We have started a new series about Job, the patriarch from the Old Testament. The title of the series is “Job: Patient Endurance and Faithfulness.” Last week, we talked about the fact that Job” feared God.” This week, we want to explore Job’s reaction to his calamity…that in the face of disaster he “blessed” God. He wasn't aware of the boasting that God made about him, he wasn't aware that the devil was about to unleash hell in a single day against him. He wasn't aware of the calamity that was about to hit him and crush his spirit and his soul. Until suddenly one day, servants arrived one after the other giving the bad news about the livestock being stolen away or killed. But it was the fourth servant that came, that totally crushed him and wrecked him. Some of you have received bad news…and this is what the fourth servant gave, the bad news that crushed and rocked his world. Your soul can feel like a train wreck, like it's been crushed…. your mind, when it receives the news, is spinning in circles and is in some kind of denial ... .your emotions are frayed like a pair of old jeans that should have been retired years ago, you are raw in your emotions.
What are the words of praise that come from broken lips? This is a revelation that Job is giving to us, regarding what he believes in his heart about his life and his relationship with God. When the music fades and all is stripped away and I simply come…. what is it that I really, truly believe in my heart about my relationship with God as it pertains to my life? Let's cut the fluff, let's cut to the chase.
Job 1:21 And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there.
What he is saying is that life is more than what we hold in our hand. More than our relationships, more than our possessions, more than our priorities, more than our position. We don't take any of these things with us when we go. Life is more than all of these things. We came into this world with our little baby fist clenched, crying and kicking up a fuss but we leave with our palms wide open and our fingers draped across our chest, empty-handed. Our life is found in Christ.
Job 1:21 And he said…. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away…
Everything, You have loaned me for a season, Lord…You gave it to me to enjoy for a season…and now you have taken it away… all that we have comes from your hand - all of it belongs to You.
Job 1:21 And he said …” Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
With all that remains in my sorry little world and my life “I Will Bless You, I will praise your Name.” We don't just praise God in the good times…we praise Him in the valley too. The chief end of man is to glorify God and to praise His name. If there is a man in the Bible who is a type or symbol of the brokenness of Christ it must be Job. He is a Biblical model of what brokenness looks like in the person of Jesus Christ. Christ drank of the cup of the brokenness of the world, understanding the cost of it, He put the cup to His lips and drank all of it. And because He was broken and poured out for us, we receive healing for our brokenness, through the forgiveness and grace of the cross.
Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “Broken Praise.”
Blessings,
Kevin