Is God Good?
June 10, 2018
Scripture: Job 9 and 10
I. God is good, but you cannot see the character of God from the actions of God.
A. In Job 9:2 Job responds to Bildad’s speech by saying, “Truly I know that it is so.” What is Job referring to? Probably he is responding to Bildad’s question in Job 8:3: “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?” Job knows that God is righteous. But even though God is righteous God had brought suffering into the blameless Job’s life. Had Job deserved any of this suffering? No. In Job 9:15 Job says, “Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him” (referring to God). Then in Job 9:20-21 Job says twice, “I am blameless.”
B. We see a series of why questions that Job asks of God in chapter 10. All these why questions are basically dealing with God’s goodness. See Job 10:2, 6-7, 8-9, 18. Does it sound like Job thinks that God is good in Job 10? No. 1 John 4:8: “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Based on the actions God has taken in your life, would you always reach the conclusion after every action that God is love? Sometimes, yes. But, sometimes, no. You cannot always see the character of God from the actions of God. So, you need faith.
II. God is good, but He uses evil for His good purpose to ultimately defeat evil.
A. If God is in control of everything what does that mean when bad things happen to us? Who is responsible for those things? Well, God is. Does that mean God is bad? That’s what Job wrestled with in Job 9:5-6. Job is not just writing here about physical earthquakes. He is also writing about moral earthquakes. When bad leaders do evil things, who is responsible? Job provides an answer Job 9:24: “The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges – if it is not he, who then is it?” God is in control even when evil happens.
B. 2 Samuel 24:1: “Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah.’” God incited David to sin. But look at how this same event is interpreted in 1 Chronicles 21:1, “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.” Satan incited David to sin. How can both be true? When evil things happen, God is acting through the agency of evil powers like Satan. God acts through Satan as part of His plan to turn evil into ultimate good.
III. God is good because God longs to justify you.
A. There is something that Job wants more than health or wealth or even children. What does Job want more than anything else? He wants God. That’s what Job is hungry for: God. In Job 9:2 Job asks, “how can a man be in the right before God?” To be in the right is not a state of sinless perfection. Job knows he is not perfect. To be in the right with God is what is called in the New Testament justification. It means to be just before God, to be declared righteous before God the judge of the universe. This is what Job wants more than anything else. To have a right relationship with God. He wants to enjoy a friendship and a relationship with God. So, Job in Job 9:33 expresses his longing for a mediator between him and God. He says in vs. 33, “There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.” Job yearns for reconciliation between him and God. And God will provide that mediator through Jesus.
Application:
Don’t let suffering convince you that God is bad. God is always good.
Sources:
The book of Job
Commentaries on Job by Francis Andersen and Christopher Ash