Les Misery (Sneers and Smiles)

One Year Bible (Aug. 22)

Job 4:1-7:21

“LES MISERY” (Sneers & Smiles)

Who doesn’t love a great Broadway play? You get all dressed up, enjoy fine dining, and join with family and friends to be “moved” by the characters, plot, conflict, action, and finally their resolution. The curtain raises, the orchestra plays, and the angst in the music carries us away… A great musical production is truly breathtaking!

Then comes the moment that LITERALLY takes your breath away!

There comes that surreal moment where time just seems to stand still. You have just been given an unsolicited, undesired LEADING ROLE in a play called “LES MISERY”...

What is at stake? Your entire life and destiny.

What did you learn about Job in your reading yesterday?

What has he done wrong that all TEN of his children were all killed in ONE DAY at the VERY SAME TIME? NOTHING! NOTHING!

Two different groups of enemies came and slaughtered them, and “NATURAL (UNNATURAL) DISASTERS came and wiped everything out! (Except for his lovely wife, he still has her!) Am I using IRONY or SARCASM? I will let you reread to figure that out.

Have you ever asked God, “Why is this happening?”

“What have I done wrong?” “Why me?”

“If God were not my friend, Satan would not be so much my enemy.” (Thomas Brooks)

This quote was 100% true of Job. He was righteous and blameless, before God. In fact, God said, “Have you seen my servant Job?”

What have you learned about Satan?

The Bible tells us that he is the adversary of God and the people of God. He is filled with hate, and so he makes “ACCUSATIONS”.

Look at Job. He only serves you, God, because he is a “Pampered Poodle”. Give him a good grooming and he will curse your name.

In Scene One, we see that Satan is ALLOWED by God to test Job!

He leaves God’s presence and immediately takes away everything that Job holds dear (Except his wife, Hmmmm…Dramatic Pause.).

Job’s life is destroyed and completely decimated! Nothing will EVER be the same again! He has LOST IT ALL…Or has he?

How does Job land after the air is knocked out of him and the ground below him shakes?

Remember Satan’s accusation to God against Job? Even after all of this, there is only ONE BEING Cursing God and that is Satan.

What does Job do? He arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head. This means that he GRIEVED in every way. To shave his head meant that “his glory had departed.”

Then, what does he say, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, Blessed be the name of the Lord. Through all this Job did not sin nor did he BLAME God.” (1:20-22)

Scene Two begins with Satan returning to speak to God in the heavens. Yes, Satan is definitely the one cursing as he goes back into God’s presence again.

Now, he wants to personally bring harm to Job's body but needs God’s permission to do this.

God is confident in his servant, Job. The question is not, “What did Job do wrong?” It is, “What did Job do right?” Satan accuses this man again and immediately leaves God’s presence and brings sickness (Skin for Skin), and boils to Job from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet.

I have heard this story many times but missed the magnitude of it… Perhaps, you did as well.

Did you know that he stayed in this condition for months and that this condition caused Job to be rejected, isolated, and relocated to the city dump where he sat in rubbish, garbage, and human excrement?

When things couldn’t “go any lower” his wife approached him…

What was his response when his lovely wife asked him to “just curse God and die”?

Basically, this time he sang the ENTIRE SONG of “Blessed Be Your Name” with all verses and the chorus. The orchestra is playing and the praise is rising, but spirits are not… He is now surrounded by three of his dear friends… but they aren’t really being “that dear"!

What have you learned about Job and each of his three friends as you are reading their conversation about his “Les Misery”?

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments below.

Although Job has lost his family, possessions, wealth, his wife’s support, and now his own health, he persists that God has the right to give and to take away.

He reminds us that we need to realize that life is merely “ON LOAN” … Once again, only Satan (and perhaps Job’s wife) is CURSING.

As for Job, he is singing… “You give and take away, Blessed be the name of the Lord”… The sound of praise is irritating Satan's ears.

The Father is proud of this righteous son that even the “Prince of this World” can not bend or break.

Instead, Job Blesses…The curtain goes down on another day of excruciating suffering in Job’s “Les Misery”.

Satan SNEERS and God SMILES…

“Through ALL OF THIS Job did not sin nor did he blame God.” (Job 2: 21-22)