“Only God Knows What He Hasn’t Told You” Job Series part 1

The book of job is broken down into 4 parts 

Prologue - Here we are introduced to the main character Job and then we’re transported to a divine council meeting where God is with his sons. The basis of this part of the book is key to understanding much of what is to come. (Chapters 1-2)
Discourse - Job and his friends get into it, they offer their opinions on why Job is in this condition, and Job reiterates his innocence and questions God. (Chapters 3-37)
The Response - After the 36th time and demanding that God answers him, God responds, sets examples and questions Jobs ability to comprehend the depth and capacity to manage creation. (Chapters 38-41)
Epilogue - Job humbled by the awesomeness of God apologises, God restores him, and gives him the choice to restore his friends. Job receives more than what he lost, trust and relationship wins over the uncertainty of doubt and crisis. 

What do we know - It’s set in the land of Uz which is away from Israel. All characters are non-Israelite, wealth is measured in livestock. The fact he had camels, and the tribal names of some of his friends suggest that regionally we’re looking at a man of great status and position within and among the Arabian tribes.


Ch 1:1 - The criteria was “he was perfect and upright and feared God and shunned evil. You have to be righteous if you want to get Gods attention. 

Ch 1:4-5 - Job is cautious over his house, it’s important that we understand how committed he is to God, this becomes his test and his saving grace through out the whole book. His attention not only to his own actions, but his responsibility to his house and making sure they too are covered. 

Ch 1:8-12 - Gods pride in his creation, the contempt to still want to accuse man from satan. And God then begins to list his attributes. Satan true to the meaning of his name (accuser) tries to tell God why he’s loyal and serves him, and should he remove his protection he’d change. Here is this celestial conversation about this terrestrial man, and God is ready to wager his honour on Job.

Ch 1:12-19 - The trial begins, Job is overwhelmed by the noise and the panic, and the tragedy. Note that the messenger hadn’t even finished talking before the next note of bad news arrived. Interesting to also observe Satans strategy, going after what was visual, what was valuable, what he loved. This was designed to get a reaction out of Job, yet he waited and only after he had heard it all did he respond. 

Ch 1:20-22 - Job doesn’t hide his anguish, he doesn’t pretend it’s not hurting, he allowed himself to feel everything, and then he chose to worship. He refused to blame God, with no reason, warning or sign, he chose to believe in who he knew God to be. So much so, the author tells us, in all this he did not sin, or charge God foolishly. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello everybody and welcome to Rim and Reloaded with me, Sean Williams. It's been a little minute. It's been a little minute. Not for you but for us. It's been a little minute. Um, we're super excited to have you all back. And firstly, we just want to say a massive thank you to all of you that are subscribing across the social media platforms. We've watched our TikTok go up, we've watched our YouTube go up, we've watched our Instagram go up, and we just we love the engagement. But more than that, we love the fact that we are making content that you like, and the fact that we are doing Bible study, it means that the word is reaching and it's resonating with you, and the format that we're presenting it, everything is exactly where we need it to be. So, also, guys, please send in your questions, send in your remarks, send in your testimonials. We want to feel that interactiveness, it's a massive thing for us, and also we want to start looking at doing some remarked lives where we can get you to come in as a studio audience, um, we can worship together and we can break the word together. So it's amazing. If you will turn with me to the book of Job, chapter one. We're starting our Job series, guys. Woo! Um, I'm really excited about it. Um, this came from a conversation that I was having with a friend, and the conversation was only meant to be five to ten minutes long, and it ended up being way longer than that. And I was like, this needs to be a Rima reloaded topic. So I want to give you a little bit of information with regards to the book of Job and some of the stuff that we're going to be looking at. Um, the basis geographically of our text is set in a place called us. Now, I think it's very important to note that this story, this situation does not happen within the geographical region and location of Israel, which we know at that time, which would have been called the land of Canaan. Now, the reason why I think this is important because we obviously, through the Old Testament, historically follow the timeline of obviously creation to Noah to Abraham. Then we have the Abrahamic covenant, which takes us all the way up until Jacob and Joseph with his sons, that then takes us to the Exodus with Moses, which then leads us all the way into Canaan, and we get to the judges, and then from the judges we start to move obviously towards the space of Samuel and David, and Job sits as a book in and around that kind of space in terms of the chronology, the chronology, the chronological order of the Bible. Um, the book of Job, the book of Psalms, the Book of Proverbs, the Book of Songs of Solomon, they come in what we call a literary bind called the wisdom books. Okay, so I think the first thing to understand is that us is a place towards what we call the southern region of Canaan, which means we're looking towards the Arabian desert, that kind of area, that kind of space. The other thing I think is important to realize is that we're not dealing with Israelites, okay? So Job and even some of his friends and the other characters that we're gonna read about and are gonna be major players in our series, we're not dealing with Israel, okay? Which I also think is is very important because what it does is it separates what I call the narrative of obviously God's plan and promise through Abraham and giving Israel and making them um the inherited nation that are gonna do a lot of they're going to be the physical manifestation of the relationship that God wants to have with us as the wider church much later on. Um, but what it shows us is that there were men that were outside of, end quote, um, the Israelite covenant that were righteous, that had amazing relationship with God, and also we're gonna see that their righteousness and their relationship with God superseded to the place where they were able to have conversations with the Almighty regarding what was going on on the earth and within the earth. Okay, so what I'm gonna do is the book of Job, chapter one. We're gonna jump into it, and also quickly before I jump into it, let me explain how the book of Job is generally laid out. The first two chapters of the book of Job are what we call the prologue. A prologue is an introduction that sets the scene of the story to which we're gonna explore and uncover. Okay, so the first two chapters are what I would call the prologue. Then from chapters three to about 37, what we get is the discourse. It is the the breaking down and the conversations that are happening in and around and outside of the moments that we're gonna look at. This is notably done by Job, Job's friends, and his wife. Okay, then we get from um chapters 38 to 41, we get God's response, and then from 42 to the end, you basically get the epilogue. The epilogue is the conclusion of the whole matter, okay? So we're gonna break down these scriptures, um, but I want you as a whole to understand that when we are talking about certain parts of the book, that the first two chapters, what we're gonna call the prologue, then from three to thirty-seven is what is called the discourse, it's the meat of what we're doing, it's a lot of what I would call um spiritual poetry. Job just being really honest about how he's feeling and him getting into fights with his friends about why he's in the positions he's in, and then we see God responding in chapter 38. And by the time we get to 42, God's kind of tying up the whole situation with a bow and then going, okay, cool. Anyway, let's jump in. Um, the book of Job, chapter one, and verse one, it reads, Thus, In the land of us there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless. Blameless. This man was blameless and upright. He feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the east. Now, let's get into that first, okay? The first verse is basically giving us the criteria. Okay, what is the criteria you say? This man was blameless, he was upright, he feared God, and he shunned evil. His family, he was also blessed within his household. He had seven sons and three daughters, ten kids. That's a lot. That's a lot. You've got to have some money if you can have that amount of kids. And he owned, here it comes, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 donkeys. This is important, and it also says he had a large number of servants. This is important, is because the camels and the livestock being used as what we call equated wealth would suggest to us that he was desert dwelling, okay? To have that amount of camels, right? Um, and servants and stuff. It would suggest to us that he was desert dwelling. But more than that, it would also suggest that his wealth had come because not only was he a shrewd businessman, but he was righteous. Okay. First, first, first clue that we want to get in terms of when God's gonna bless you is that God will only bless those he can manage with the wealth. I'm gonna say that one more time. God will only bless those he knows can manage the wealth. What did Job have that could manage the wealth? His character. That was the first clue. He was upright, he didn't do wrong, he was righteous, and he turned away from evil all the time. Okay? Now it says, he was the greatest man among all the people of the East. Verse 4, his sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays. Most of us did that, right? And they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Job knew his kids like to party. And Job was like, listen, I'm not going, but I don't trust that you all are doing everything you should be doing all of the time. So just in case it's getting a little cray cray over there, I'm gonna make sure that I pray and that I cover you all, okay? So, what would he do in this moment? Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning, he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. This was Job's regular custom. That means Job was always doing this, he was always covering his family. He did not allow anything to miss his management or responsibility. Verse 6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord. In the King James Version, it says the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan, who we know was called Lucifer before the fall, Satan meaning the accuser of the brethren. That's what it literally translates to. Satan or Satan means accuser of the brethren or accuser, also came with them. Here he is, being true to his name. The Lord said to Satan, Where have you come from? He answered, roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it. Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? Imagine. Here is God having this celestial conversation. Here is Job just making sure that his kids ain't been doing nothing crazy. It's gonna get him in trouble with God, right? Job is chilling, right? The terrestrial man is chilling on planet Earth, minding his own business, right? And here God is getting into it with a guy he knows is angry with him. Come on, if you look back and you look at why even Lucifer rebelled in heaven, and now this is my own personal concepting, right, and an idea. People that are truly angry, anger is an inverted form of love gone wrong. I'm gonna say this one more time. In anger is an inverted form or a deformed form of love gone wrong. Nobody gets angry over a thing that doesn't matter. And the reason that they get angry is because when it mattered or when they were feeling vulnerable or broken, they don't feel like they were facilitated to or that they were given the space to be able to really, what's the word I'm looking for? To either present the case of what they were feeling in their pain, or the reasons or the explanations that they received for the thing that they felt wronged them wasn't good enough. So for me, every time I look at Satan, I look at what he does, because when you look at the history of who he was, he was up there, and even in his fallen state, he still has access to the presence of God, right? So here he is angry, annoyed, and this is why I love God, because he he's the ultimate G. Like he he's the guy. He sits and he goes, Hmm, so you've been walking up and down and seeing how bad the people in the earth are, right? And Satan's like, yeah. And he's like, What about Job? And I, without seeing it, I can imagine Satan's face because he would have seen Job. That's why he didn't bring up Job's name to God. And goes, What about Job? And let me read it to you. Okay, the Bible says, Have you considered my servant Job? Verse 8, there is no one on the earth like him. Imagine God saying there ain't no one on the earth like that person. He he's my guy. Okay, he said he is blameless and he's upright. This is God telling Satan, a man who fears God and shuns evil. Then here, Satan's repost. Does Job fear God for nothing? Here comes the accusation, Satan replied. He said, Have you not put a hedge around him? That's basically like a fence, kind of like a protection layer, around him and his household and everything he has. So here's Satan's kicking back and go going, Yeah, you're talking to me about this Job guy. Why would he be talking about Job? Because Satan would remember the Garden of Eden. What happened in the Garden of Eden? Adam was perfect, Adam and Eve were perfect, and then what happened? They ate of the knowledge, they ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, and they fell. So here God is taking pride in a guy that's maintaining the standard, right? And so Satan, being an accuser, and also being the head skeptic and cynic, he turns around and he basically says to him, But you've put hedge around him in his household and everything he has. He says, You have blessed the work of his hands so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land, land. Verse 11, but now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. So Satan basically wages God, he's just like, Job's only being righteous because you've given him everything he's asked for. He's got all the money in the world, he's got all the livestock, he's got kids, so his legacy is secure, he's got security, he's got his wife, his friends respect him. But it seems like if you take the things that make him visually the person who he's become to the world around him, he will curse you to your face. So he bets God. He puts his emotional chips on the table and goes, Huh, all in. I bet you if you take that stuff away from him, he won't serve you. Okay. Verse 12. Well, actually, it says to him, he will surely curse you to your face. Verse 12, the Lord said to Satan, Very well then, everything he has is in your power. So God delegates the power, he gives access to Satan to go and attack Job. Okay, he says, Everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself, God gives him a caveat. He says, You can touch everything connected to Job. Everything you can touch, but if you touch Job, in fact, he doesn't even give him a threat to say it, he goes, he just tells him point blank, don't touch him. You cannot touch him. Okay, so the Bible says, But on the man himself, you cannot lay a finger. Uh the end of verse 12, then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and then verse 13 One day when Job's sons and daughters were fasting and drinking, um, in their oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabaeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who's escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking, another messenger, this is verse 16, came and said, The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you. Verse 17, while he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, The Chaldeans, they formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off for them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you. Verse 18 is now getting on top. While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house, it collapsed on them, and they are dead. And I am the only one who has escaped to tell you. Now, this is really important. The reason it's important to understand is because what Job is feeling at this moment is something that we've all felt at some point in our life. You see, going through hardship isn't the problem because we all know that life isn't going to be one season of everything that we want, it's when you just barely get over the news, not even the actuality of what's happened, but you're just getting over the news of one trial, and before you can get over that one, the next one starts. If you look in what the uh the scripture was saying from verses 12 to 19, the first situation is they're having a party, and all of a sudden these people come down and they make off with his livestock. That's visual. That's visual. Why? Because it's saying that you can't keep hold of the thing that God has given you, right? Then they say, then there was fire that came down from heaven and it burnt up all the sheep. Now that looks like it's spiritual. Why? Because why would God allow fire to come from the heavens? You see, some horrible people coming and taking your stuff. That could happen to anybody, but when you're seeing an act of God to a guy that's meant to be righteous, that means what? That people who always were suspicious of Job's blessing now get to attach God to his trial and tribulation. Because, well, if God really loved you and if you were really righteous, why would God let fire come down from heaven? Fire from fire doesn't come down from heaven. Job. Before he can even respond, the next trial comes. Your kids, Job. His legacy, his security. The next instalment of what the vision was going to look like. In a moment. How many times have you been in this situation? And sometimes before you can even pray and say, God, help me. The next trial. The next tribulation, the next problems happening. And when I look at this, it makes me feel that the plan of the enemy was to overwhelm Joe. There's nothing worse than falling over, and as you're trying to get up, that you feel the ground underneath, you get pulled again. Because that means that now he has no firm foundation. He has no solid foundation by which he can stand and know. Irrespective of everything that's going on, he's like, I've got my firm foot in. He doesn't. Because everything that has made up the basis of what his life is visually has disappeared in a moment. This is also a clue to us. Don't set your affections on things on this earth. The job we have that doesn't validate you. It's just something that God has provided within your world to sustain you. The things that you buy. Cars, houses, clothes, those things don't justify who you are. They're the things that God allows us to have by virtue of us managing the blessings that He gives us. Your car will never be able to speak and say of your character. Your clothes will never be able to tell you about the intents of your heart, nor how the foundations of your soul, how they think. But yet the real The straw that broke the camel's back, if you will. Was in verse 19. When they say to him there was a mighty wind, and it swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on your children and they are dead. And I'm the only one who has escaped to tell you. Now, here's where we start to see Job's response. And the reason why I call it a response is because Job does something very, very beautiful in this scripture. What he does is the Bible says at this, Job got up and he tore his robe, and he shaved his head, and then he fell to the ground in wash. Take a minute. And in your own heart and mind, I want you to think about the last time you got some devastating news. Were you able to show your anguish and your pain and in the very next moment begin to worship God? You see, we're living in a world where we've got so much information and we have so much theoretical ideology and directive in terms of what we should do. But the reality is when we're reading Job hearing this no news in full time, you see, when you're having something in real time, your default setting is what sets in. That's why in certain jobs you need people whose default setting is to be calm because when panic ensues in the environment around, you need to know how steady can you be in the storm, and your steadiness in the storm is going to be dependent on the vessel or the information you have about your ability to either sell through it, survive it, or endure it. Job's relationship. With God told me everything about who he was. Because the reaction would have been for Job to do exactly what he did. He gets up, he tears his robe, shaves his head, falls to the ground, and he would scream out and he would curse the Almighty. Why? Because he's done nothing wrong. He's done nothing wrong. Job is the victim of a conversation he wasn't even present for. Job didn't ask God to tell Satan, oh, you see Job? You see my boy? Killing it out there. Righteous, turns away from evil, behaves himself. And here Satan puts God to the test and says, Well, let's test that theory out. At no point does the Bible say, and an angel went and said to Job, by the way, Job, do you know you came up in the heavenly council meeting today? None of that. How many times have you just been going about your business, just trying to love God, serve God, worship God, be the best version of his reflection of love in the earth? Stuff just starts going wrong. And us uh seasoned Christians, we can take a little bit of wrong because it's a bit like you know, it's a bit of spice in the season. It's fine. Who doesn't mind a little bit of a kick? It keeps us true, it keeps us, you can taste the flavors. There was no warning of what was to come. But God didn't feel like he needed to warn Job. Why? Because Job's accounting was good. When God looks at your spiritual accounting, is he going to see a good steward? Is he going to see effective, efficient management? Can God trust you? Can he? If he come on, ask yourself this question. If he takes it all away for a season, he didn't even take it away forever. If he takes it away for a season, can he trust you? Job trusted God because he invested in his relationship. He was sure of what he knew. So even when the visual manifestations of what was going wrong was happening, there was something deep within Job that anchored himself to the goodness of God. How do we know this? Because he says in verse 21, naked. I came from my mother's womb. And Job says, naked, with everything that Job has. He says, naked, I will leave this world. And this must have, this was what must have really got to God, right? The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job hasn't even gone to pick up his dead children that are still under the rubble of that house. Job has servants dead on his land. Sheep burnt to a crisp. Livestock stolen. Servants traumatized. A wife to explain all this misadventure to. And everything he was feeling. He allowed himself to feel that pain. He allowed himself to feel that hurt. But in that very same moment, he then worshipped. When you're having a bad day, which is less than a fraction of what Job was going through, will you worship? Or do you dive into the emotionality of your feelings and the physical reactiveness of your feelings and tell God about how you're feeling, not knowing that you might be part of a conversation in the heavenly realms, that God is proofing you for something better to come in moments to come, but wants to see what's the substance of your heart now? Do you trust me based on what I give you? Do you trust me based on what you think you deserve? Or do you love me for who I am? Joe proved to God that he loved him beyond what he gave him. If you ask most parents now, that's their biggest fear with their kids. They love me to the point of what I can do for them. They love me to the point of what makes sense to them. And here, Job, in all this pain, all this turmoil, there's nothing worse than going through a terrible situation and not having a reason as to why you're going through it. That's that's that's a real hell. Because reasoning allows us to make sense of what we can't make sense of. It's the clues in the dark that help us stumble. But Job was plunged into pitch darkness and chose to worship God. I'm gonna start the basis of this Bible study. Come back for part two. I'm gonna pray very quickly. But guys, please check out the Bible study notes that are in the description and the link. And also, I want you to study this for yourself as well. Let me pray with you. Father, thank you for another day. Thank you for life, love, joy, and peace. Thank you for moments that we don't understand because that's where you do your best work. And it's through those moments of uncertainty where we learn relationship, God, because that's where we learn to trust you. Allow the words that have fallen out of my mouth today to touch and resonate with those at home, those listening. Um, speak to them, God. And for those that may be going through a moment, going through turmoil, going through tribulation, let them know you'll never leave them or forsake them. You're always with them. And you hold the world in your hand. God, only you know what you haven't told us. And I know that we don't have to figure out what you've already worked out. Just give us the faith to trust and believe. As we say thank you in your name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Have a great day, guys.