Faith Under Fire: Job 14:7-15; 19:23-27 - Third Sunday after Pentecost

Aside from Jesus, is there anyone in the Bible who is as patient as Job?

If I were in Job’s situation, I cannot say I would be as patient as Job was, being in unimaginable pain while carrying unimaginable grief, all while having three men relentlessly trying to persuade me that deserve my suffering. 

I don’t want to bear a false witness about Job’s friends, as I believe some of their intentions were good. But as I said before, they are doing Satan’s work for him as they bombard Job with accusations. 

Image by Tobi J from Pixabay

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The longer this goes on, the more this is starting to look like a room full of overzealous detectives trying to force a confession out of a suspect. The problem with such relentless questioning is that the person may be inclined to make a false confession, just to end the ordeal.

Job, on the other hand, is adamant about his innocence. And he will not back down on his complaint that God been unfair to him. 

At this point, it’s a miracle that Job hasn’t cursed God (or his friends). Considering the depths of his despair, it would come as no surprise if he lost all faith. 

And yet, in the depths of his despair, Job makes one of the most beautiful confessions of faith in all of Scripture:

“For I know that my vindicator lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”

I hear Job’s words as a deathbed confession. His body would’ve stood a chance against infections or parasites due to all the open wounds on his flesh, not to mention the fevers and dehydration he also suffered.

Still, I don’t lift this up to commend Job for his faith, but instead to commend God for Job’s faith, because no human being could keep the faith after having lost absolutely everything, all the while trapped in a body that is rotting away, and your friends keep telling you that God is giving you what you deserve.

His story provides an important perspective on the question can you lose your faith?

I know many, and I’m sure you do too, who have walked away from the Church, from the faith, and from God. The reasons why are wide-ranging. Many find themselves in situations terribly similar to Job’s and cannot reconcile the God they loved and trusted allowing them or someone they love to suffer, especially when they did nothing to deserve it. Others are so repulsed by the behavior of other believers that they want no part in the religion of those people. Some simply grew bored or restless, having hungered for a closer walk with Jesus without ever finding what they’re looking for. Then there are those who get caught up in the busyness of life and just drift away. 

No one is immune from the entanglements of sin and unbelief, which is why no one should ever feel ashamed for where they are (or aren’t) in their walk with God, nor should anyone ever be made to feel ashamed. 

Just because you let go of God doesn’t mean that God is going to let go of you. Though you can forget about God and forget about faith, you can’t lose your faith any more than you can lose God.

Over the years, I’ve cared for many believers just prior to their deaths. There have been multiple occasions in which I’ve testified to the person’s faith at their funeral, only for a friend or loved one to approach me after and tell me that the person was an atheist.

I believe those loved ones were telling the truth. But I know spiritual hunger when I see it. I know faith when I see it. Most importantly, I know the saving power of Jesus Christ when I see it. I thank God that the person died in faith, rather than dying in the agony of unbelief, because the latter is too horrific to imagine. Long ago, God planted the seeds of faith in that person. Their faith may have gone dormant. Their faith may even have died, just as Christ died. But God loved them too much to let them go—just as God loved Job too much to let him go.

That’s one of the greatest promises of our faith: God holds on when you can’t. 

Faith is not something one should ever take for granted. Same with the church. Same with God. It’s so easy to put Jesus aside for worldly priorities and opportunities. The instant gratification and visible rewards of the world’s gods will always be compelling. 

But when your body’s weak, your spirit fails, and hope is lost, you are not forsaken. You are not condemned. You are not cursed. 

If your faith is nothing more than Job’s, to cry out in anger and helplessness to God, God can use that faith to comfort you, strengthen you, heal you, speak to you, and most importantly, to save you.

Your Redeemer lives. Christ will stand upon the earth, and you shall see him. Your God is always hanging on.