5th Sunday of Epiphany 3/05/06 Text: Job 7:1-7 Title: Why Not Me?
5th Sunday of Epiphany
3/5/06
Text: Job 7:1-7
Title: Why Not Me?
Let us pray. Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Have you ever asked the question, “Why not me?” after you have prayed to God for relief from whatever it is that you were suffering from hadn’t been taken away from you? I am sure that everyone of you, just as I have done, have asked that question, or something similar to it more times than any of us would like to admit.
I want to address that question this morning for it goes right to the heart of one’s faith, for when you ask God in times of trouble, “Why not me?” you are in fact telling God by asking that question that your prayer deserves to be answered and you want to know why it wasn’t.
Maybe you think you deserve to be relieved of what ever the pain is because you faithfully attend church every Sunday, well almost every Sunday. Or maybe you think you deserve it because you are giving what you would consider a large sum of money to support the church every year.
Or maybe you asking the question because you are doing the best you can to not break any of the commandments as you lead a pretty pious life, well at least better than you know who. Or maybe you think you deserve a favorable response from God because you faithfully read your Bible, or pray daily. The list could go on and on.
If any of those reasons are behind the question, “Why not me?” you are asking the question for the wrong reasons. Instead of trying to justify your behavior before God you should be asking the question, “Why me?” You see when you can honestly ask the question, “Why me?” you have come to recognize that there is nothing worthy in you, nothing in you that deserves mercy from God.
You have come to the understanding that you cannot go to church enough, give enough, know the Bible enough, keep the commandments enough, or do anything else enough for God to have mercy on you.
It is impossible for you, for me, to do enough to please God. As good Lutherans we know that, at least we should know that, but yet don’t we all deep down in our hearts think that there just must be something in us that God would accept.
But there isn’t anything in us that is acceptable to God and so we are left with two choices. We can either continue to try and find that elusive good in us that makes us worthy of God’s mercy, or we can recognize just like Job did, that there is nothing good in us, no matter how hard we try to be good, and throw ourselves on the mercy of God.
That is what our Old Testament reading for today is about, for in these 7 verses we find Job, who represents all humans and their eternal struggle to live life, as they try to make sense out of a world that is in a constant turmoil, where the innocent die, where there is famine, terrible diseases, hideous crimes are committed against babies, children, and those who cannot defend themselves.
When you read the book of Job you see that he has great successes, but also some terrible tragedies. He is tossed back and forth between good times and terrible times. I am sure that none of us here have gone through or even know of anybody that has gone through all that Job went though, but we still have a degree of empathy with him, for we shudder at the thought of contacting some terrible disease, losing our possessions, and, yes, even dying.
That is what makes this story of Job so powerful. We, at least in some small way, can connect with what he is going through, for we too wonder just where is God in this corrupted world, where it appears so many times that evil is winning.
Job’s trials give us a wonderful glimpse of the power of God, for God will not allow Satan to kill Job. Now I have to admit that if I were going through what Job is going through, that might not give me much comfort. I think that I would more than likely, just like Job, be asking God to end my life, so that I would not have to suffer anymore.
Job is suffering. He can’t wait to lie down, and when he does he can’t wait for morning to come so he can get up. Minutes seem like hours. He is covered with oozing sores, scabs, and dirt. There is no peace for him. Life is the pits, to put it mildly.
I don’t think there is a single one of us that would not ask, “Is the life that Job is living really worth living? God let him die in dignity, put him out of his misery.” That is what we would more than likely say, but when we read the first half of verse 7 we hear Job cry out something quite different even among his troubles. “Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath.”
You see even in his suffering. Even when he does not understand why God is allowing one terrible tragedy after another to happen to him he still has faith in God, as he asks for nothing more than God to not forget him. That is not a statement of a man who has no faith. Job knows who his creator and Savior is. He knows that his only hope is in God remembering him.
Notice that Job is not asking God to remember his righteousness. Job knows that his life’s record would never stand up under God’s scrutiny. He only wants God to remember him, to look upon him with mercy. Job is asking God to turn his misery to good, for Job in his plea is acknowledging that God controls all things, even those things that we call tragedies.
He knows that in his grace God had entered into a covenant with his chosen people, a covenant that God cannot break. That is the good news that Job can rely on, can in fact stake his life on. He knows, even though he does not want to be going through all the troubles he is going through, that in the end God is on his side.
The book of Job is a great story of God working through the terrible problems of Job as he brings him to realize that it is not Job’s righteousness that causes God to have mercy on him, but God’s righteousness that calls God to have mercy on him.
You can draw comfort from the story of Job, for in his trouble you can see that in your problems of life that you are never alone. God is watching over you, just like he watched over Job. God did not permit Satan to take his life and he will not permit Satan to take your life.
That does not mean you will not die, for we are well aware that we all will die, but it does mean that God will not let Satan kill your faith. Ever since Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden Satan has been at war with all human beings. He will use everything he can to take you away from God. But unlike Job, who he so viciously attacked, he will more than likely attack you in a much more subtle way.
You see Satan attacks us in our weakest areas. Every one of us has at least one area that he tries to use against us, to make us doubt the goodness of God. I could spend some time listing them, but we all know what our personal weaknesses, that is sins, are and how much we struggle against them.
We are in fact miserable frail creatures. What a contrast that is to the picture humanism draws of us, which is just another name for the New Age movement, which is not new at all, for it has been around since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden, for both of them tell us that, “You have the inner strength to conquer all obstacles and all adversity. Be courageous, and you will rise above it. You have a mind; figure everything out and trust your reason, you really don’t need God.”
It tells us that “You are the measure of all things, master of your own destiny, and captain of your soul”. That type of thinking would not have worked for Job, or for any one since then, and it will not work for any of us.
Oh you might think it will work for a time, for after all you might think that you are stronger and smarter than most people, or have an insight that others don’t have, but in the end that type of thinking will fail you. For without faith, which is really nothing more than trust in Christ and his saving work, you are alone and condemned.
Life can be pretty hard, as some of you are well aware of. Life can end pretty quickly. Life can be the pits, sometimes because of our own actions and bad decisions, other times just because things happen in this corrupted world. All of us will go through terrible times of life sometime, even though life might be just wonderful right now.
It is my prayer, and by the way it is the desire of God, that when you leave here this morning that you have nothing to fear in this life, no matter how bad it gets, for Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection alone have made you worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. Amen
3/5/06
Text: Job 7:1-7
Title: Why Not Me?
Let us pray. Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Have you ever asked the question, “Why not me?” after you have prayed to God for relief from whatever it is that you were suffering from hadn’t been taken away from you? I am sure that everyone of you, just as I have done, have asked that question, or something similar to it more times than any of us would like to admit.
I want to address that question this morning for it goes right to the heart of one’s faith, for when you ask God in times of trouble, “Why not me?” you are in fact telling God by asking that question that your prayer deserves to be answered and you want to know why it wasn’t.
Maybe you think you deserve to be relieved of what ever the pain is because you faithfully attend church every Sunday, well almost every Sunday. Or maybe you think you deserve it because you are giving what you would consider a large sum of money to support the church every year.
Or maybe you asking the question because you are doing the best you can to not break any of the commandments as you lead a pretty pious life, well at least better than you know who. Or maybe you think you deserve a favorable response from God because you faithfully read your Bible, or pray daily. The list could go on and on.
If any of those reasons are behind the question, “Why not me?” you are asking the question for the wrong reasons. Instead of trying to justify your behavior before God you should be asking the question, “Why me?” You see when you can honestly ask the question, “Why me?” you have come to recognize that there is nothing worthy in you, nothing in you that deserves mercy from God.
You have come to the understanding that you cannot go to church enough, give enough, know the Bible enough, keep the commandments enough, or do anything else enough for God to have mercy on you.
It is impossible for you, for me, to do enough to please God. As good Lutherans we know that, at least we should know that, but yet don’t we all deep down in our hearts think that there just must be something in us that God would accept.
But there isn’t anything in us that is acceptable to God and so we are left with two choices. We can either continue to try and find that elusive good in us that makes us worthy of God’s mercy, or we can recognize just like Job did, that there is nothing good in us, no matter how hard we try to be good, and throw ourselves on the mercy of God.
That is what our Old Testament reading for today is about, for in these 7 verses we find Job, who represents all humans and their eternal struggle to live life, as they try to make sense out of a world that is in a constant turmoil, where the innocent die, where there is famine, terrible diseases, hideous crimes are committed against babies, children, and those who cannot defend themselves.
When you read the book of Job you see that he has great successes, but also some terrible tragedies. He is tossed back and forth between good times and terrible times. I am sure that none of us here have gone through or even know of anybody that has gone through all that Job went though, but we still have a degree of empathy with him, for we shudder at the thought of contacting some terrible disease, losing our possessions, and, yes, even dying.
That is what makes this story of Job so powerful. We, at least in some small way, can connect with what he is going through, for we too wonder just where is God in this corrupted world, where it appears so many times that evil is winning.
Job’s trials give us a wonderful glimpse of the power of God, for God will not allow Satan to kill Job. Now I have to admit that if I were going through what Job is going through, that might not give me much comfort. I think that I would more than likely, just like Job, be asking God to end my life, so that I would not have to suffer anymore.
Job is suffering. He can’t wait to lie down, and when he does he can’t wait for morning to come so he can get up. Minutes seem like hours. He is covered with oozing sores, scabs, and dirt. There is no peace for him. Life is the pits, to put it mildly.
I don’t think there is a single one of us that would not ask, “Is the life that Job is living really worth living? God let him die in dignity, put him out of his misery.” That is what we would more than likely say, but when we read the first half of verse 7 we hear Job cry out something quite different even among his troubles. “Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath.”
You see even in his suffering. Even when he does not understand why God is allowing one terrible tragedy after another to happen to him he still has faith in God, as he asks for nothing more than God to not forget him. That is not a statement of a man who has no faith. Job knows who his creator and Savior is. He knows that his only hope is in God remembering him.
Notice that Job is not asking God to remember his righteousness. Job knows that his life’s record would never stand up under God’s scrutiny. He only wants God to remember him, to look upon him with mercy. Job is asking God to turn his misery to good, for Job in his plea is acknowledging that God controls all things, even those things that we call tragedies.
He knows that in his grace God had entered into a covenant with his chosen people, a covenant that God cannot break. That is the good news that Job can rely on, can in fact stake his life on. He knows, even though he does not want to be going through all the troubles he is going through, that in the end God is on his side.
The book of Job is a great story of God working through the terrible problems of Job as he brings him to realize that it is not Job’s righteousness that causes God to have mercy on him, but God’s righteousness that calls God to have mercy on him.
You can draw comfort from the story of Job, for in his trouble you can see that in your problems of life that you are never alone. God is watching over you, just like he watched over Job. God did not permit Satan to take his life and he will not permit Satan to take your life.
That does not mean you will not die, for we are well aware that we all will die, but it does mean that God will not let Satan kill your faith. Ever since Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden Satan has been at war with all human beings. He will use everything he can to take you away from God. But unlike Job, who he so viciously attacked, he will more than likely attack you in a much more subtle way.
You see Satan attacks us in our weakest areas. Every one of us has at least one area that he tries to use against us, to make us doubt the goodness of God. I could spend some time listing them, but we all know what our personal weaknesses, that is sins, are and how much we struggle against them.
We are in fact miserable frail creatures. What a contrast that is to the picture humanism draws of us, which is just another name for the New Age movement, which is not new at all, for it has been around since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden, for both of them tell us that, “You have the inner strength to conquer all obstacles and all adversity. Be courageous, and you will rise above it. You have a mind; figure everything out and trust your reason, you really don’t need God.”
It tells us that “You are the measure of all things, master of your own destiny, and captain of your soul”. That type of thinking would not have worked for Job, or for any one since then, and it will not work for any of us.
Oh you might think it will work for a time, for after all you might think that you are stronger and smarter than most people, or have an insight that others don’t have, but in the end that type of thinking will fail you. For without faith, which is really nothing more than trust in Christ and his saving work, you are alone and condemned.
Life can be pretty hard, as some of you are well aware of. Life can end pretty quickly. Life can be the pits, sometimes because of our own actions and bad decisions, other times just because things happen in this corrupted world. All of us will go through terrible times of life sometime, even though life might be just wonderful right now.
It is my prayer, and by the way it is the desire of God, that when you leave here this morning that you have nothing to fear in this life, no matter how bad it gets, for Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection alone have made you worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 7:30 PM
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