Grappling With God:The Gospel According To Job

Dear Church Family,

I am very excited about what God has for us in the ministry of the Word this summer season. This Sunday my family and I will be away for a long weekend together, and a great friend of New Covenant, Chris Castaldo, will be preaching the Word from Isaiah 6. Chris is the Director of the Ministry of Gospel Renewal at Wheaton College’s Billy Graham Center – he’s also married to Angela, who is the daughter of John & Susan Bixby. I know you will be well-instructed and nourished through Chris’s ministry, and I look forward to hearing his message online. Please warmly welcome the Castaldos as they worship among us this weekend.

Next Sunday, June 15, I am planning to dive-in to a five month sermon series through the Old Testament book of Job – my preacher's mouth is watering at how tantalizing a text Job 1 is proving to be for Father’s Day!

You might not immediately think of Job as an encouraging book. But let these two New Testament Scriptures prompt you to think again:

• In Romans 15:4, we read that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” That means that the Book of Job was written for our encouragement, to help us persevere in hope.
• Then in James 5:10-11 we read, “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” So one of the reasons God gave us the book of Job was so that we could see that the purpose of the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. That’s not what people typically think when they read the book of Job – but that is what the Holy Spirit designs to show us as we grapple with God in this poignant and profound book.

I have been greatly helped by Christopher Ash’s rich little book, Out of the Storm: Grappling with God in the Book of Job . Ash says that Job is a “neglected treasure of the Christian life.” It is “to be lived in and not just studied.” It’s a book that is meant to be read out loud, mulled over, absorbed, wondered at, unsettled by, and meditated upon. It is “a fireball book. It is a staggeringly honest book. It is a book that knows what people actually say and think – and not just what they say publicly in church. It knows what people say behind closed doors and in whispers; and it knows what we say in our tears. It is not merely an academic book. If we listen to it with any care, it will touch, trouble, and unsettle us at a deep level.”

In every season of life, members of our church family are going through times of tears – and as we share these tears and bear one another's burdens together at this particular moment, I expect the book of Job will prove to be a potent prescription from our wise and gracious Great Physician.

In preparation for this new sermon series, let me encourage you to do two things:

1. Read the book of Job repeatedly – and preferably, aloud.

2. Listen to this song called “Though You Slay Me,” with an interlude from John Piper’s preaching – though the words are bracing at points, I believe they anchor us to the ballast of truth we find in the depths of Job’s grappling with God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyUPz6_TciY

Grateful to be in fellowship and ministry with such a precious flock,

David