John Hannah on Job 38-42

The latest PreachingTodaySermons.com e-mail newsletter has the following points from John Hannah on Job 38-42.

Is There Any Comfort?
by John Hannah
Text: Job 38-42
Topic: How God comforts us even when there are no answers
Big Idea: When Job questioned God, God responded not with answers, but with his character, which brought Job comfort.
Keywords: Comfort; God, goodness of; God, sovereignty of; Peace; Suffering

Introduction: God's deepest comforts are not attached to answers.

Job shares some insights gained on the anvil of experience.

• Job lost everything - possessions, family, health - and had 3 lousy friends to boot.
• Job answers his friends with 3 answers: one correct answer, but 2 wrong ones:
  - He's correct to say it wasn't his personal sin that caused his tragedy.
  - He's incorrect to say 1) God is uncaring, and 2) God is not in control.
• We sometimes make the same incorrect assumptions about God when in crisis.
• In Job 31:35, Job asks the universal question: "Why?"

God responds to Job's questions.

• Job 38-42 is the longest discourse in the Bible in which God speaks.
• God responds to Job's questions by raising seventy questions of his own.
• In Job 38:4-39:30, God answers Job's charge that he is unkind.
• In Job 40:6-41:34, God answers Job's charge that he is not in control.

Job responds to God's replies.

• In Job 40:3, Job essentially says he has no right to accuse God of not caring.
• In Job 42:6, Job repents for saying God didn't care.
• The point: Job had a terrific change of mind, even though God gave no answers.
• Job found comfort not in answers, but in God's revealed character. We can too.
  - Illustration: Hannah tells of the time his wife discovered a lump on her breast, and he found comfort in God's character.

Conclusion: What is the source of your comfort? The answer is in God's character.