Job 23

Job 23

1 Then Job answered and said: 

2 “Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning. 

3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! 

4 I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. 

5 I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. 

6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me. 

7 There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge. 

8 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; 

9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. 

10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. 

11 My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. 

12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. 

13 But he is unchangeable,[2] and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. 

14 For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. 

15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. 

16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; 

17 yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen

Dear congregation,

I quote the lyrics from a song of a rather well-known German songwriter, Klaus Hoffmann:

1.a house and security

a ring for all eternity

a person who will stay forever

reason to guide us evermore

but what are we so scared of

2.a smile that is just not right

a glance that will not start a thing

a hand that only takes

and time that just evaporates

but what are we so scared of

Ref.:

and the wind carries away all leaves

and death is more than just a word

because nothing will remain, nothing will remain, nothing will remain

no ring, no money, no suffering

nothing will remain, nothing will remain, nothing will remain

it's time to live

Klaus Hoffmann puts Job's experience in a nutshell: "Nothing remains".

Job was a rich, successful man - the book of Job speaks of him on the one hand as a successful farmer with large flocks and on the other hand he is portrayed as a successful city dweller.

Whether a rich man from the country or from the city, the book of Job describes Job losing everything.

This story tells us that this can happen to anyone. Whether from the country or the city. Whether educated or uneducated. Rich and powerful: "Nothing remains!"

In theory, we know that. As believers, in particular, we prepare ourselves for death. "Nothing remains!"

Job, however, is not talking about the end of his life, but he encounters death in the midst of life. It is death that takes everything from him: right in the middle of life. The only thing he has left. Job is still breathing.

Nothing else is left to Job. The book tells an impressive story of how this pious, God-fearing man loses everything: his wealth, his family, his health, his friends - nothing remains!

Almost nothing: because Job holds on to one thing: he breathes. He lives and trusts: God is still God.

Job can neither see nor hear God. Job searches in the east and in the west. God could be in the south or in the north - but Job does not see him.

His friends talk to him and are firmly convinced that there must be some reason why Job is doing so badly. They don't join Job in his search for God but rather look for reasonable explanations. They expect a logical answer to the big question: "Why?". Job must have done something wrong. Even if it is a hidden guilt. It must be Job's fault.

Because as long as we humans can explain something, we think we have the problem under control. If these friends prove that Job is basically to blame for his situation, then the friends have the opportunity to believe that they are not to blame.

Yes, dear congregation, you know the feeling and the defiant thought: "That just can't happen to me!"

We don't say it as openly as these friends, but some of us think it: How good that I'm not so badly off - and yes, I also understand why it won't happen to me. "I eat healthier than some sick people. I'm better with money...". Some of us have thoughts like this when we encounter the need of others.

This assumption harbours both a desire to remain in control and a helplessness in the face of some hardship.  It is a helplessness that comes across as arrogant. It is a deep conviction: "There must be a reason".

A reason for the serious cancer. A reason for the divorce. A reason for the financial hardship.

Admittedly, there are often connections and reasons. There is a widespread feeling that every action has a consequence. What we do and don't do has consequences. And yes, this can be true in many cases and can even be the approach to getting out of trouble. It may be that someone has made unwise financial decisions and now has less in old age than would have been possible.

It may be that some illnesses are avoidable. It is also the case that some separations come too early and were foreseeable.

All of this is true and the friends say so.

But this story is not about such hardship. It is not about predictable and understandable consequences of misbehaviour. It is not even about the consequences of a natural disaster. This is about hardship that cannot be explained: That a person loses everything, even though he has done everything right according to human judgement.

Do you notice how an objection arises: "No, something must not have been right".

The more we focus on the friends, the more we lose sight of Job - Job, who laments his plight and is at the mercy of it and yet continues to trust in the most difficult hours. For him, the greatest danger seems to be that he loses God.

Few modern people experience this as a danger, because they have no God to lose.

This story, which from the outside is a story that warns us: "Nothing remains!", is on the other hand Job's great confession: "God remains".

God remains!

God is invisible to Job. God cannot be felt by Job. God cannot be understood. God is absent and hidden. God is perhaps even terrible and frightening. But for Job, one thing is clear: God is and remains God.

"Oh, if I only knew where I could find him!" This is Job's prayer when everything else, everything external, everything material was taken away from him.

Surprising for what reason Job seeks God. He seeks God in order to have a legal dispute with him. Job accuses God. Job despairs at the thought and is completely convinced: what is happening here is simply injustice. This is just not right. I don't deserve this. Job does not blame himself.

Job contradicts his friends who are looking for easy answers. Job remains a seeker of God! He wonders whether God has become an enemy or whether he remains a friendly God.
Job trusts God with all sorts of things, but there is one thing he simply cannot believe: that God is no longer God.

In this, Job is a man who differs from many other people. More and more people in our world are coming to the realisation that since there is so much suffering in the world, there is no God. Their distress makes them doubt God.

But Job remains steadfast: I want to find God.

He accepts that he will find a God who is different from what he had previously thought. So far, Job had experienced God as a generous God. So far, Job had owed his success to God. He had previously assumed that if I behaved decently, God would bless me with prosperity.
He loses this belief. He bitterly realises: "Perhaps God is not as kind and loving as I thought. Unsettled, he fears whether God might even be causing this suffering. Job suspects that God could test and purify him.

Job struggles with these thoughts. They cause bewilderment and fear. Yes, such crises of life and faith are difficult phases. Job learns that God is different from what he had previously thought, believed and experienced.

But Job resists the temptation to fall silent and die inside. Job raises his voice: he wrestles with God. Just as Jacob wrestled with God at Jabokk, Job wrestles with God.

"Yet I will not be silent before the darkness, before his face that covers the darkness!"

This is the hidden God who has turned away - his face no longer shines - it is covered in darkness.

Job remains turned towards him. He continues to lift up his eyes to the mountains. He continues to pray as we prayed at the beginning of today: "God is near all who call on him, all who call on him earnestly."

This is what Job does: he calls upon God earnestly and begs and pleads for God to turn his face towards him again.

"Let your face shine!" Job is convinced: If I find God, then I will live!

This is the faith that Jesus says can move mountains!

In times of need I wish you: friends who have more compassion than Job's friends and thus a strong faith that remains in search of God.

There is a good chance that God can be found and that you will be found by God.

That is a wonderful experience: when you are in such distress that it is so clear that "Nothing remains!", to experience it: God is and remains - and therefore there is still time to live.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.