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. This
  was Jobs regular custom.

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Four Lessons to Bolster Our Faith in Times of
Suffering

• Lesson One
• Bad Things Are Going to Happen to Good People
• Lesson Two
• Nothing Will Touch Us That God Does Not Allow
• Lesson Three
• Even Though Job Grieved, He Worshipped God
• Lesson Four
• Your Experience is Not Unique Others Have
  Overcome Adversity and You Can Too

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Lesson One

• Disappointment With God Philip Yancey
• If you think life is supposed to be fair, go
  home and re-read the story of Jesus. Was life
  fair for Him?
• For me, the cross demolished for all time the
  basic assumption that life would be fair.

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Job 16-7

• 6 One day the angels came to present themselves
  before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7
  The Lord said to Satan, Where have you come
  from? Satan answered the Lord, From roaming
  through the earth and going back and forth in it.

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1 Peter 58

• 8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the
  devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking
  for someone to devour.

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Job 18

• 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you
  considered my servant Job? There is no one on
  earth like him he is blameless and upright, a
  man who fears God and shuns evil.

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Job 19

• 9 Does Job fear God for nothing? Satan replied.

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Job 110

• 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his
  household and everything he has? You have blessed
  the work of his hands, so that his flocks and
  herds are spread throughout the land.

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Job 111-12

• 11 But stretch out your hand and strike
  everything he has, and he will surely curse you
  to your face. 12 The Lord said to Satan, Very
  well, then, everything he has is in your hands,
  but on the man himself do not lay a finger. Then
  Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

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Genesis 316-19

• 16 To the woman he said, I will greatly increase
  your pains in childbearing with pain you will
  give birth to children. Your desire will be for
  your husband, and he will rule over you.

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Genesis 316-19

• 17 To Adam he said, Because you listened to your
  wife and ate from the tree about which I
  commanded you, You must not eat of it, Cursed
  is the ground because of you through painful
  toil you will eat of it all the days of your
  life.

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Genesis 316-19

• 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
  and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By
  the sweat of your brow you will eat your food
  until you return to the ground, since from it you
  were taken for dust you are and to dust you will
  return.

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Katharine Bridget Comiskey
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Four Lessons to Bolster Our Faith in Times of
Suffering

• Lesson One
• Bad Things Are Going to Happen to Good People
• Lesson Two
• Nothing Will Touch Us That God Does Not Allow
• Lesson Three
• Even Though Job Grieved, He Worshipped God
• Lesson Four
• Your Experience is Not Unique Others Have
  Overcome Adversity and You Can Too

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1 Corinthians 1013 - Paraphrased

• Not test or temptation that comes your way is
  beyond the course of what others have had to
  face. All you need to remember is that God will
  never let you down. He will never let you be
  pushed past your limit. He will always be there
  to help you come through it.

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Alexander Maclaren

• If God sends us on stony paths, He will always
  provide us with strong shoes.

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Why Does God Allow Us to Suffer?

• To Mature Us
• Rom 53-5

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Romans 53-5

• 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our
  sufferings, because we know that suffering
  produces perseverance 4 perseverance, character
  and character, hope. 5 And hope does not
  disappoint us, because God has poured out his
  love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he
  has given us.

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Mildred Witte Struven

• A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a
  clay pot. It has to go through the white heat
  of the furnace to become porcelain.

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Why Does God Allow Us to Suffer?

• To Mature Us
• Rm 53-5
• So We Can Become a Comfort to Others
• 2Co 14

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2 Corinthians 14

• 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we
  can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort
  we ourselves have received from God.

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Why Does God Allow Us to Suffer?

• So He Can Mature Us
• Rm 53-5
• So We Can Become a Comfort to Others
• 2Co 14
• So He Can Test Us
• James 112

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James 112

• 12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial,
  because when he has stood the test, he will
  receive the crown of life that God has promised
  to those who love him.

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Stephen Brown

• For every person who gets cancer who is a
  pagan, God allows a Christian to get cancer so
  that the world can see the difference.

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Anonymous Quote

• Christians are like tea bags. Its not until we
  get into hot water that you see what were truly
  made of.

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Why Does God Allow Us to Suffer?

• So He Can Mature Us
• Rm 53-5
• So We Can Become a Comfort to Others
• 2Co 14
• So He Can Test Us
• James 112
• So Well Be Able to Appreciate Jesus Suffering
• Phillipians 310

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Philippians 310

• 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his
  resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his
  sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

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Job 113-16

• 13 One day when Jobs sons and daughters were
  feasting and drinking wine at the oldest
  brothers house, 14 a messenger came to Job and
  said, The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were
  grazing nearby,

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Job 113-16

• 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off.
  They put the servants to the sword, and I am the
  only one who has escaped to tell you! 16 While
  he was still speaking, another messenger came and
  said, The fire of God fell from the sky

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Job 116-17

• 16 While he was still speaking, another messenger
  came and said, The fire of God fell from the sky
  and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I
  am the only one who has escaped to tell you!

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Job 116-17

• 17 While he was still speaking, another messenger
  came and said, The Chaldeans formed three
  raiding parties and swept down on your camels and
  carried them off. They put the servants to the
  sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to
  tell you!

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Job 118-19

• 18 While he was still speaking, yet another
  messenger came and said, Your sons and daughters
  were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest
  brothers house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind
  swept in from the desert and struck the four
  corners of the house. It collapsed on them and
  they are dead, and I am the only one who has
  escaped to tell you!

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Job 120-22

• 20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and
  shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in
  worship 21 and said Naked I came from my
  mothers womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord
  gave and the Lord has taken away may the name of
  the Lord be praised. 22 In all this, Job did not
  sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

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Four Lessons to Bolster Our Faith in Times of
Suffering

• Lesson One
• Bad Things Are Going to Happen to Good People
• Lesson Two
• Nothing Will Touch Us That God Does Not Allow
• Lesson Three
• Even Though Job Grieved, He Worshipped God
• Lesson Four
• Your Experience is Not Unique Others Have
  Overcome Adversity and You Can Too

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Faith is Praying

• Father, I dont understand where you are right
  now and I dont understand why this is happening
  to me, but I still believe you created this
  world. I still believe you love me and that you
  sent your Son to die for me. And I still believe
  you are going to make all things right some day.
  Im really hurting right now, but I put my trust
  in you. Please lift me up through all of this.

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Job 23-5

• 3 Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you
  considered my servant Job? There is no one on
  earth like him he is blameless and upright, a
  man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still
  maintains his integrity, though you incited me
  against him to ruin him without any reason.

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Job 23-5

• 4 Skin for skin! Satan replied. A man will
  give all he has for his own life. 5 But stretch
  out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and
  he will surely curse you to your face.

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Job 26-8

• 6 The Lord said to Satan, Very well, then, he is
  in your hands but you must spare his life. 7 So
  Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and
  afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles
  of his feet to the top of his head. 8 Then Job
  took a piece of broken pottery and scraped
  himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

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Job 29-10

• 9 His wife said to him, Are you still holding on
  to your integrity? Curse God and die! 10 He
  replied, You are talking like a foolish woman.
  Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?

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Four Lessons to Bolster Our Faith in Times of
Suffering

• Lesson One
• Bad Things Are Going to Happen to Good People
• Lesson Two
• Nothing Will Touch Us That God Does Not Allow
• Lesson Three
• Even Though Job Grieved, He Worshipped God
• Lesson Four
• Your Experience is Not Unique Others Have
  Overcome Adversity and You Can Too

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Dave Dravecky
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Why Does God Allow Us to Suffer?

• So He Can Mature Us
• Rm 53-5
• So We Can Become a Comfort to Others
• 2Co 14
• So He Can Test Us
• James 112
• So Well Be Able to Appreciate Jesus Suffering
• Phillipians 310
• It Keeps Our Focus on Heaven

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C.S. Lewis

• Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some
  pleasant hotels, but He will not encourage us to
  mistake them for our Home.

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Deuteronomy 3211

• 11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and
  hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to
  catch them and carries them on its pinions.

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Pain is Not the Worst Thing

• The worst thing that could happen to us is to not
  know Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.

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