Lent, a time of:
Reflection, Repentance, Confession, & Stillness

Give up something for your spiritual benefit. Then use those longings or times as a time for prayer.

Read and pray at 7:14 AM or PM every day using this verse:
2 Chronicles 7:14 – “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.”

We will be studying Job, which prompts the question: How do you respond to God in times of difficulty?

The book of Job is not a historical accounting of something that transpired. It is poetry.

Job was blameless and he was not an Israelite. Think about that!

Job actively resists evil in his own life and on behalf of his children.

Job is very wealthy, and that wealth is a sign of his faithfulness.

The Setting: The heavenly court

The Antagonist: The adversary

This character of the accuser should not be completely equated with Satan, the Devil, or the Evil one in the New Testament

In Hebrew the word “hasatan” has the definite article, which means it is a title not a proper name.

God, or Yaweh rules over a heavenly court with quasi-independent spiritual beings with different roles and responsibilities.

The Conflict: Is around speech not suffering

What Job is tested on is how he will speak and relate to God in suffering.

Job addresses: “the question of how are we to talk about God. More particularly: how we are to talk about God from within a specific situation – namely the suffering of the innocent”
Gustavo Gutierrez

The writer wants us to feel the waves of pain as Grief compounds and grows exponentially.

This is an automatic response. It is the safe response, saying the expected thing.

Main Point:
How do you think we should speak to or relate to God in suffering, disaster, and difficulty?

Application
In suffering, challenge, and difficulty, people either lose their faith, or find their faith.

Challenge
- How should we speak to, or relate to, God in suffering, disaster, calamity?
- Read Job 1-3 this week