WITH JOB IN THE SCHOOL OF TRAUMA by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: Many of us have faced trauma of one kind or another in our lives. What happens when you see someone going through what we have been through? For example: if you had knee surgery and you see someone with a knee brace, you feel a sense of connection with them. You feel that you can give them some tips to navigate through their pain. Sometimes, it is a simple word of encouragement to remind them that their present situation is not forever. What if you’re going through some loss – loss of property, loss of a relationship, loss of health, or a loss of a loved one – you want to talk to someone who has been through a similar struggle. Imagine if you could sit down with Job and talk with him for a while about trauma. Do you think he could relate with you? Do you think he could give you some helpful advice to navigate through your struggle? If there’s one person who went through extreme trauma, it was Job. In today’s message, we’re going to be with Job in the school of trauma. I’ve invited Nicole to join me for this message because her specialty is in counselling, especially trauma.
As you know, unbeknownst to Job, there was a wager on him in God’s court in heaven. God bragged on Job for being “tam” and “yasar” = “a man of high moral integrity” and “wire Elohim” = “who honored God and treated inferiors with kindness and respect” and “wesar mera” = “did not take advantage of his wealth and position to indulge selfish, sinful whims” (Duane Garrett). But Satan doubted Job’s motives – “Does Job fear God for nothing? It’s only because of God’s protection and prosperity that Job fears God. Take them away, and he will curse you to your face.” God’s reputation was on the line – “Job fears me not because of all that I do for him. He would still fear me even if all that is taken away from him.” So, God allowed Satan to put Job through a trial. So, it began…
Strike #1 – Job 1 (page #777) 13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; 14 and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 when the Sabeans (ancient culture that lived in modern day Yemen – even before the Arab was born) raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Strike #2 – Job 1:16 While he was still speaking, (Before Job could get a retaliation to go after the Sabeans) another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Strike #3 – Job 1:17 While he was still speaking, (Before Job could get the word out to get his other livestock out of harm’s way) another also came and said, “The Chaldeans (they were a Northern tribe; in the LXX translated as horse riders) formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Strike #4 – Job 1 18 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Strike #5 – Job 2 (page #778) 3 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? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” 4 So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.
I would say that Job is in severe trauma!
Nicole
As we talk about Job, we need to revisit what trauma is. Trauma is not an event; it’s a response to an event. As I have talked about before in previous messages, trauma means “wound.” A trauma can overwhelm or threaten someone’s identity, security, or safety. An example of loss of identity could be the sudden loss of a spouse, parent, or child that can lead to a crisis of identity. Examples of loss of a sense of security can be assault of various kinds, natural disasters, or mass violence. These types of events more often lead to PTSD because sounds and smells can be triggers to those who have experienced them. Many of the individuals that experience a loss of security also deal with loss of a sense of safety as well. These individuals struggle to feel safe in many everyday settings. Reading through the book of Job, we can see that he experienced all of these things.
Job did not nothing to cause the catastrophic events that resulted in the loss of his family, his wealth, and his health; but all of these events proved too much for Job. By the middle of chapter 2, we find Job sitting in an ash heap scraping himself with a piece of pottery. We are not told if Job suffered any aftereffects of his losses, but I believe we are safe to assume that he did. The sound of an approaching storm, a voice he heard that sounded like one of his children or grandchildren’s voices, the memories of all the family that he lost must have been triggering and still brought waves of grief for years to come.
Abidan
He not only raised his children well, but he spared no cost to ensure their right standing before God. They got together with each other and invited one another for their birthdays. We would call this evidence of good parenting. But 10 feasts would require proper sacrificial meal of atonement before the feasts. This was already understood. Now, after the feast, he also offered a whole offering for each of his children. This offering had to be completely burned. That’s 10X10=100 animals burned completely. We can see that he really loved and cared about his children.
Nicole
For many of us, this is a new concept…making Job so human. We spend our lives reading the Bible and not thinking about the fact that all the people that the Bible talks about were real people with real struggles. Unwittingly, we have made them into fictional characters in our minds. The goal of this message is to help us realize and internalize that Job was a real person who lived and suffered tremendous losses just like us. The language surrounding suffering has changed, but traumatic experiences and the need to heal is as old as humanity itself.
Something that is not talked about in church is that our trauma (wounds) causes us to question our beliefs about God and the world we live in. Our trauma leaves us changed forever. This truth is hard for us, as well as our family and friends to grasp; that the person you were – the person your parent, spouse, child, or friend was is forever changed. The church as a whole does not know how to deal with trauma. Many times, when we hear of a church member suffering a devastating loss of some kind, we have no idea how to respond. We don’t know what to say so we say nothing at all, or we send a card and feel we have done our part. What that person needs are for us to visit them or call them and listen. There is no need of words especially when there are no words. The ministry of presence is what suffering people need.
Abidan
Job had a mathematically balanced but not perfect life. Everything was in totals of 10 – 7 sons and 3 daughters, that’s 10. Then 7000 sheep and 3000 camels, that’s 10,000. Then 500 yokes of oxen and 500 female donkeys, that’s a 1000. This is very interesting because in ancient Near Eastern writings, 7 and 3 are numbers of fullness but 10 was a number of testing and trials. By the way, Job mentions this later – Job 19:3 “These ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.” So, he was aware of the precarious nature of life. In other words, he made every effort to please God. This was not because he was terrified of God, but it was because he was truly devoted to God.
All that to say, even though Job went through the worst time of any person, he did not completely fall apart. It is because his beliefs, his worldview, his approach to life was not shallow. So, even though it was very very very tough for him, he was able to survive by God’s grace.
Nicole:
How have you come to your beliefs about life? Your worldviews? How you approach life? They are all shaped by our experiences in life from childhood all the way through adulthood. All of our experiences in life are where our beliefs are formed. Throughout our life those beliefs are tested and maybe even challenged. Michelle Keener uses the example of our lives being like a filing cabinet, where all of our experiences have been filed away in the different folders of our mind. When we experience a traumatic event, it is like having a pile of papers on our desk that we have no folders for. Until we are able to integrate the experience into our life, which are the file folders, the pile of papers continue to sit on the desk and possibly even get bigger and more hectic.
If you or a loved one have been through a traumatic experience and cannot seem to move on, that is not weakness. We are uncomfortable with suffering. We want people to heal and move on so we are not uncomfortable. Also focusing on the traumatic event instead of the person’s response will bring shame, blame, or dismissal. Michelle Keener says in her book Comfort in the Ashes, “Shame tells a survivor their reaction to the traumatic event is not appropriate. Blame puts the responsibility for the event on the survivor and conveys that they deserve what happened. Dismissal ignores, critiques or downplays the survivor’s response and says get over it.” We have to forget our perception of what happened and focus on the response to the event. In their own ways, they put the blame for Job’s trauma on Job saying that in one way or another he did something wrong so God was punishing for his sin. Job maintained his innocence throughout the book of Job.
Remember that a person’s initial response to a traumatic event will not be their final response. We have either witnessed or experienced the numbness and shock following a traumatic event. God designed our brains to numb us, giving us time and space to gather the strength to face the immense healing that needs to happen and to rebuild their world that has shattered. As the trauma survivor begins to take notice that life is continuing on as if nothing has happened, it can be extremely disorienting and upsetting. This may be where we see a survivor’s response change to anger and rage. We cannot let these reactions take us off guard; we need to realize that the numbness is wearing off, and they are beginning to feel the effects of the traumatic event.
Jerry L. Sittser, A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss writes: “Catastrophic loss wreaks destruction like a massive flood. It is unrelenting, unforgiving, and uncontrollable, brutally erosive to body, mind, and spirit. Sometimes loss does its damage instantly, as if it were a flood resulting from a broken dam that releases a great torrent of water, sweeping away everything in its path. Sometimes loss does its damage gradually, as if it were a flood resulting from unceasing rain that causes rivers and lakes to swell until they spill over their banks, engulfing, saturating, and destroying whatever the water touches. In either case, catastrophic loss leaves the landscape of one’s life forever changed. My experience was like a dam that broke. In one moment I was overrun by a torrent of pain I did not expect.” To give you the context, he had a head-on collision with a drunk driver, and his wife, his mother, and his daughter were killed. “Three generations – gone in an instant.”
The goal is to go from the event defining the person’s life, to the event and the subsequent struggle to make sense of the horrific event becoming a part of the person’s story.
Abidan
Invitation: James 5:11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
Joni Eareckson Tada said – Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.”
Do you know the one who loved you enough to give his life for you? Do you believe with Job that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful?James 5:11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.