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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Study Headquarters
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Speaker 1: I'm John Stogey, and today we're in Job chapter one
Speaker 1: and we'll be reading from the contemporary English version. Many
Speaker 1: years ago, a man named Job lived in the land
Speaker 1: of Uz. He was a truly good person who respected
Speaker 1: God and refused to do evil. Job had seven sons
Speaker 1: and three daughters. He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels,
Speaker 1: five hundred pair of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and a
Speaker 1: large number of servants. He was the richest person in
Speaker 1: the east. Job's sons took turns having feasts in their homes,
Speaker 1: and they always invited their three sisters to join in
Speaker 1: the eating and drinking. Each feast, Job would send for
Speaker 1: his children and perform a ceremony as a way of
Speaker 1: asking God to forgive them of any wrongs they may
Speaker 1: have done. He would get up early the next morning
Speaker 1: and offer a sacrifice for each of them, just in
Speaker 1: case they had sinned or silently cursed God. One day,
Speaker 1: when the angels had gathered around the Lord and Satan
Speaker 1: was there with them, the lord asked, Satan, where have
Speaker 1: you been. Satan replied, I have been going all over
Speaker 1: the earth. Then the Lord asked, what do you think
Speaker 1: of my servant Job. No one on earth is like him.
Speaker 1: He is a truly good person who respects me and
Speaker 1: refuses to do evil. Why shouldn't he respect you? Satan remarked,
Speaker 1: you are like a wall, protecting not only him, but
Speaker 1: his entire family and all his property. You make him
Speaker 1: successful in whatever he does, and his flocks and herds
Speaker 1: are everwhere. Try taking away everything he owns and he
Speaker 1: will curse you to your face. The lord replied, all right, Satan,
Speaker 1: do what you want with anything that belongs to him,
Speaker 1: but don't harm Job. Then Satan left. Job's sons and
Speaker 1: daughters were having a feast in the home of his
Speaker 1: oldest son when someone rushed up to Job and said,
Speaker 1: while your servants were plowing with your oxen and your
Speaker 1: donkeys were nearby eating grass, a gang of Sabinians attacked
Speaker 1: and stole the oxen and donkeys. Your other servants were killed,
Speaker 1: and I was the only one who escaped to tell you.
Speaker 1: That servant was still speaking when a second one came,
Speaker 1: running up and saying God sent down a fire that
Speaker 1: killed your sheep and your servants. I am the only
Speaker 1: one who escaped to tell you. Before that servant finished speaking,
Speaker 1: a third one raced up and said, three gangs of
Speaker 1: cold attacked and stole your camels. All of your other
Speaker 1: servants were killed, and I am the only one who
Speaker 1: escaped to tell you. That servant was still speaking when
Speaker 1: a fourth one dashed up and said, your children were
Speaker 1: having a feast and drinking wine at the home of
Speaker 1: your oldest son, when suddenly a windstorm from the desert
Speaker 1: blew the house down, crushing all of your children. I
Speaker 1: am the only one who escaped to tell you. When
Speaker 1: Job heard this, he tore his clothes and shaved his
Speaker 1: head because of his great sorrow. He knelt on the ground.
Speaker 1: Then worshiped God and said, we bring nothing at birth,
Speaker 1: we take nothing with us at death. The Lord alone
Speaker 1: gives and takes praise the name of the Lord. In
Speaker 1: spite of everything, Job did not sin or accuse God
Speaker 1: of doing wrong. Pray, Lord, we thank you for your word,
Speaker 1: and we thank you for the privilege of beginning our
Speaker 1: study of this new book together, the book of Job
Speaker 1: and Lord. We're grateful for the things that you illustrate
Speaker 1: to us and for us in this passage. But Lord,
Speaker 1: this is a difficult and sad passage for us to read.
Speaker 1: To think of a kind man like Job losing his family,
Speaker 1: losing his possessions, losing the things that mattered to him
Speaker 1: in this world apart from you, Lord, we can't help
Speaker 1: but feel compassion toward him, particularly Lord when we think
Speaker 1: about the grief that he must have experienced in the
Speaker 1: loss of all of his children in one moment. But Lord,
Speaker 1: we're also grateful for the testimony that we see at
Speaker 1: the end of this chapter, as Job praise to you
Speaker 1: and recognizes that you're the one who gives and takes,
Speaker 1: and that your name should be praised, regardless that our
Speaker 1: desire to praise you should never be dependent on our circumstances.
Speaker 1: That you're good, whether everything we want to have happened
Speaker 1: to us happens or whether it doesn't. And Job did
Speaker 1: not sin or accuse you of doing wrong, even in
Speaker 1: the midst of the greatest trial he had ever experienced.
Speaker 1: And Lord, we wrestle with that. Sometimes in the midst
Speaker 1: of our trials, we can get angry with you, and
Speaker 1: we can question your decisions or why you allow certain
Speaker 1: things to come into our lives. But Lord, you tell
Speaker 1: us elsewhere in scripture that the trials that come upon
Speaker 1: us are actually things that have been designed to strengthen
Speaker 1: our faith, to help us to trust in you more deeply,
Speaker 1: to help us to recognize that if we have your
Speaker 1: son Jesus Christ as our savior, then we have everything
Speaker 1: we truly need in the midst of this world. Lord,
Speaker 1: we pray that, by your grace that we would be
Speaker 1: content with Christ, that we would be satisfied with what
Speaker 1: you choose to supply, that we would accept whatever you
Speaker 1: choose to bring our way, and that we would understand
Speaker 1: that you have a great and mighty purpose for our lives.
Speaker 1: And in almost every context, the way that plays out
Speaker 1: is going to look different than what we expected. Help
Speaker 1: us to be okay with that, we pray, we love you, Lord,
Speaker 1: We thank you for your presence with us today, and
Speaker 1: we commit this day to your care in Jesus' name. Amen.