THE QUESTION

Sermon Notes, July 22, 2012

Pastor Phil Perkins

Pastor Phil’s message was titled “The Question,” and his text was from Job.  The question is “Why?”  Why do bad things happen to good people?  Bad things happen—to the good, the bad, and they ugly.  If God is so good, why does He allow so much evil and suffering?

Job 1:1-5 tells about a rich and righteous man.  But verses 6-12 tells us that Job suffered BECAUSE he was righteous. 

God does not CAUSE evil.  Genesis 1:34 tells us that God saw everything He had made, and it was very good. When He made us with free will, it opened the door to evil: He gave us choices.  Darkness is the absence of light; cold is the absence of heat; evil is the absence of good, morality.  In verse 13 to the end of the first chapter, Job loses everything.  In Chapter 2, verses 3-6, God allows Satan to hurt Job, but not to take his life.

Our PERSPECTIVE is limited.  1 Corinthians 2:19 says that no eye has seen nor ear heard what God has prepared for those who love him.  Sometimes we doubt.  We don’t see the whole picture, or how God is working through whatever we’re experiencing.

GOD IS AT WORK.  The next 35 chapters are Job’s friends’ philosophies of why Job was suffering.  But in Chapter 38 we see that God never lost control of Job’s life.  He was always at work.  God never deserted him.  Romans 5:3-5 tells us that suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope.  James 1:2-4 tells us to consider suffering as joy for the same reasons.  God’s presence gives us strength in the midst of our sufferings.  His purposes lead us to God’s glory.

GOD’S BLESSING is shown in Job 42:10-13.  God restored everything he had lost, and he lived a long, full life.  Deuteronomy 31:6 tells us to be strong and courageous, because the Lord our God is with us.  In Hebrews 13:5-6 He promises He will never leave us or forsake us.  God is faithful, even when things don’t turn out as we are expecting.

Why is there suffering?  In John 16:33 Jesus tells us “…In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”