WHEN LIFE SEEMS UNFAIR by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction:  AI is crazy! Don’t try to find that video on Google. It was produced by our staff just as a funny introduction to our new series on Job. As we get into this series, we will learn that Job was nothing like what you just watched. If anything, he was just the opposite. But, unfortunately, that’s how we are until problems come into our lives. It’s all sunshine and rainbows until the rainclouds come and the storms move in. There are several goals through this series, 3 in particular: 

• As we embark on the holiday season, this can be a very stressful time for some. Family and friends can bring lots of joy in our lives as well as lots of tears. Hopefully, this series will help you navigate through those difficult times by God’s truth. 
• As we come to the end of the year, some of us have faced some of the most difficult seasons of life. You never imagined that 2025 would have turned out the way it did. Hopefully, this series will have you close this year with the right perspective on suffering.
• As we are about 55 days from Christmas, amid all the busyness and hecticness or life, hopefully, this series will help you keep your eyes on Jesus Christ. Through his pile of dust and ashes, Job declared in the end at Job 42:5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.”

No matter what you are facing in life, the goal of this series is to help you have a vision of God! My prayer is that with the eyes of faith you will be able to see what Christ is doing in and through your life.

Job 1:1 (page #776) “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.”

Context: Before we can dive into the message of Job, we need to have some fundamental understanding of its context:

1. The Book of Job is probably the oldest book in the Bible. Of course, Genesis contains the oldest account of the world’s history, but Moses wrote the Pentateuch around 1500BC. Although scholars disagree over when Job was written, in my view, it was probably written before or around the time of Abraham somewhere around 2100BC (Creation – 4000BC; Flood – 2350BC; Abraham – 2000-2100BC; Exodus – 1500BC). There are several reasons for that (most of the following is taken from an article on Job by Longman in DOTWPW, even though he advocates for a much later date):

1. Job’s wealth is measured by cattle and flocks. Job 1 (page #776) 2 “And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 3 Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.”
2. The patriarch of the family functioned as the priest for the family. Job 1 (page #776) 4 And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.
3. Job was probably 200 years old when he died. He lived another 140 years after his trial. Abraham was 175 when he died and Sarah was 127. Isaac was 180 and Ishmael was 137. Jacob was 147 when he died. This was still the age when people lived long, not as long as the pre-flood people; definitely, not as long as Noah who lived to 950 years of age.
4. There is no mention of the covenants, the Torah, exodus, the temple, etc.
5. The Sabeans and Chaldeans are depicted as marauding tribesmen.
6. Job 42:11 mentions “kehseetah” as a unit of money. It is mentioned very early in Genesis 33:19 (also referred to in Joshua 24:32).
7. There is mention of Dinosaurs in the book of Job. If you remember from our message several years ago titled “Leviathan,” Job talked about the Behemoth and the Leviathan, massive creatures on the land and the sea. This means that Job was written somewhere after the Great Flood mentioned in Genesis 6 and 7.
8. There are references to the Ice Age in the book of Job. Listen to Job 37      9 “From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds of the north. 10 By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen.” Again, Job 38      22 “Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail…29 From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? 30 The waters harden like stone, And the surface of the deep is frozen.” Now, Job could’ve been talking about the frozen lakes in the Middle East or just the harsh winters that come occasionally, but it could be that he is actually referring to the Ice Age caused by the Great Flood in Genesis 6 and 7.

2. The age of this book does not make it irrelevant; it actually makes it timeless. 

1. The dialect of Job seems to be different from the Hebrew of Jerusalem, much closer to Aramaic. In fact, the words used are rare and unique but also reflect a combination of various dialects of Hebrew. Even its poetry is early archaic in form. Based on this, it seems that this book must go back to ancient times, but that does not mean that it is primitive. It has 110 words that are found nowhere else in the Bible (See F. E. Greenspahn). There are 4 different words for “lions,” 6 different words for “traps,” and 4 different words for “darkness” (See R. Gordis). In fact, it is a book of many different genres – narrative, dialogue, poetry, psalms, and much more. One scholar (J. E. Hartley) remarked – “The author of Job was truly an international sage.”
2. It is similar to some other ancient works from the same period in history, but Job goes much deeper and much higher.
3. There were Mesopotamian and Egyptian texts from the time that dealt with the problem of human suffering, especially of the good. There are the Sumerian Man and his God, A Sufferer’s Salvation, the Babylonian Theodicy, etc. Then there are Egyptian texts like A Dispute over Suicide, the Admonitions of Ipuwer, the Prophecies of Neferti, etc. In the weeks ahead, I will show you how they got to the problem but couldn’t give the solution or gave the wrong solution.
4. To the contrary, Job was from the land of Uz. The Bible mentions the Uz two times: Genesis 10      21 “And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder. 22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.” Again, it is mentioned in Genesis 26:28. Later in Lamentations 4:21 “Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, You who dwell in the land of Uz!” More than likely, it was on the east side of the Jordan towards Northern Arabia, very lush and green at the time. Hence, probably before the time of Abraham and Lot.
5. Job’s name declares his dissimilarity with other works of the time. Some say that it is from the Hebrew and refers to “enemy” or “enmity.” Others say that it comes from Arabic meaning to “repent” or “the penitent one.” According to one scholar, it can be translated as a question – “Where is my father?” Here, father is referring to God. The name was found among the ancients (Egyptian, Mari, Alalakh, and Amarna) between early 2^nd millennium and 1400 BC.

3. What is the message of the book of Job? We will learn this over the next weeks and months. The Bible Job describes him as “blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” By the world’s standards, he was a very blessed man…until his world fell apart.

• He didn’t have a clue as to what was happening in the heavens. Job 1 (page # 777) 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
• He didn’t understand the power of the Enemy against him. Job 1       9 So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Listen to Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.”
• He had to face false advice from his friends. If he had listened to them, he would have proved that the Enemy was right and that he wanted to get his blessings back.
• He even received advice from one who operated from a biblical perspective but still missed the point by focusing on God’s justice and discipline. He chastised Job for his self-righteousness. If he had done that, he would have proved the Enemy right again!
• Job did not start doing things to please God. He knew it wasn’t about that. God was not blessing him because he was pleasing him.
• He asked the question that none of the ancient works could even fathom. Job 9      32 “For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. 33 Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand on us both.”
• God came and asked him some tough questions about wisdom, power, and incomprehensibility. George Bernard Shaw (Irish playwright and critic) made a wisecrack: If I complain that I am suffering unjustly, it is no answer to say, ‘Can you make a hippopotamus?’” He missed the point.
• God does respond but not in his defense.
• God was telling Job that he was asking the wrong questions. If you ask the wrong questions, you will get the wrong answers!
• God was telling Job that life is not as chaotic nor incomprehensible nor overpowering nor overwhelming as he thought. He was all wise, all powerful, and incomprehensible.
• It was not God’s justice that was on trial but his wisdom.

Ultimately, the greater answer was Jesus! Job 19       25 “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, 27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”

Job does repent but for doubting God.

Contrary to Bernard Shaw, there was another literary genius named Victor Hugo, who said: “Tomorrow, if all literature was to be destroyed and it was left to me to retain one work only, I should save Job.”

Do you know the Redeemer? Are you saved?