Dr. Timothy Keller
Why do we suffer?
Where do you get the Comfort you need. Cars have shock absorbers -they dont take away the bumps.
What kind of Comfort we ought to get- bad- better- ultimate comfort
Bad Comfort- Eliphas Calls Job a fool. Where do the upright ever get destroyed. Eli says you must have sown the trouble. Quit weeping. Friend's wife went thru depression- every morning he told her to buck up!
1 Kings 19- Elijah gives up. The angel cooks a meal. If we were only spiritual and moral we would just ask all the questions. We are social and physical very complex.
Eli does not grasp that complexity. Jacob was pathologically doting on Joseph- totally spoiled and murderously split the family. Joseph had a tragic flaw and would have been destroyed. Suffering saved him.
Job is different. Satan wanted to discredit Job. Instead Satan got beat at his own game.
People will say if you are sick - you don't have enough faith-
That- is illogical and moralistic. Eli does not understand the gospel. The Bible is not about people who get rich because they do right.
Mary & Martha- truth and tears sympathy.
Job- has to do some self Counselling
1. Emotionally real- pain heavier than all the sand of the seas- God is shooting me
2. He prays. (Job yells at God) suffering and evil makes life absurd Khmu says similar things. Job prays and the end Job triumphs.
3. He refuses suicide he asks God to take his life bat he knows that that would be no Comfort.
4. God loves me. My joy in unrelenting pain. - I have not denied the words of God. "The Praise of the praise worthy is above all rewards."- Lord of the Rings
Everybody eventually denies the words of the Holy One. Except Jesus. At the end of his life Jesus reaped trouble. He was the true ultimate Job. Rom 8:16
You have what Job didn't have.
Weep with them. Christianity is the only religion that has tears. Substitute
We don't know why we suffer.
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