Today I’m going to do something I’ve never done before – I’m going to preach from the book of Job.  It’s a book that is not very easy to read or to understand.  It’s about a man who is a very committed follower of God.  He starts out rich, happy, powerful, popular and with a wonderful big family.  He finishes it rich, happy, powerful, popular and with a wonderful big family.  In between, however he loses his health, his wealth, some of his children, his wife’s affection, his friends’ compassion and almost his faith, before he gets it all back again.  And his story is all about the question of why God allows suffering.  If God is good and loves us then why does he let bad things happen to us?  Now the book doesn’t really give any clear and full answers.  If it did Christians probably wouldn’t be asking the same question today.  We’d just read Job and know the answer.  But it points us in the right direction. 

Now today’s Old Testament reading is taken from the start of the book of Job.  And we get a good impression of the man in the first words we read. “Job was blameless and upright and feared God and shunned evil.”  And the cynic might say “Well, of course he was.  He rich, happy, powerful, popular and had a wonderful big family.  We’d all fear God and shun evil if we enjoyed such a great life.”  And if that is your response then you’re not alone in that thought.   We’ll see shortly that there is another cynic on the scene. 

Now we read this extraordinary and very surprising description of God holding court and various angels appearing before him, including Satan.  And the conversation between God and Satan forms the bulk of the passage we read.  They talk about Job.  And there are three things about what they say that I want to point out this morning. 

1          God is proud of Job.  He boasts about him.  Satan stands before God and God says, “Have you considered my servant Job?  There’s no one on earth like him.  He is blameless and upright; he fears God and shuns evil.  And he still maintains his integrity.”  If you’re a parent or you have ever served in a parental or grandparental role in the life of a child you know the sense of pride that God has in Job.  “Have you seen my servant Job – that’s my boy – what a guy – he’s so great.”  That’s my kid.  Let me ask you, was Job perfect?  Well, God says so, he says Job is ‘blameless’, but was he really?  No.  He was not ‘blameless’ in the literal sense of the word.  You see, God’s eyesight isn’t very good sometimes.  Neither is his memory.  When it came to his child Job God had no memory of his wrongs.  And as a normal human being Job would have done a lot of stuff in his life that was not right.  It says in chapter one that he had seven sons and three daughters.  Now surely you don’t have ten kids without sometimes losing your temper, becoming impatient, and generally committing all manner of sins you never dreamed you were capable of before you had kids.  But to God, Job was “blameless”.

Now how does this apply to us?  Well, I think God looks at you and me with the same pride that he had for Job.  Right now I suspect he will call an angel over and say, “Do you see my son N, do you see my daughter N… there’s no one quite like him, there’s no one in all this creation like her.  That’s my kid.  He’s blameless you know, she’s without sin.  I’m so proud of them.  I’d do anything for them.”  And the angel would reply, “There you go again, God.  You need your eyes tested; can’t you see the bad things they did yesterday?”  And God says “No”.  And the angel says “God you’ve been around for billions of years now - you’re going senile.  What about that time when they did this or that bad thing?”  And God will say “I don’t remember that.  You’ve got it wrong – those are my children.  They’re blameless.  They’re just right.  I’m ecstatic with them just the way they.”  And the angel will wander away and roll his eyes and mutter something about God’s eternal and limitless grace.

Two neighbours were talking over the fence in the backyards.  And the subject got around to their grown-up kids.  And one on them confided that her son had been arrested for possession of drugs.  This was not the first time this had happened.  In fact, he had compiled a long rap sheet over several years since he became a teenager.  And the other neighbour said, “what again?  After all you’ve done for that good-for-nothing boy.  How he has stolen from you, lied to you, brought embarrassment on your good name in the community.  And now I expect he wants you to get him out of trouble again?  If he were my son I’d disown him.”  And the parent said, “Yes.  If he were your son I probably would too.  But he’s not.  He’s mine.  And I will never disown him.”

2          The second point I want to draw out from this passage is the figure of Satan.  Now, it’s possible to become very sidetracked and disturbed by the subject of evil and a powerful evil being.  But I don’t want us to get distracted this morning by intellectual questions about the nature of evil.  Suffice it to say that I believe evil exists, the evidence is overwhelming, and I believe that there is a spiritual power in the universe that is opposed to God and who inspires those evil things.  It is clearly what the Bible teaches and what the Christian Church, including the Episcopal Church, has believed for its entire history.  I’m more interested today in what this passage from Job says about Satan’s role in human affairs.  It is clear from this passage that Satan’s wish is to bring about chaos and suffering in the life of Job.  And he does it by making accusations to God about his servant.  He says to God, who has been raving like the proud parent, “Stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will curse you to your face”.  In other words, ‘God don’t go on about how holy and good Job is – if he were to really suffer – get sick, have misfortunes – then he would stop all his pious attitude’.  And Satan goes even further.  It says he “afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.”

Satan’s strategy is firstly to accuse Job.  And that’s actually what the Hebrew word ‘Satan’ means – accuser.  His strategy is to point out Job’s faults.  He wants to entice God to think ill of Job, if that were possible.  And he certainly wants Job to think badly of himself.  In the book of Revelation Satan is referred to as ‘the accuser of Christians’.  And his method of attack is still the same today. If I were to ask you to conjure up a mental picture of Satan I wonder how you would imagine him – as a little red creature with a pointed tail, cloven hooves, horns and a trident?  Maybe the snake from Genesis?  A fallen angel perhaps?  Well, how about a prosecuting lawyer?  Because that is usually how we encounter him.  We are the accused and Satan is the prosecutor.  He’s full of convincing words, persuasive arguments, lots of damning evidence, and an air of superiority that makes us feel overwhelmed and intimidated. 

Have you ever heard the accusation in your head, “Call yourself a Christian?  After what you’ve done?  You’re a miserable specimen.  God couldn’t love you, after all you’ve done.  All those things you have thought, those words you’ve said, those unkind things you have done.  Do you think God really forgives you?  You ought to feel ashamed of yourself.  You have no business praying or going to church, as if you are as holy as those other people.  If they could know what you’re really like none of them would talk to you.”  Recognise any of that?  Well, if you ever have thoughts like those be very sure of one thing.  That is not the voice of God you’re hearing.  God does not say things like that.  Those thoughts were dropped into your mind by the accuser of Christians.  Of course, that is not to say that God does not point out to us when we have gone wrong.  He does.  But he does it gently and kindly.  When God points out our sin it is specific – it’s about a particular act or thought, rather than a general sense of condemnation.  And God brings to light our wrongs in order to help us put things right – to make amends to someone, to say sorry to him, to change our lives in some way.  He does it out of love, to bring us back into close friendship with him.  So next time you feel just unworthy and unacceptable to God, remember this – God loves you, he has forgiven you, he has welcomed you back into his embrace, and he does not hold any grudges about anything you have done to hurt him.

And let’s also take note of this.  Satan is pretty good at his job.  When he accuses you and me he is often pretty convincing.  The fact is he doesn’t need any help from us.  And when we accuse fellow-Christians what we’re doing is joining in with the devil in his work.  So let’s endeavour not to indulge in those judgmental little thoughts and words about each other.

3          And the final truth I want to point out in this passage is the powerlessness of Satan.  Yes, he does have the power to inflict lots of suffering upon poor old Job, but look carefully at where he gets this power.  God gives him the authority to interact with Job.  Satan does not do whatever he likes.  God is not a helpless bystander anxiously watching while Satan goes out and destroys Job.  No, the top authority, the Kingdom, the power and glory belong to God.  And, again, as it was then so it is now.  When you and I are tested and when we face times of challenge and suffering it is not that the devil has seized control and you are a helpless victim of whatever he wants to do to you.  God has seen fit, in his wisdom, to allow you to go through certain trials.  God has a purpose in these times of suffering even if we cannot work out what it might be.  But one thing is certain.  He will not let us be tested beyond what we can endure.  That is his promise.  And that means that if you are going through hard times then it is because God trusts you to go through it with your faith in tact.  God has given you the resources in him to cope with whatever it is that you’re struggling with – a loss, an illness, a painful experience.  And he wouldn’t let you struggle in those circumstances if he didn’t also give you the strength and courage to endure them.  That to my mind is very encouraging.  God thinks that much of you that he trusts you to go through hardships and difficulties knowing that you are up to the job.  He knows that you can withstand those temptations we have to face.  If we couldn’t then he wouldn’t let us be tempted in those ways.  God is not a sadist.  He doesn’t let us be overpowered by temptations or trials that he knows we can’t handle in his strength.  He knows what we can cope with and he will not let us be tested beyond the resources he gives us.  And when our suffering or our temptation gets to the point where God knows we would be blown away by anything more he will stretch out his hand out and say “that’s enough, no more”.

This morning we’ve read a strange little story from Job.  Let’s be encouraged by what we’ve read.  Remember God is proud of you, he does not accuse you or condemn you, and he will not let you be tested beyond what you can endure.