Central Truth

God allows good things to happen to bad people and bad things to happen to good people. He has a purpose for our struggles here on earth. As Christians we are called to be faithful and cling to God no matter the ferocity of the storm.

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Reflections

In Chapter 9 Job responds to his friend who suggested in Chapter 8 that Job, or his family, must have done something wrong because bad things don't happen to good people.  In Job's response, you can see the awful things he is enduring are getting the better of him, and he starts to have, as my mom used to say, a pity party.

Job starts his defense by describing the incomprehensible power of God, and how silly it is to question the injustice of his situation regardless of how godly he's been.  For example, he says with the mere mention of a word God can turn off the sun. The sun! Which is a 1,000,000 times the size of earth and burns at 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit.  In verse 9 he says God is the creator of the Pleiades constellation, which is 400 light years (2,400 Trillion Miles) away and contains 1,000s of stars.  The brightest of which burns 1,000 times brighter than our sun!  

How could Job have a fair audience with a God that can breathe stars into and out of existence? 

I believe we are the sum of our choices.  Job's feelings are similar to the way I have felt many times in my life. I have made, for the most part, good choices in life.  Yet over the last few years, my family has lost a dozen loved ones to car accidents, sickness, and murder - nothing anyone would choose.  How could a God so BIG be bothered with the injustices of life or my hurts and needs?  Or how could a God so PERFECT be interested in forgiving my sins?

In the closing verses, Job gets it; verse 33 says, "If only there were someone to arbitrate between us...."  Well God loved us so much that He gave us just that when He sent his son Jesus to die for our sins, closing the gap between us and Him!  Regardless of the injustices we suffer in this world, deserved or undeserved, GOD is there for us and wants a personal relationship!!

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Discussion Questions

1. Take a few minutes and look at the Hubble telescope picture of the Plieades constellation mentioned in verse 9. ( http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2004-20-a-full_jpg.jpg ).

2. Think of a time you felt God was ambivalent or distant during a tragedy or difficult situation in your life.

3. Can you identify with Job's struggle to be patient with God while persevering through a trial?

4. Now think of situations where God acted in the middle of your need in a very personal way to bring relief or peace.

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