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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
■June;' 1640
INTERNATIONAL LESSON Commentary Outline-and Exposition Blackboard Lesson Children s Division Object Lesson Golden Text Illustration By B. B. S utcliffe By G retchen S ibley By G race W . K ellogg By E lmer L. W ilder By A lan S. P earce Points and Problems B y A lva J. M c C lain , President of Grace Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, Ind.
hence he could trust God’s actions, even when those actions were not understood by him. Furthermore, he revealed his patience with the program of God; he submitted to His leading, even though the plan included fearful difficulty for himself. Satan’s charges were all answered, and he was proved false. Job was shown to be neither a mere timeserver nor an idolator; he served God from no ulte rior motives. Hence God id proved to be supremely moral and wholly right eous. The story does not end here. Job was laboring under a misconception, and he needed to be relieved of his err or of thinking that fallen nature can produce any acceptable righteousness. The remainder of the book reveals how Job was corrected and how he came to accept the righteousness of God. HI. T he T hree F riends (11-13) These friends heard of Job’s distress and came to console him. They were earnest and sincere, but they manifest ed the folly of human reasoning in at tempting to understand the ways of God. They illustrate the truth of Rom ans 11:33: “How Unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” They evidently had discussed Job’s case among themselves and had decided that, because of some secret sinfulness, he merited the trouble,he was experienc ing.. Disease had so greatly altered his appearance, that they did not recognize him. Out of respect for Job, or perhaps because they did not know just how to begin, they kept silence for seven days, and this attitude only added to Job’s sufferings. Their mistake was in thinking that all trouble and sickness come as penal retribution upon sin. Hence, they could not comfort Job. Indeed, there are few who know how to comfort a child of God in distress. With judgment based only on outward appearances, human na ture instinctively concludes: “It serves him right!” And from this beginning, the comfort that is offered can consist of nothing more than religious plati tudes that have no soothing balm. These friends of Job were not aware that the sufferings of God’s people are not retri butive but remedial, corrective, educa tive, designed for the healing of some thing worse than physical illness—that is, the cure of self-righteousness. Job’s sufferings were God’s remedy for this most prevalent human disease.
JULY 7, 1940 JOB TEMPTED TO DOUBT GOD’S GOODNESS J ob , C hapters 1 a n d 2
BLACKBOARD LESSON
Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present them selves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself be fore the Lord. 2 And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down In it. 3 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him In the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that •feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, al though thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. 4 And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. 5 But put forth thine hand now, and toucli‘his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy fadb. 6 And the Lord said unto Satan, Be hold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. 7 So went Satan forth from the pres ence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto h is' crown. S 8 And he took him a p o t s h e r d to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes. 9. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine Integrity? curse God, and die. 10 But he said unto her. Thou speak- est as one of the foolish women speaketh. What?, shall we receive good at the hand of Gon, and. shall- we not receive evil? In all this, did not Job sin with his lips. 11 Now, when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him, and to com fort him. 12 And when they lifted up their eyes afar off. and knew him not» they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. 13 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great. LESSON TEXT : Job 2. GOLDEN TEXT: “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” (Job 1:22). DEVOTIONAL READING: Rom. 8:31-39. Outline and Exposition I. S atan ’ s A ccusation ( 1-6) B EHIND Satan’s accusation of Job was his accusation of God Him self. In the first chapter, Satan contended that goodness could not ex ist apart from reward; and that Job was serving God only because God gave him good things. Following this rea soning, the conclusion is that God was immoral, buying Job’s allegiance. In this lesson, he continues to charge God
with being immoral because, he con tends, Job’s worship is bought by the bestowal of gifts. Hence the contro versy is really between God and Satan, and Job is merely the battlefield, with the universe looking on. Job, then, was accused of being an idolator, controlled by nothing higher than the first law of nature, that is, self-preservation. “All that a man hath will he give for his life” (2:4), Satan said, which, if true, would prove that Job worshiped himself. II. S atan ’ s D efeat (7-10) We should not overlook the fact that Job came to his sad estate and pitiful illness because of his goodness, not be cause of his badness; he was afflicted, not because of the absence of faith but because of the presence of faith. Sa tan’s attack is not upon a bad man, but upon a good one. Job revealed his confidence in the person of God; he declared that God is supreme and in control of all things. According to his testimony, it is God from whom came both the good and the ill. Job would not look at second causes, but he traced everything back to the first cause—and there he came to God and was confident in Him. Moreover, he revealed his trustfulness In the providence of God; he knew God was the Source of all wisdom, and [These lessons are developed from outlines prepared by the Committee on Improved Uniform Lessons of the In ternational Council. The outlines are copyrighted by the International Coun cil of Religious Education and used by permission. Scripture portions quoted are from the King James Version un less otherwise stated .]
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