Looking for Job

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 2: Then we get the three “individuals” who come to Job:
When they see him from a distance, they don’t recognize him!


- Think about that: they can’t even recognize him so imagine his physical condition!


- And I’m not speaking about his mental condition!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 3:1-3

- Job he curses the day of his birth so it means it would be better for him not to be born!

- When you say that it means you are desperate, you have no more hope, you don’t see any option, no survival, the only way to escape is death!

- IS THAT CLEAR ENOUGH?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 3:4-26

- Job has lost everything, even his health and he is rejected by everybody, three individuals come to him to destroy him mentally! At first, they appear to be willing to help him but they do the contrary!

- His wife tells him to curse God and die but he curses the day he was born: when a situation is unbearable, when you can’t accept it, people want to die!


- Sometimes you can’t find words to express what you feel, Job can and it is to express his bad feelings!


- Job wants to escape the stressful situation!

- But there is no refuge, no help!

- Only death to be undisturbed and sleeping and at rest and no more agitation as Jesus says in the Gospels!

- But Job doesn’t understand why God lets people live and suffer!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job
Job 6:2

- anguish: severe mental or physical pain or suffering.

- grief: intense sorrow, especially caused by someone's death.

- Job is able to express what he feels with words and especially one which is « anguish or grief »!

- And he clearly connects his mental health with what has just happened in his life !

- And we must add the words : “fully weighted, put on scales, thoroughly, laid in the balances” which insist on the intensity of his stress!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job
Job 6:3

- This is an important verse to understand how Job reacts: Job says he feels really bad, the image he uses is quite clear “it is heavier than the sands of the seas and he compares his words to wild talk or my words have been rash. He is in such a mental condition that his words may go out of control or further than what he wants to say!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job
Job 6:4


- Of course, we are not Job, we are not the one about whom God says there is no one like him on earth. We know that Adam had a close relationship with God but he lost it, we know that Job had a close relationship with God, a special one and he kept it. But because of Satan this relationship was momentarily disturbed so Job was not feeling bad only because he lost everything but also because of this disruption which was unbearable for him! Just imagine what was the most important, the most precious for him! Any disruption must have been destructive and maybe if our relationship with God is really strong, we may understand that or maybe not! When it fills your day and your thoughts, how is it possible to do it without? IT IS IMPOSSIBLE! It depends on the quality of our relationship with God!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job
Job 6:5,6

- Think about a faithful one: how is it possible for him to live only one day away from God? Now think about Job in Job 6 and how he feels!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job
Job 6:8-10

- RESPECT! INCREDIBLE WORDS! UNBELIEVABLE!


- How is it possible? Job is in such a bad situation and he asks God for the favor to die: “I WOULD LEAP FOR JOY DESPITE THE UNRELENTING PAIN.”

- Do you notice what Job says right now?

“FOR I HAVE NOT DENIED THE SAYINGS OF THE HOLY ONE.”

- IS THAT CLEAR AGAIN? FOR ME IT IS!


- Job wants to die, he doesn’t speak about committing suicide, he begs God to make him die like a favor, just to be in peace, in rest. Think about the last line:

FOR I HAVE NOT DENIED THE SAYINGS OF THE HOLY ONE

- Can you hear the chorus:

THERE IS NO ONE LIKE HIM ON EARTH

THERE IS NO ONE LIKE HIM ON EARTH

THERE IS NO ONE LIKE HIM ON EARTH

- Job is true to his faith in God!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job
Job 6:11

- Is that not DESPERATION? When you don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel?

- It seems to be Job is in front of us, we see how he feels at any time right now and then, he is talking to us and telling us his deepest feelings and his pain and suffering and everything which goes through his mind!

- It is the same for us when we don’t know what comes next, it is as if we were watching us, being our own spectator!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job
Job 6:12,13

- There is nothing from Job!

- He thinks he is nobody!

- He thinks he is helpless!

- He thinks he is reduced to nothing!

- Job knows he is but a human being with human weakness!

- And he knows he is left alone with nothing, no hope, no way to escape!

- Is that the end of the way?

- We may think the same in some difficult situations!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job
Job 6:14

- Job would never do that!

- he is the ESSENCE OF LOYAL LOVE!

- The POSITIVE FEAR OF THE ALMIGHTY RUNS THROUGH HIS BLOOD!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job
Job 6:15-23

- SO POWERFUL!


- From where he is, Job finds the strength to speak about his own family and they are not here, they are of no help!

- Of course, we are all different!

- We take different ways!

- It is difficult to build a strong connection between human beings!

- We don’t go at the same speed!

- Do we go faster when we are alone?

- Job is incredible with all the strength he finds from his pain and suffering!

- Do we need to be in such a mental condition to be able to express our deepest feelings?

- It also tells us how much we have to strive to get closer to God and Jesus if we want them to do the same!

- It’s a two way move!

- We have to work hard to build a special relationship!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job


Job 6: 24

- A dialogue is interesting when it is constructive,

when it helps you to go ahead, to push you, to analyze

a situation, to visualize different perspectives!

- And Job has the experience to go in this direction

but the people who have come to him are unable to

be constructive, they are just condemning him!

- So it goes nowhere except when we listen to Job

because again he has the experience!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job


Job 6: 25

- Yes, there is nothing better than being constructive!

- There is nothing better when it helps to go ahead and evolve and make you stronger and positive and able to fight back!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

- Coming back to Job 6:25

- Are the three individuals who come to Job “the devil’s cavalry”?

- Well, pretty bad choice because JOB answers back with a NUCLEAR WEAPON from the pit where the devil has put him!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

- Coming back to this verse in Job 6:25

- HONEST WORDS – BENEFIT – REPROOF

- ENCOURAGING PEOPLE IS A POWERFUL WEAPON!

- SOMETIMES WE CAN ALSO ENCOURAGE BY OUR PRESENCE MEANING IT IS NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY TO SAY A WORD!

- THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERYTHING!

- IN A MEAL WE CAN ADD SALT OR PEPPER TO MAKE IT TASTIER!

- SOMETIMES IT IS GOOD WITHOUT SALT AND PEPPER!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

- The three individuals sent by the devil to Job offer him a bad meal!

- He offers them a DELICIOUS ONE, I would say THE BEST ONE BY FIGHTING BACK WITH ALL HIS STRENGTH AND FROM THE PIT!

- ABSOLUTELY IMPRESSIVE BEYOND WORDS!

- RESPECT FOR JOB!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

- I have never thought of that, but IS THE BOOK OF JOB A BIG TABLE FOR THE SINNERS WE ARE WITH PLENTY OF SUCCULENT DISHES WE NEED TO DIGEST AND BEFORE THAT CHEW AS RUMINANTS DO?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

- SUCCULENT DISHES WE NEED TO CHEW IN OUR BRAINS AGAIN AND AGAIN, WHEN WE GET UP, DURING THE DAY, WHEN WE GO TO BED AND WHEN WE SLEEP, AT ANY TIME?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

- SUCCULENT DISHES WE NEED TO CHEW TO KEEP MENTALLY FIT AND STRONG WHATEVER MAY HAPPEN IN OUR LIFE?