WISDOM & SUFFERING
Message by Josh Mutter – September 3, 2023
Big Idea: When we are radically honest with God about our experiences of suffering, we find ourselves in a place to experience God’s wholeness and joy.
Job 1:1 NIV 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.
1. Our best attempts to explain/understand suffering often feel inadequate.
Job 31:35 NIV Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defence—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing.
2. Our limited perspective means that we have a limited understanding of our experiences of suffering.
Job 42:1-6 NIV Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”
3. God invites us to process our experiences of suffering with him.
Job 42:7 NIV After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.”
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