Scripture Passage: Job 2:11-3:4; 40:1-14

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Sitting in Suffering

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Last Week: How we interpret
This week: Getting to the point
"questions raised by suffering"

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What if God let someone experience suffering? How would we respond?

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1. Bail on God, religion, faith
2:9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

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2. Sit in Silence
2:13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

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3. Question the meaning of life
3:11 “Why did I not perish at birth,
and die as I came from the womb?

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4. Explain why it is just
4:7 “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?
Where were the upright ever destroyed?

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5. Despair of Explaining
22 It is all the same; that is why I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.'

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6. See suffering as a warning
33:16 he may speak in their ears
and terrify them with warnings,
17 to turn them from wrongdoing
and keep them from pride,

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7. God's answer
a. How does the world work?
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.

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b. Unruly creativity
40:15 “Look at Behemoth...
41:1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook...

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c. You try balancing justice
40:10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, ...
11 ... look at all who are proud and bring them low,

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"Complicated" calls for trust
42:2 “I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ... Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

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Good News
God may not explain suffering to us, but he does enter our world and meet us in our pain.

October 29, 2023 - "Sitting in Suffering"