WHEN IT’S TIME TO TURN THE PAGE by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: As you saw in the video and also on social media, our Clearview staff was in Nashville, Tennessee, last week, for the National Religious Broadcasters convention. We were invited to be on several shows on the Truth Network and Pray.com, and we were also able to interview people from various National and International organizations. It is wonderful to be at these meetings, for various reasons: we learn from other organizations and ministries, we make connections that are very strategic, and we are renewed in our commitment to keep taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. One speaker at a breakfast gathering made a statement that will stay with me – “People are not evil. They are just lost. Some people might be evil, but most just need the gospel.” Sometimes, we can lose sight of that fact. We have the answers to what people are searching for, and the answer is Jesus. In today’s final message through the Book of Job, we’re going to see how Job turned the page on trauma, and how with God’s grace, we can too. Turn to page #831. I am going to invite Nicole to join me for this message. She spoke in the second sermon, titled, “With Job in the School of Trauma,” and she is also speaking in this closing message on Job, titled, “When it’s Time to Turn the Page.”
Job 42 (page #831) 1 Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 3 You asked, “Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”
Context: We are now in the final chapter of the Book of Job. After dialogue after dialogue between Job and his friends, and the one-sided dialogue from Elihu, the pretender, God finally comes and has a dialogue with Job. This final dialogue cycle between God and Job ends with Job’s response in Job 42. This chapter can be divided into 2 halves: Job 42:1-6 and Job 42:7-17. The first half is poetry, and the second half is prose. In the first half, we see that the encounter from God changes Job. He is able to see the world in a new way and process his trauma, and he is ready to turn the page. He still uses poetry to do that. If you remember, poetry is the best way to speak when we don’t know how to explain what is happening. Even though Job has a visit from God himself and he is given knowledge, and even though Job is ready to process his trauma, he is still not able to fully explain what is happening. Michelle Keener, in her book, Comfort in the Ashes, says, “He (Job) cannot explain what he cannot know, and trauma, by definition, is not immediately knowable.” Listen again to Job 42 (page #831) and notice carefully when Job mentions “knowledge” and repeats “no” or “not” phrases. Job has been searching for “knowledge” as to why all this was happening to him, and the repetition of the negative is a poetic device referring to all that he thought was the answer to his trauma and turned out not to be. – 1Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 3 You asked, “Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, “I will question you, and you shall answer Me (make it known).’ 5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” This final verse has some issues that we need to clarify in translation. The word for “abhor” is actually “ma’as,” which can also “reject” or “discard.” The translators have supplied the reflexive “myself,” but that’s not necessary. In reality, Job is simply discarding the complaint that he was bringing against God. He realizes that it is time to turn the page. The second word to clarify is “repent.” The Hebrew word is “nacham,” which can also mean “console” or “comfort.” This is the same word that was used for Job’s friends in Job 2:11, “…For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him.” So, Job 42:6 can be translated as – “Therefore I discard, and I am consoled in dust and ashes.”
What’s the point? In the final dialogue with God, Job received knowledge from God, but it was not perfect understanding. It was beyond his understanding. There was ambiguity. In a sense, he understood, but he was not fully able to grasp it. Nonetheless, it was enough for him to turn the page.
Nicole:
Just like in Job’s case, “Knowledge helps but not having all the knowledge is okay.” Sometimes as human beings we want all the answers. We want to know why we are suffering. We must realize that we are not God. We must realize that in this life we will not have all the answers or the answers will not bring us the satisfaction that we think we need. This is where trusting God becomes a reality in our lives, understanding that we may never know why we or a loved one has suffered but God does, and that is enough.
Coming to this knowledge is not always a linear process, as it was for Job. What Job was able to say from Job 42:1-6 could be many ups and downs for us. Sometimes people think that “If I struggle, then I must be sinning,” and that is false. Sometimes we view struggling with the fallout from trauma as sinning because there’s a pervasive false idea that if I trusted God enough then I would not struggle. In John 16:33, Jesus told his disciples “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Jesus does not say in this verse that we are sinning when we are struggling.
Job made the poetic statement in processing his trauma, but this can look different for different people. It can be journaling. It can be seeing a counselor. You are the expert in your life so figuring out what might work for you may take a little while, but it is important to process the trauma. I like to compare processing trauma with walking into a swimming pool a little bit at a time. At first you may stick your toe in and that’s all you can take at that moment. The next time you may be able to put both feet in. I have even told people to set a timer while processing because knowing that there is an end to that time can sometimes help. With journaling through your trauma, you can also set a timer, and I recommend that you do not censor what you write. The journal is for your eyes only. Many people find journaling very cathartic. However, you decide to work process your trauma it will be a little bit at a time.
Integrating your trauma story into your life is the goal of processing. I gave an example in one of the last messages that I was on stage about life being like a filing cabinet or for those who are more computer savvy like file folders on a computer. Integrating and processing your trauma looks like trying to figure out what file folder the trauma goes in. In other words, it’s trying to figure out how your trauma fits into your schema. This process is as individual as each person. For Job, this was a matter of 6 verses, but for some, it might take 6 months. For others it might take years to integrate what you have experienced into your life. The goal of processing is for your trauma is to go from the trauma defining who you are to the trauma becoming just a part of your story.
The hardest part of dealing with your trauma is realizing that what you thought was true about life has turned out to be a lie. Our core beliefs about God and how he works in our lives can be the hardest schemas to deal with when they are shattered. Understanding that God allows bad things to happen to us can be a hard pill to swallow. As Dr. Shah and I have said in past messages it’s important to ask the right questions when you are going through a hard time in life. The right questions are, “God what are you trying to teach me?” And “God what do you want me to learn from this?” I believe that when we ask the right questions, we get the right answers, and our schemas are rebuilt on a solid foundation. That’s what happened for Job in Job 42:1-6, and he was able to turn the page. It was time for the next step where, “Recognition” and “Restitution” happened for Job. Judith Herman, in her work on trauma titled Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence—from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror writes, “These two responses—recognition and restitution—are necessary to rebuild the survivor’s sense of order and justice.”
Abidan:
The second half of Job 42:7-17 (page #831-832), where Recognition and Restitution take place, is back to prose. The first 3 are Recognition and the last 2 are Restitution.
1. God commends Job and rebukes his friends. This is Recognition.
Job 42 7 And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. 8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”
2. Job prays for his friends. This is also Recognition.
Job 42 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD commanded them; for the LORD had accepted Job. 10 And the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.
3. Job’s extended family comes to him. This is also Recognition.
Job 42 10 “…Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.
Nicole:
When we go through trauma, we have a tendency 2 isolate ourselves from others. There is a place for grieving alone and even processing alone, but it is unhealthy to stay there. God did not create us to be solitary beings. We were meant to be in families and in communities, especially the church community. Don’t fall into the lie of isolation, especially from church. We heal better when we are in a loving family Unit or a loving church family. Remember that the writer of Hebrews said in chapter 10 verse 25, “and let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do but encourage one another…”
Another part of dealing with trauma is very hard. And that is forgiveness. Most of us have the wrong idea of what forgiveness truly is. It is not letting the person who caused you harm off the hook. It is letting yourself out of the prison of trauma anger resentment and bitterness. Forgiveness does not mean letting a person back into your life either. There can be forgiveness without reconciliation. Forgiveness enables to move forward in life rather than remaining in the prison that you have built. Also forgiveness is not a once and done thing either. It may be a daily asking of God to help you to forgive the person who hurt you.
If you are the friends and family, walk with trauma survivors, not pressure for answers. If a friend has experienced a trauma the best thing to do for them is to be there for them. Encourage them to see a counselor, and a word of caution here, be careful who you see. There are many counselors who say they are Christians, and they very well may be, but they do not counsel from a biblical worldview. As Job’s friends did for the first seven days of going to see job, let your friend talk and just listen. Most of the time a person just wants someone to listen to them. Don’t try to correct them because they may be speaking out of anger and hurt. As they work through the pain, they will begin to see God’s hand in their lives.
Healing may not be linear but up and down. In counseling, aye tell people that healing and grieving a loss of any kind is not a linear process in fact it can be a very messy process. A person’s process through trauma is as individual as they are. There may be weeks that the person is doing well and then there may be weeks that they are really struggling. Let them know that this is a normal process, that what they are feeling is normal.
Abidan:
Now come the Restoration. Here, we need to notice something very important about who is doing the restoring.
4. God restores Job two-fold.
Job 42:12 “Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.”
Why is God restoring and not Satan? Why didn’t God make Satan restore?
- Satan does not restore. He only tears down. This does not mean that in today’s world there cannot be restitution by evil people. Yes, there can be and should be.
- Don’t forget that God signed off on Job’s suffering. Listen to Job 2:3 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.” Satan was given authority to be the chief angel to bring the praises of the creation to God and take God’s decrees to the creation. It’s like being given a signet ring. Even though he messed up, the authority remains. No, he cannot do anything and everything he wants anymore, but he can, with authority, do evil. He will be judged for that one day. God uses his evil to bring out those things in our lives that otherwise would not be possible. He is God’s Devil.
5. Job mentions his daughters very clearly.
Job 42 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first Jemimah (Yemimah – turtle dove), the name of the second Keziah (Kitsia – strong spice, cinnamon, from the Cassia tree), and the name of the third Keren-Happuch (Horn of kohl, black eye cosmetic).David Clines suggests that they represent hearing, taste and smell, and sight. All three senses. 15In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. 17 So Job died, old and full of days.
Job remembers that his previous 3 daughters were forgotten because they have taken on the names of their husbands who probably remarried. He doesn’t want that to happen to the next 3. For us, this seems odd, but, for a trauma victim, certain things are logical and normal.
What if “happily ever after” does not happen? God is your recognition and restitution.
Are you saved? Have you gone through trauma? Do you know someone who has? How are you helping them?