Why did this happen to me? #1 - When Your World Falls Apart

Description

Dr. Kurt Bjorklund explores Job 1-3 to address why good people suffer, challenging the simplistic "good deeds = good life" theology and showing that sometimes God allows difficulty for reasons beyond our understanding. This message offers hope for anyone wrestling with the question "Why did this happen to me?" by distinguishing between fleeting optimism and lasting hope found in Christ.

Summary and Application

Life has a way of blindsiding us with circumstances that shake our faith to its core. Health crises, broken relationships, financial struggles, or even those smaller "come on, God" moments when everything seems to go wrong at the worst possible time. These experiences often lead us to the same raw question that has echoed through human history: "God, why is this happening to me?"

The Universal Question of Suffering

Kurt opens his exploration of Job 1-3 by acknowledging a common pattern among those who walk away from faith. While some leave due to disappointment with people, others struggle with "disappointment with God, where they say, 'I trusted God, I tried to walk with God, and then this bad thing happened in my life. Therefore, I don't know if I can still believe in this God.'"

The Book of Job, spanning 42 chapters, invites us to sit with this profound question. As Kurt notes, "God wants us to sit with the question that Job asks. And the question is, really, 'God, why is this happening to me? Why is this bad thing happening in my life?'"

Job's Character and Circumstances

The story begins by establishing Job's character clearly. Scripture states that Job "was blameless and upright. He feared God and shunned evil" (Job 1:1). Kurt emphasizes that this doesn't mean Job was perfect, but rather that "before God he lived in a way that was upright." God himself affirms this assessment, declaring, "There is no one on earth like him" (Job 1:8).

Job possessed tremendous wealth, a large family, and an impeccable reputation. He was so meticulous about his faith that he regularly offered sacrifices for his children "thinking, 'Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts'" (Job 1:5). By every cultural measure, Job was living the blessed life that should come from righteous living.

The Heavenly Perspective

The narrative then shifts to reveal a conversation between God and Satan that Job himself was unaware of. Satan challenges God, essentially arguing that Job's faithfulness is conditional: "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?" (Job 1:9-10). Satan's accusation cuts to the heart: take away Job's blessings, and his worship will cease.

This heavenly scene reveals something crucial about suffering that we often miss. As Kurt explains, "There is more happening and more at stake with how you and I respond to suffering than we often realize. See, there's a spiritual dynamic to our lives, to what happens, to how we respond."

The Devastation and Response

What follows is a series of catastrophic losses delivered in rapid succession. Job loses his livestock, his servants, and ultimately all ten of his children in a single day. Kurt helps us grasp the magnitude: "This would be like you or me getting a call day after day after day saying, 'All of your wealth is gone. Your home is gone, has been destroyed. Your family has died.'"

Job's response is remarkable. Despite his grief—he tore his robe and shaved his head as signs of mourning—he "fell on the ground in worship" and declared, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised" (Job 1:21).

Even when Satan is permitted to afflict Job with painful sores covering his body, Job maintains his worship, refusing his wife's suggestion to "curse God and die."

Challenging Our Theology of Suffering

Kurt identifies the theological framework that Job and his contemporaries operated under, which many of us still unconsciously embrace today. They believed three things: God is completely just, God is powerful, and Job is righteous. Combined with a retributive principle that good deeds lead to good outcomes and bad deeds to bad outcomes, this creates a theological crisis when suffering occurs.

"The Bible teaches that when you do good things, you can expect good things. When you do bad things, you can expect bad things," Kurt acknowledges, referencing teachings found in Proverbs and Galatians 6. "But it is not always the only reason for suffering. That's why we have the book of Job."

The Compatibility of Worship and Grief

One of the most profound insights from Job's story is that worship and sadness are not mutually exclusive. Kurt observes, "Worship and sadness, grief, groaning are not incompatible. Sometimes people feel like if I worship and honor God, then I can't be sad. But here you see Job asking the question, 'Why?' You see him grieving and at the same time saying, 'But I'm going to worship.' Those two things are not incompatible."

This truth liberates us from the false notion that faith requires us to suppress our honest emotions or questions about God's ways.

Hope Beyond Optimism

Drawing from David Bentley Hart's reflection on suffering, Kurt distinguishes between optimism and hope. Hart wrote about various tragedies, concluding, "Our faith is in a God who has come to rescue his creation from the absurdity of sin and the emptiness of death. And so we are permitted to hate these things with a perfect hatred."

Kurt explains the distinction: "Optimism is optimism that my circumstances right now will change, that it will get better. Hope says, 'I will ultimately be healed and restored and everything sad will one day come untrue.'" This hope is grounded in Christ's suffering, which demonstrates that God himself entered into our pain and provides the promise of ultimate restoration.

Moving Forward in Faith

The story of Job doesn't provide easy answers to why we suffer, but it does offer a framework for maintaining faith in the midst of unanswered questions. As Kurt concludes, "The significant thing is to be able to step back and say, 'God is doing something bigger than what I can see or understand in this moment.' Because that's when you're able to say, 'The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Either way, the name of the Lord should be praised.'"

Application Questions:

1. Examining Your Theology: When difficult circumstances arise in your life, what is your immediate response—do you assume you've done something wrong, question God's goodness, or trust that there may be purposes beyond your understanding? How might Job's example challenge or confirm your current approach to suffering?

2. Grief and Worship: Job demonstrates that it's possible to grieve deeply while maintaining worship and trust in God. In what areas of your life do you need to give yourself permission to honestly process pain and loss while still choosing to honor God? How can you create space for both authentic emotion and faithful worship in your spiritual journey?

• References

  Eugene Merrill (Professor of Old Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary)

  "How can a God who elsewhere in Scripture is described as the very essence of love and grace, initiate or even allow suffering in the lives of his saints? How can his attributes be reconciled with his actions, especially when those actions appear to run counter to all the claims about who he is?"

  Franz Delitzsch (Lutheran Theologian)

  "Why do afflictions upon afflictions befall the righteous? This is the question the answering of which is made the theme of the Book of Job."

  David Bentley Hart (Philosphy and Author)

  "Of a child dying an agonizing death from an untreatable disease, of a young mother ravaged by cancer, of tens of thousands of Asians swallowed in an instant by the sea, of millions murdered in death camps and gulags and forced famines... our faith is in a God who has come to rescue his creation from the absurdity of sin and the emptiness of death. And so we are permitted to hate these things with a perfect hatred."

  "As a comfort when we seek it, I can imagine none greater than the happy knowledge that when I see the death of a child, I do not see the face of God, but the face of his enemy. It is a faith that sets us free from optimism and has taught us to hope instead."

• Transcript

  Download PDF Version

  So I've been a pastor now for several decades, and what that means is I've had hundreds of conversations with people about their spiritual journey over these years. And I can tell you that when people end up kind of "de-churching," "de-faithing"—meaning leaving their faith, leaving the church—there's often a similar theme. There are several of them, but some of the ones that are most common are: "I'm disappointed with people. People let me down. Therefore, I'm leaving church. I'm leaving faith in some way."

  That one doesn't make a ton of sense to me. I mean, I understand why people are disappointed with people, but it would be a little bit like saying, "I'm a Steelers fan, and I get annoyed with other Steelers fans, therefore, I no longer like the Steelers." Okay, I mean, it's like... okay.

  But the other reason that's often around for people about why they kind of walk away is a disappointment with God, where they say, "I trusted God, I tried to walk with God, and then this bad thing happened in my life. Therefore, I don't know if I can still believe in this God."

  And if you've been around church, haven't been around church, it's probably been a question you've asked at some time or another: "God, why is this happening to me? I felt like I did things a certain way. Why is this bad thing happening in my life?"

  It can be a health crisis that happens to you or somebody you love, where all of a sudden you just say, "God, why is this happening? What is going on here, God?"

  It could be a relationship where there's difficulty, where there's hardship. Maybe the relationship ends, maybe it's ongoing, but it's just so hard, day after day, week after week, year after year, that you just say, "God, why? Why have you let this happen?"

  It can be a disappointment with your career or finances where you feel like God didn't let you have the success that maybe somebody around you had who seemed to be less good than you.

  Or maybe for some of us, it isn't those big events. Maybe we just have little kind of "come on, God" moments. Do you know what these are? This is like you're planning a vacation, and all of a sudden you get sick right before the vacation. You're like, "Come on, God. Like, really? I mean, of every time that I could have gotten sick?" Or you have a "come on, God" moment because the weather for an event you had planned goes wrong. You're just like, "Come on, God. Couldn't you have just thrown me two nice hours, you know, in the middle of this?"

  Introducing the Book of Job

  And so what we're going to do is we're going to look at the Old Testament book of Job for the next several weeks. And Job is a long book—it's 42 chapters long. And I make that simple observation because it is so long that God wants us to sit with the question that Job asks. And the question is, really, "God, why is this happening to me? Why is this bad thing happening in my life?"

  And so we're not going to take 42 weeks, which we could do, but I think we'd all get tired of it by then. But we're going to take about eight weeks and work through this book together.

  And the way the book is structured is the first three chapters deal kind of with the events that set off Job's journey. And then you have these cycles of speeches between Job and his friends. And if you've ever tried to read through Job, this is where you lose it—you get through the first chapter or two, and you're like, "Oh, this might be good." And then you start reading the narrative, the poems, and it's like, "Who's talking? What are they saying? What's the point?" And then you fast-forward to the end—Job 40, 42—to see God's answer. Okay, that's kind of how... at least that's how I often read it.

  So we're going to try to put some context on this so we get this.

  Setting the Stage

  And there are just a couple questions just to address really quickly that just help set the stage for this.

  Some people will say and ask the question: Is Job a fable that's meant to teach a lesson, or is it rooted in history? And I believe that it's rooted in history, that Job is a historical person. I believe that because of the way that the Bible refers to this event and because of the whole tone of Scripture. But I understand how some people could come down on the side of a fable.

  And then the other question is: When was this written? Most commentators and people who've studied this would put this before the Pentateuch. So they would say the events of Job take place before Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In other words, this is one of the oldest—and if not the oldest—piece of Scripture that we have.

  Job Chapter 1: The Story Begins

  And so let's jump in and see what this book is about.

  "In the land of Uz"—probably to the southwest or southeast, rather, of the Dead Sea—"there lived a man whose name was Job." And then here's what it says, and it sets the tone right away: "He was blameless and upright. He feared God and shunned evil."

  Now, this doesn't mean that this is a statement to say Job was perfect or sinless, but it's saying, before God he lived in a way that was upright. He feared evil—he feared God, or shunned evil, feared God. He was blameless, he was upright. In other words, Job's life was right before God.

  And then it says this: "He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 donkeys, and a large number of servants. And he was the greatest among all the people of the East."

  Now, those numbers mean that he was rich and he had a big family and a great reputation among everybody. And the way that people in that culture often thought about God was that if you do right, good blessings follow your life. And if you do wrong, then you get bad things in your life. So Job, living a right life, is blessed financially. Great family, great reputation. Everything seems great.

  But in case he wasn't meticulous enough about his faith, the text tells us that he even went so far as to make sacrifices for his kids in case they sinned at any point.

  Verse 4: "His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, 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. 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."

  So every time his kids would have a party, a little bit of wine, little bit of revelry, he would say, "Okay, God, I'm going to sacrifice to you just to make sure that they haven't sinned and messed this whole thing up." Okay, that's kind of what you're reading here.

  The Heavenly Scene

  And then it says this, verse 6: "One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. And the Lord said to Satan, 'Where have you come from?' Satan answered the Lord, 'From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.'"

  And the word "roaming" here means to spy out, to search out. So Satan is searching the earth. We're told in the New Testament that Satan, this being who is bent on the harm of people, roams the earth like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. So Satan's role—and I believe in a literal Satan—is to destroy the lives of the people of God. And here we see him coming before God.

  And then it says in verse eight: "Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job?'" Now this seems out of place because this is almost like God saying to Satan, "You're roaming the earth, looking at everything—have you seen how good my servant Job is?"

  And notice what comes next. It says this: "There is no one on earth like him"—this is God again speaking. "He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." So just in case you didn't catch it in verse one, God reiterates it and affirms that this is who Job is.

  Then Satan says this: "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."

  So Satan's accusation is: the only reason Job worships you is because Job has everything going his way in life. Take it away from him and he won't worship you anymore.

  "The Lord answered or said to Satan, 'Very well then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not put a finger.'" Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

  The Disasters Strike

  "One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, 'The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby. And the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you.'"

  "While they were still speaking, another messenger came and said, 'The fire of God fell from heaven and burned the sheep and the servants. And I am the only one who's escaped to tell you.'"

  "While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, 'The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. And they put the servants to the sword. And I am the only one who has escaped to tell you.'" You see a theme here.

  "While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came to him and said, 'Your sons and your 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 all dead. And I am the only one who's escaped to tell you.'"

  So in rapid succession, one after another, before he was done speaking, a servant shows up and says, "All of your business interests, all of your crops, all of your wealth, it's gone. And not only that, your kids have all died."

  This would be like you or me getting a call day after day after day saying, "All of your wealth is gone. Your home is gone, has been destroyed. Your family has died."

  Now again, remember the context here. Job, according to God, is blameless. He fears God, he shuns evil. He is somebody who is upright in the way that he approaches life.

  Job's Response

  And then it says this. "At this Job got up and tore his robe"—this is verse 20. "Shaved his head and fell on the ground in worship."

  Shaving your head, tearing your robe are signs of grief. And yet in the middle of it he worships.

  And then he says this: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised."

  Some translations say here, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." So "the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Either way, "I'll praise the name of the Lord."

  Verse 22: "In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing."

  And so the story here is that Job, tested by Satan, allowed by God, still worships God when everything is taken away from him.

  Job Chapter 2: The Test Continues

  And then in the portion you heard read in chapter two, what happens is Satan says, "Well, okay, okay, maybe Job still worshiped you then, but let me inflict him with some bodily harm." And so he's inflicted with bodily harm, painful sores. And all of a sudden now he says, "He won't... he won't worship you. He will curse you."

  And yet Job still continues to worship God.

  The Central Question

  And so the question that the Book of Job answers—or probably addresses—is a question that many of us have asked and answered at different times of our lives: "God, where are you in my pain? God, why have you allowed this to happen to me?"

  In fact, some commentators say this about the theme of this book. This is Eugene Merrill. He says: "How can a God who elsewhere in Scripture is described as the very essence of love and grace, initiate or even allow suffering in the lives of his saints? How can his attributes be reconciled with his actions, especially when those actions appear to run counter to all the claims about who he is?"

  Franz Delitzsch said it this way: "Why do afflictions upon afflictions befall the righteous? This is the question the answering of which is made the theme of the Book of Job."

  So in other words, what we're talking about is: "God, why have you let this happen in my life?"

  Job's Wife's Response

  And the answer that we see is not to simply say, "Here's what you do," but it's in the response of Job and his wife. And we see this in chapter two, verses nine and ten.

  And here's what we see. His wife says to him: "Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die."

  By the way, the word "curse" here is the Hebrew word "barak," which is usually translated "blessed." So some people have read this and said, "This means bless God and die. She wasn't actually telling him to curse God. She was just saying, bless God and go about your way." But I think this word is translated "curse" as well, frequently. And it's dependent on the context. You see this a little earlier in chapter two, where the same word is translated as "curse."

  And the reason the context tells us to translate it this way or to think of it this way is because here's what verse 10 says. "He replied, 'You are talking like a foolish woman.'" By the way, husbands, don't try that line at home. It doesn't work, even if you say it's in the Bible.

  So Job's wife says, basically, "I want you just to say, 'I'm done with you, God,' because, God, you somehow not held up your end of the bargain." And at this point, what she's doing is she's focusing on the loss. She's afraid of the future. She's questioning the very character of God.

  Where Job comes along and he says this—verse 10: "You're talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble? And in all this, Job did not sin in what he said."

  So harken back to the end of chapter one: "The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. But either way, the name of the Lord be praised." He says, "I will not be deterred from worship in the midst of God not giving me what I think is right."

  Understanding the Theology

  Now, here's the mindset that was probably part of their culture. Their theology certainly seems to be true for Job and his wife. And I got this from another teacher. But it's like this. They held three things to be true, and they all were part of their theology, their thinking:

  1. God is completely just. So God always does what is just and right.

  2. God is powerful. He can do whatever he wants. That's a true theological concept.

  3. Job is righteous or blameless, full of integrity.

  And there's this idea of this retributive principle where if you do good, you get good. If you do bad, you get bad.

  If all those things are true, then the only answers are:

  • Job's wife: "Curse God and die" because God is no longer righteous.

  • The friends' answer, which is: "Job, you must be full of sin. You've done wrong."

  • Or the answer that I think the book points to, and that is: this retributive principle idea is true, but it's not universal.

  And here's what I mean. The Bible teaches that when you do good things, you can expect good things. When you do bad things, you can expect bad things. It teaches it in the Book of Proverbs. It teaches it in Galatians, chapter six: "Whatsoever you sow, you will also reap." It teaches it in the book of Psalms.

  But it is not always the only reason for suffering. That's why we have the book of Job. And we have to be nuanced enough to not simply read one proverb and say, "This is always the way it is," but to read it with the book of Job and say, "What Job is teaching us is sometimes, for reasons we may not understand or know, God allows there to be suffering in our lives that is not a result of our sin or our poor choices or our bad decisions."

  And here's why this is so important. If you don't get this, your only other options are to say, "God let me down, so you might as well curse God and die," or "you deserved it"—the friends' answer. And when you focus on loss or are fearful of the future, question God's character, it's hard to continue in faith.

  A Personal Story

  I met a woman some time ago whose story wasn't unlike many people I've talked to over the years. And she shared about some horrible things that had happened to her along the way and how she just couldn't bring herself to believe in God anymore in her life because of these hard things.

  I empathized with her. I felt for her. But at the same time, the root of her challenge was saying, "Bad things can't happen to me and God still be good." But what Job teaches us is that God can indeed be good in the midst of our suffering.

  Understanding the Spiritual Warfare

  And I want to come back just for a moment to this little wager where Satan shows up in the heavens. This doesn't really fit with how a lot of us want to see and think about God. And certainly there are several instances in the Old Testament where there appears to be this happening in the courts of God where divine beings show up and have a council.

  But I want to say to you, Satan is real, but it doesn't mean that when the Bible records something in an instance, and it's true, that it makes it normative. Let me give you a couple other examples of this, just so you know what I'm talking about.

  In the Book of Acts, we're told sometimes by people, "Hey, if God did it in Acts, he can do it again. Acts is normative," but Acts is history. And here's how you kind of know this. And that is in the Book of Acts, we're told that all the believers had everything in common.

  Now, there are some Christians today who say, "Well, every believer should have... every Christian should have everything in common." But what that would mean if you were to say, "We're going to do what the Book of Acts teaches, we're going to be an Acts 2 church"—like, have you ever heard the church be like, "We're an Acts 2 church?" What it means is you would all bring all of your money here and then we would distribute out a little bit enough for all of you to live. It actually sounds more like communism than it does something else. Okay? And I'm not trying to make any bigger statement other than to say, just because it records it doesn't make it normative or prescriptive.

  Here's another example. In Acts, chapter five, you have the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They were the ones who sold some land and then they went into the Apostles, the church of the day, and they presented it as if they took the full proceeds of the land to say, "Here's money for the church," but they actually kept some of it back. Do you know what happened to them? People in Bible recap, do you know they were struck dead.

  Now, I'm guessing that some of us at times have acted more generous than we actually were. But do you know what hasn't happened? You haven't been struck dead. I've never known anyone who was struck dead for pretending to be more generous than they were.

  And my point again, just because it's recorded doesn't make it normative.

  So just because you have an account of Satan going into the heavens to have this kind of divine wager with God doesn't make it normative. And the other part of this is Satan is not omnipresent. Satan can only be in one place at one time. So if he's hassling somebody in one part of the world, he can't hassle you and appear before God all at the same time.

  Now, that doesn't take away from what this is pointing to, however, and that is there is more happening and more at stake with how you and I respond to suffering than we often realize. See, there's a spiritual dynamic to our lives, to what happens, to how we respond. And God is looking and saying, "Have you considered how my servant handles the things that are happening in his or her life?"

  Key Principles

  I think it's important to state what I've already said just more clearly. And that is this idea of retributive justice is not a 100% principle. Now, that doesn't, again, make it untrue. If you make bad choices, sometimes you'll have bad results. Sometimes if you make good choices, you'll have good results. But there are times you can make every right choice and have results that you don't want. And there are times you can make bad choices, and by grace, you're just spared from some of the devastating consequences.

  And the significant thing is to be able to step back and say, "God is doing something bigger than what I can see or understand in this moment." Because that's when you're able to say, "The Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Either way, the name of the Lord should be praised."

  Job's Wrestling

  And if you notice, in Job three, Job starts to wrestle with this. Even though he's worshiped and he's responded without sin, now he starts to ask the why question. In fact, several times in chapter three, the word "why?" and a question is in here.

  "Why did I not perish at birth?" Verse 11, "and die as I came from the womb? Verse 12, why were the knees... why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?" He's basically saying, "God, why did you bring me into this world just to let me suffer like this?"

  In verse 20: "Why is light given to those in misery and life to the bitter of soul?" Verse 23: "Why is life given to the man whose way is hidden and whom God has hedged in?"

  So he starts asking the question, and then he's filled with grief. Verse 24: "For sighing has become my daily food. My groans pour out like water."

  And here's what I want you to see, and that is worship and sadness, grief, groaning are not incompatible. Sometimes people feel like if I worship and honor God, then I can't be sad. But here you see Job asking the question, "Why?" You see him grieving and at the same time saying, "But I'm going to worship." Those two things are not incompatible.

  The Hope We Have in Christ

  And part of the way that we help ourselves move past this is to see that Jesus Christ suffered on our behalf. In First Peter, chapter two, we see this statement about what Jesus went through and what it means for his followers.

  It says this, verse 21: "To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps." What is this reason, the suffering? Verse 22: "He committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth."

  And the idea here is very simple. Jesus went to the cross, didn't deserve to suffer, and he suffered so that you and I wouldn't have to suffer. Now you say, "Well, wait a second. It also says, 'But suffer.'" It means ultimately that God will bring about healing and restoration to everything that is tough in our lives.

  Now here's the challenge, especially to those of us who are maybe struggling with our own faith journey, maybe outside of faith. Sometimes people will say, "Well, the reason I don't believe in God is because these bad things have happened."

  Do you know that's actually a bigger reason to believe in God? Your very reaction that says it should be different. Because if you are just a random collection of molecules in a universe that's just about the survival of the fittest, why would you expect things to be different than just having hardship upon hardship and the survival of the fittest make its way forward?

  It is the very longing of your heart to say things ought to be different. That is your heart cry to say, "There's a God and there's a better way and things shouldn't be this broken or this messed up." And that is the longing of the heart that says, "God, please bring restoration and hope."

  Optimism vs. Hope

  David Bentley Hart wrote an essay nearly 20 years ago about a tsunami that had killed thousands of people in Asia. This is part of what he wrote, and he expands it here:

  "Of a child dying an agonizing death from an untreatable disease, of a young mother ravaged by cancer, of tens of thousands of Asians swallowed in an instant by the sea, of millions murdered in death camps and gulags and forced famines... our faith is in a God who has come to rescue his creation from the absurdity of sin and the emptiness of death. And so we are permitted to hate these things with a perfect hatred."

  "As a comfort when we seek it, I can imagine none greater than the happy knowledge that when I see the death of a child, I do not see the face of God, but the face of his enemy. It is a faith that sets us free from optimism and has taught us to hope instead."

  Now, do you hear what he's saying? He says, "When we see these horrible things, it isn't the face of God. It's the face of his enemy." Who brings about the misery in this story? Satan, the enemy of God. When you see things where you say, "This isn't how it should be," it is the enemy of God, not God, who you can say, "This is who's responsible."

  And then he says this great phrase: "This sets us free from our optimism and brings us into hope."

  What does he mean? Optimism is optimism that my circumstances right now will change, that it will get better. Hope says, "I will ultimately be healed and restored and everything sad will one day come untrue."

  That is the story if you're a follower of Jesus Christ that you have and you can live and lean into and hope.

  Personal Application

  So when you say "God, why has this happened to me, this health challenge, this unhappy marriage, this difficulty..." I was talking with my wife the other day, and there was a girl from the church that we were at in Michigan years ago who was a high school girl. She just went through her sixth miscarriage without a successful baby. I mean, how do you not say "God, why is this happening to me" in the midst of that?

  And optimism says, "Well, the next one will be better." Hope says, "One day God will restore what has been broken in the midst of my story." And that's the hope of Jesus Christ.

  Closing

  We have some great small group material. If you're in a group and you want your group to study the Book of Job, as we go through it this fall, just touch base with our ministry team. If you're not in a group, it might be a great time to jump into a group and just explore this as we consider the question, "God, why have you let this happen?" And we sit with it for a few weeks to try to let the force of this text speak to where we are today in our world.

  And again, I believe if you're a longtime follower of Jesus or you're just kind of coming back, checking it out, that's a question that we all ask and long to have some kind of direction on. And this book speaks to it.

  So let's pray together.

  God, as we're gathered today, I'm sure that in this room, online, our different campuses locations, that there are some incredibly painful stories. And I ask that you would bring the hope in the midst of those painful moments. And God, I pray that you would help us to be people who can understand the challenge of a theology that doesn't account for the difficulty and be able to say, "God, you've given and you've taken away, but either way, your name be praised."

  God, I pray that for those who maybe this feels remote and right now things are going really well, that even in this moment in our lives, that you would help those who—that's their journey—just to resolve to think clearly and rightly about how things are, so that when and if those hard days come, there will be a reserve to turn back to.

  And that you would help us to even learn how to be the kinds of friends who bring real comfort. And we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

  This transcript has been edited for clarity and readability. While every effort has been made to preserve the original content and meaning of the sermon, minor adjustments have been made to improve flow and comprehension in written form. This AI-generated transcript may contain minor inaccuracies or omissions from the original spoken message.