Connect360: When Everything Falls Apart 

  |  Source: GC2 Press

Lesson 2 in the Connect360 unit “Praise Him in the Storm: When Life Falls Apart” focuses on Job 1:13-22.

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  • Lesson 2 in the Connect360 unit “Praise Him in the Storm: When Life Falls Apart” focuses on Job 1:13-22.

Job didn’t complain. He didn’t cry out: “This is totally unfair! Why is this happening to me?” He did, however, respond in a manner consistent with his culture: he “tore his robe and shaved his head” (1:20).

These Near Eastern demonstrations of grief were common in the Old Testament. David did these things when he received the news of his son Amnon’s death (2 Samuel 13:31). Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Amos all speak of shaved heads during times of great mourning (Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah 7:29; Ezekiel 7:18; Amos 8:10). You would expect anyone to respond the same way after such a “horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day.”

What Job did next illustrated what God saw in him that Satan could not: a heart of submission (1:1, 8). Through falling to the ground (bowing) and worshiping, Job shows humility, submission and trust in God’s unseen purpose. Job realized there was nothing he brought with him at his birth, and he would carry nothing with him beyond the moment of his death (1:21a). He acknowledged God had brought wealth to his household; God had the right to remove it, if he saw fit (1:21b).

Faith in God’s sovereignty

Job’s final declaration is a picture of faith in the sovereignty of the Almighty. “The Lord gave” is an easy thing to say. “The Lord has taken away” is a little more difficult to utter. God might not be the active source of the removal, but the statement still shows a submission to his sovereign nature. “Blessed be the name of the Lord” takes faith in God to say in truth. Anyone can speak the words as a form of mockery. In the faith of such horrific adversity, blessing God for being God is something believers today might find challenging. Is our faith in the sovereignty of God as strong as Job’s?

Job had no idea that his life was the battleground on which a spiritual skirmish was taking place. Regardless, he clearly showed he was up for the task of suffering. It was not his wealth that made him blameless and upright, but rather, his fear of the Lord and desire to keep himself from the evil in his world. Instead of raging against God and throwing a tantrum, Job offered thanks for the blessings he had received and the time in which he enjoyed them. His response made the score, God, 1; Satan, 0.

Based on a lesson by Craig West, a hospice chaplain and bereavement coordinator. To learn more about GC2 Press and the Connect360 Bible study series, or to order materials, click here.

 


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