Week 7 A Friend in the Storm
The story of Job is still relevant for us today with all our modern problems
“We see the storm clouds gathering and events taking place that herald the second coming of Jesus Christ.”
Billy Graham
Passage
24“Teach me, and I will be silent; And show me how I have erred.
25“How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?
26“Do you intend to reprove my words, When the words of one in despair belong to the wind?
27“You would even cast lots for the orphans And barter over your friend.
28“Now please look at me, And see if I lie to your face.
29“Desist now, let there be no injustice; Even desist, my righteousness is yet in it.
30“Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern calamities?
Job 6:24–30 (NASB95)
"Following Three Friends Into a Storm" by mightyboybrian is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Background
Quote-William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christian figure, and according to a biographer, was "among the most influential Christian leaders" of the 20th century.
Graham held large indoor and outdoor rallies with sermons that were broadcast on radio and television. In his six decades on television, Graham hosted annual crusades, evangelistic campaigns that ran from 1947 until his retirement in 2005. He repudiated racial segregation and insisted on racial integration for his revivals and crusades, starting in 1953. According to his website, Graham preached to live audiences of 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories through various meetings.
Passage-The book of Job is Narrative History. Its author is unknown yet it is possible that Job himself wrote it. It is possible that Job is the oldest of any book of the Bible written approximately 2100-1800 B.C. Key personalities of this book include Job, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, and Elihu the Buzite.
In Job, we see a man who God allows to be directly attacked by Satan. He is an example of faithfulness as he loses everything important to him yet remains faithful to God. Its purpose is to illustrate God’s sovereignty and faithfulness during a time of great suffering.
Lesson Notes
Opening Statement
Storms rage all around us in life. The Bible has examples of storms raging around people too. Studying how they delt with their storms can be relevant to us today, if we let it be relevant. He who has ears, let him hear.
Ask: Who was Job?
Point: Job was a pious religious leader of his day who, through no fault of his own, lost everything including the respect of those around him.
Ask: Was Job justly or justly persecuted?
Point: Unjustly. Job did nothing wrong, and God knew it.
Ask: Why is Job’s persecution a story of hope?
Point: Because God never left him, even when Job was yelling at God.
10“Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness, And from the Almighty to do wrong.
11“For He pays a man according to his work, And makes him find it according to his way.
Job 34:10–11 (NASB95)
Ask: Was Job in or out of the “storm?”
Point: The Book of Job is all about Job going through the trials of life. He was most certainly in the storm.
12Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.
Job 1:12 (NASB95)
Ask: Who caused Job’s problems?
Point: Satan.
4Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
5“However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.”
6So the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.”
7Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
Job 2:4–7 (NASB95)
Ask: Where is there hope for Job in the midst of his storm?
Point: Job is before the New Testament, which is the Gospel account of the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus sacrificing for all of humanity which is hope for us today. Where is this hope for Job?
11And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”
13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;
15And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
Genesis 3:11–15 (NASB95)
Ask: Does this hope for Job in a Messiah extend to us today?
Point: Yes, it does.
14Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
16For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.
17Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
18For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Hebrews 2:14–18 (NASB95)
Ask: How can we take hope for us today from the story of Job in the midst of his storm from so long ago?
Point: We can learn from how Job weathered his storm and apply that to the storms we face in our own lives.
Please re-read verses 24-25 from Today’s Passage
Ask: What lesson is Job trying to pass on to us from the middle of his storm?
Point: Job is asking God to instruct him in what to do.
Ask: What is contained in Job’s words that must be in place on our side if we are to gather help in the middle of our own storms?
Point: Job is ready to listen to the instructions of God’s Holy Spirit, and make the changes necessary to weather the storm.
7Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance.
8“The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
9So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.
Deuteronomy 31:7–9 (NASB95)
Ask: This is the Law of Moses in the Ark of the Covenant. Job had the Ark which we no longer have. How do we carry the hope of the Ark today in the midst of the storms we face?
Point: Please read the following:
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
7“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
John 14:6–7 (NASB95)
Ask: What “Friend” therefore do we have in the middle of our storms that can be with us, help us, and guide us as God was with Job as Satan raged about him?
Point: Please read the following:
Closing Statement
7“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
8“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
9concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
11and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. John 16:7–11 (NASB95)
Questions for the Week
Question 1 Read all of John Chapter 16 (provided in the NASB at the end of this lesson)
Question 2 If you are in the middle of a storm in your life, re-read John Chapter 16 from the perspective of Jesus giving you comfort and advice.
Question 3 Write in your journal as much or as little as you are led to write concerning what comfort and advice you heard from Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God in your readings this week.
John Chapter16
1“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.
2“They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.
3“These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.
4“But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
5“But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’
6“But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
7“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
8“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
9concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
11and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
14“He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
15“All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
16“A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”
17Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this thing He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”
18So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.”
19Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’?
20“Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.
21“Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world.
22“Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
23“In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.
24“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.
25“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father.
26“In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf;
27for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.
28“I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”
29His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech.
30“Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.”
31Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?
32“Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.
33“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:1–33 (NASB95)