Job vs. Psalms

Contrast between Job / Psalms

• Pray

• Job wealthy and feared God – Bible says complete integrity (Job 1:1-12)

• Satan tries to drive wedge btwn Job / God – convinces God to allow

Tests. (I’m always amazed at the access that Satan seems to have to The God Of The Universe. [remember, God is perfect, everything about Him is legal and organized because of His perfection] - supiror)

• Story progresses – Job loses: family’, possessions, health

• people that knew him are convinced that through sin, he brought this on himself
• his wife in essence tells him he may as well “end it”

• 4 friends come to talk – Job didn’t talk for days

Friends just sat with him – (sometimes we don’t have to say anything to someone hurting. Just being there is what they need?)

• when they finally could talk to him tried to convince him to repent – his bad fortune caused by God punishing unrepented sin.

• God rebukes Jobs friend for thinking he had something to do with this – good in us always about Him ~ bag always about us or Satan.

• Job makes the case that he is righteous toward God and better than the unrighteous.

• Job not so concerned about what he’d lost, but why he lost it.

• Job asks God, “why” - (God never answers that question – they want argument not answer)

• God, then rebukes Job tells him don’t worry about it I Am Sovereign – what I say goes – tells Job whats what. 38:1- 41:34 
• Job is restored (chapter 42)

• lessons Job learned

1. God is sovereign – ALL AUTHORITY
2. Bad things will happen to good people – Gen 3, Satan (always testing, hates God and His people, Satan has limitations)
3. not that bad things wont happen, how we act when bad things happen – God want us to rely on Him alone.
4. God then fairness…not fairness then God
   
   

   • Even though Job, as well as his friends had the wrong theology (God causes hardship and bad things to happen to "punish or to teach lessons" to people) Job none the less proves he got the point when he didn't reject God when his own (incorrect) theology told him to (Paraphrased from Gregory A. Boyd's Is God To Blame ? - pp 94).

• Psalms are praise, laments, some wisdom (proverbs) all over the place. Not one story…a collection of conversations from the hart.

• Written mostly through David and son Solomon

• All Psalms put God first – acknowledge His Sovereignty

• They never ask “why me, I’m a good guy”

• Job asks until God sets him straight, “I’m righteous, why me?” – ignore God’s Sovereignty

• Psalms always seem to say “you are God, WHY NOT ME?”

• Psalms will ask for help – in doing so acknowledge God is only help

Ask class to draw conclusions btwn Job and Psalms