The question ‘why?’ is a very big one. It can be loaded with all kinds of different meanings. When I looked at the readings for tonight I was a little mystified. The year is moving on quickly but Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday really aren’t that far behind us. Indeed it is months yet until we reach Christmas, but somehow the reading chosen for tonight from the New Testament is the account of the birth of Jesus.
Why ?
I am not going to try and answer that question. Someone somewhere decided no doubt that it was a good idea, so who am I to argue ? I will just leave the question of why kind of hanging in the air.
But deciding to keep my Christmas sermons for Christmas, I looked at the Old Testament reading. There we have a section from the book of Job (chapter 2) and the question why is one that he asked many times.
In fact moving away from Job the question of why is one that is often asked by people of faith and no faith whenever bad things happen to good people, whenever there are natural disasters and it is one that’s asked by all kinds of people living in misery and suffering throughout the world today.
This evening we won’t answer the question of why bad things happen, but there are things we can learn from the experiences of Job. Just to recap a little, Job has lost his home, his family and all his wealth, all unexpectedly, but still he holds onto his faith. In chapter 1 we read “Job stood up tore his robe in grief, shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground and worshipped. He said “Naked I came from my mother and naked I will return, the Lord has given and the Lord has taken away and may the name of the Lord be praised.””
In the midst of adversity, in the midst of terrible suffering Job acknowledges God’s presence and still praises Him.
Now he’s covered from head to foot with painful boils and he is sitting amongst the ashes on a rubbish dump. His wife has had enough and encourages him to curse God and give up but Job holds on. He will not give up his faith !
I have spoken to a very small number of people who have lost their faith as a result of tragedy of some kind, and it would be hard fro anyone to say they couldn’t understand that at all, but I have spoken to many more people who have somehow gained a greater and stronger faith through adversity.
Job, in his life, had experienced blessing from God and accepted it happily. It may not seem a logical choice to us, but now that he faced suffering he would also accept that. His wife questioned his faith, his friends came up with their own ideas and solutions to his problems, often questioning his character and integrity but all the time Job continued with the same story. He had not sinned, he had done nothing to deserve this suffering, it had simply happened.
That didn’t mean he had no questions. He had many, beginning with the biggest of all “why?”. And he showed emotion. He accepted what was happening and never doubted the existence of God, but he was understandably angry with Him.
So what can we learn from Job ? The most important thing must be that we must learn to place God in his rightful place. A God who is not beyond our understanding and explanation simply couldn’t be God at all. He is our Creator, our Saviour !
Another thing that we learn is that there is nothing wrong with grief or anger expressed properly. Job didn’t express his grief or anger except by sharing those feelings with God. Many people use grief and anger as an excuse to do all kinds of things but the most important place for those feelings is laid before God.
We can also find a role for ourselves when we know of someone suffering. When God seems distant we mustn’t encourage them to turn away from God or somehow suggest that the suffering is through any fault of their own. Sometimes it may well be but it is only by reminding them that God shares in their suffering and that He wants them to approach Him with their suffering that they can ever be truly healed.
We can stand with others when they are in pain. We can stand with them as they grapple with their faith and we can pray for them and with them.
God is in pain. He hurts when we hurt… His presence is unexplainable as He draws close to us in our pain. Even though God seemed silent I suspect that Job always knew He was there and because of that fact He could hold on through the pain.
God wants to share in every aspect of our lives. He allows blessings and He allows suffering, and He shares in our joys just as He shares our pain. The question of why suffering occurs is huge. Sometimes we can explain reasons for it, such as wars, terrorism, greed, and so on but at other times all we can do is raise our eyes to the One who holds us constantly in His hands.
We are in a better place than Job for we can know God through the Cross and Resurrection. We know God took upon Himself the evil and the pain and the suffering of the world and won through. We can trust that in good times and in bad times He cares for us, and that where there seems to be despair and no answers to the question why, we can have hope. Because He holds us, we can hold on.
I would like to finish with a short prayer…….
Lord, so often we don’t understand your ways, and we are confused and perplexed when we see and experience suffering and pain. Help us to hold onto you at times like that, give us strength and courage when we need it most and help us to come alongside others in their pain… Today we choose to hold on to you, through any pain, through any confusion and through any questions. In Jesus’ name. AMEN
Why ?
I am not going to try and answer that question. Someone somewhere decided no doubt that it was a good idea, so who am I to argue ? I will just leave the question of why kind of hanging in the air.
But deciding to keep my Christmas sermons for Christmas, I looked at the Old Testament reading. There we have a section from the book of Job (chapter 2) and the question why is one that he asked many times.
In fact moving away from Job the question of why is one that is often asked by people of faith and no faith whenever bad things happen to good people, whenever there are natural disasters and it is one that’s asked by all kinds of people living in misery and suffering throughout the world today.
This evening we won’t answer the question of why bad things happen, but there are things we can learn from the experiences of Job. Just to recap a little, Job has lost his home, his family and all his wealth, all unexpectedly, but still he holds onto his faith. In chapter 1 we read “Job stood up tore his robe in grief, shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground and worshipped. He said “Naked I came from my mother and naked I will return, the Lord has given and the Lord has taken away and may the name of the Lord be praised.””
In the midst of adversity, in the midst of terrible suffering Job acknowledges God’s presence and still praises Him.
Now he’s covered from head to foot with painful boils and he is sitting amongst the ashes on a rubbish dump. His wife has had enough and encourages him to curse God and give up but Job holds on. He will not give up his faith !
I have spoken to a very small number of people who have lost their faith as a result of tragedy of some kind, and it would be hard fro anyone to say they couldn’t understand that at all, but I have spoken to many more people who have somehow gained a greater and stronger faith through adversity.
Job, in his life, had experienced blessing from God and accepted it happily. It may not seem a logical choice to us, but now that he faced suffering he would also accept that. His wife questioned his faith, his friends came up with their own ideas and solutions to his problems, often questioning his character and integrity but all the time Job continued with the same story. He had not sinned, he had done nothing to deserve this suffering, it had simply happened.
That didn’t mean he had no questions. He had many, beginning with the biggest of all “why?”. And he showed emotion. He accepted what was happening and never doubted the existence of God, but he was understandably angry with Him.
So what can we learn from Job ? The most important thing must be that we must learn to place God in his rightful place. A God who is not beyond our understanding and explanation simply couldn’t be God at all. He is our Creator, our Saviour !
Another thing that we learn is that there is nothing wrong with grief or anger expressed properly. Job didn’t express his grief or anger except by sharing those feelings with God. Many people use grief and anger as an excuse to do all kinds of things but the most important place for those feelings is laid before God.
We can also find a role for ourselves when we know of someone suffering. When God seems distant we mustn’t encourage them to turn away from God or somehow suggest that the suffering is through any fault of their own. Sometimes it may well be but it is only by reminding them that God shares in their suffering and that He wants them to approach Him with their suffering that they can ever be truly healed.
We can stand with others when they are in pain. We can stand with them as they grapple with their faith and we can pray for them and with them.
God is in pain. He hurts when we hurt… His presence is unexplainable as He draws close to us in our pain. Even though God seemed silent I suspect that Job always knew He was there and because of that fact He could hold on through the pain.
God wants to share in every aspect of our lives. He allows blessings and He allows suffering, and He shares in our joys just as He shares our pain. The question of why suffering occurs is huge. Sometimes we can explain reasons for it, such as wars, terrorism, greed, and so on but at other times all we can do is raise our eyes to the One who holds us constantly in His hands.
We are in a better place than Job for we can know God through the Cross and Resurrection. We know God took upon Himself the evil and the pain and the suffering of the world and won through. We can trust that in good times and in bad times He cares for us, and that where there seems to be despair and no answers to the question why, we can have hope. Because He holds us, we can hold on.
I would like to finish with a short prayer…….
Lord, so often we don’t understand your ways, and we are confused and perplexed when we see and experience suffering and pain. Help us to hold onto you at times like that, give us strength and courage when we need it most and help us to come alongside others in their pain… Today we choose to hold on to you, through any pain, through any confusion and through any questions. In Jesus’ name. AMEN
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