The Peril of "Doing What is Right in Our Own Eyes" -- A Message for July 12, 2026

 

It is difficult being a minister’s child – a “Pastor’s Kid.” Pastors kids are depicted on tv and in movies as either being goody-two-shoes or rebels. Pastor’s kids are often pressured to set a good-example to other children in their parent’s churches…the whole family may feel like people are paying attention to them as being different than everyone else – maybe put on a pedestal, but sometimes people are scrutinizing them for signs of imperfections.

So, the pastor's kids grow up like fish in a fishbowl. Sometimes, in response, the pastor’s kids figure out strategies to give their parents a hard-time, a comically hard time.

This morning, we focus on the scriptural passage Lucia selected as her favorite. She selected a passage from the book of Judges about a particular judge – Shamgar. Shamgar’s story consists of two lines in the Bible….listen to Judges 3: 31 and what it says about Shamgar – 

31 After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.

I suspect Lucia first and foremost chose this scripture to tease me – to give me a hard time. 

Perhaps, Lucia wanted me to spend my sermon trying to talk about an ox-goad….which is a tool used by farmers to guide and prod oxen. It is between 8 and 10 feet long – on one end there is a pointy, metal spike for poking oxen. The other end has a flatted chisel that is used to clear mud, roots and clods of earth off of a plaw so that it doesn’t get weighed down while it is being pulled by the oxen.

So, Shamgar became a judge in Israel after he killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad. What a brutal and bloody way to vanquish an enemy army. 

Lucia knew I wouldn’t have much to say about Shamgar and his oxgoad.

But, this little scripture passage allows us to dip a toe in the water of the book of Judges.  What was going on in this little scripture passage, and what was going on during the time of the Judges in Israel?

Now, please turn to Judges, chapter 2. We will read verses 10 through 23. Listen now to the word of God. 

The Scripture Lesson Judges 2:10-23 & Judges 3:31

After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 

Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 

They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 

because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 

In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 

Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. 

Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. 

Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 

But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. 

Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 

I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 

I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” 

 The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua. 

Here ends this reading of the Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…

The Message The Peril of “Doing What is Right in Our Own Eyes”

The book of Judges describes a difficult time in the lives of the people of Israel. A few generations earlier we find the people who followed Moses out of Egypt. They lived in the wilderness for 40 years – things were difficult, but they had the goal of soon entering and taking over the Promised land. They were first led by Moses – a capable and talented leader who was directly guided by God. God helped the people, fed them with manna from heaven, led their journey by day with a pillar of cloud and by night with a pillar of fire. God was intimately involved in protecting them and providing for them.

And, then the people came to the Promised Land – they reached their goal. Joshua led them into the land promised by God. But, the land wasn’t empty of people….different groups dwelled there. And, many of those groups were actually related to the people who traveled there from Egypt – they were descendants of Abrahan’s nephew Lot….they were descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael….they were descendants of 

Esau, Jacob’s twin brother.  So, the people in the Holy Land were distant relatives of the people who left Egypt to settle the Holy Land.

The writers of the Bible wrote that God wanted the people who left Egypt to kill all the people who were occupying the Holy Land, and take over their farms and villages and cities. But, the people who left Egypt, the descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel, had trouble doing this….they didn’t want to kill them all….these people were their cousins…and maybe they didn’t have the military strength or the ability to kill them all anyway.

So, they settled alongside the people who were already in Israel. Their kids played with the neighbor’s kids. Their sons married their daughters. They shared common hearths to bake their bread. They washed dirty clothing together in the streams that dotted the land. Soon, the Hebrew people, the descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel, started worshipping their neighbor's gods and goddesses too….what is good for my neighbor is good for me too, right?

Well, God didn’t like this. The people of Israel, the people God cared about and provided for and taught and made covenants with, were not supposed to worship false Gods….and they weren’t supposed to get married to people who worshipped false gods…and they were supposed to be loyal to our God….to remember God’s words:

 
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.“You shall have no other gods before me.”

But, the people were disobeying and worshipping other gods. And, were not following God’s laws.

God observed the people were not holding up their end of the bargain – their end of the Covenant. So, since the people weren’t being loyal to God, God wasn’t loyal to them – or so thought the writers of the Bible. So, God didn’t help the people when they were attacked by neighboring tribes and armies. God allowed them to suffer.

But, God still loved the people. And, God felt bad when they struggled. So, God would raise up “Judges” who helped the people – some of them were prophets who talked to God – others were mighty warriors who protected the people militarily. The Judge in Lucia’s passage, Shamgar, was a common farmer who used the tools of his trade, an oxgoad, to defeat an enemy. He was an unlikely warrior but God used him to help the people and protect them from their enemies.

Throughout the book of Judges, when the people were led by a helpful Judge, the people fell into line. They stopped worshiping idols and started worshipping God. They followed God’s commandments. They were faithful.

But, whenever the Judge who helped them died, the cycle started over again…..they started worshiping false gods, they were attacked by enemies, God raised up a judge, they fought off their enemies, the people fell into line, and then the Judge died and chaos resumed.

This chaos continued until God finally listened to the pleas of God’s people and gave them a king – we can read about how that went down in the books of Samuel.

The book of Judges concludes with this line: “ In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” 

As we read through the book of Judges, and as we read about human history when there has been a power vacuum, it is never good when everyone does whatever they want. Society slides into chaos very quickly – might becomes right – weaker people suffer – many people end up without the basic necessities they need for life.

The antidote to this chaos is Jesus. Jesus’s message to us was radically different than everything that came before Jesus. 

Jesus cut though all of the divisions that previously separated people. “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We are all one in Jesus Christ. All people have intrinsic value….all people are equal in the eyes of God and in our own eyes. We are mandated by Jesus to care for the least of these: the hungry, the thirsty, strangers, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. We are commanded to love our neighbor as we love overself. 

And, we are to follow the greatest commandment, to: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

Jesus’ antidote to chaos is love. As people of faith, we are called to take action to help other people – especially people who are weaker than we are, who don’t have the same amount of power or privilege we have. Our command as Christians, our duty as Christians, our opportunity as Christians is to work to care for each other and to care for the people in the world who are struggling. So, we can’t just do what we want. We can’t only do things that bring us pleasure, or make us happy, because we are commanded and challenged to take action to improve the lives of other people – do make them happy….to free them from their burdens.

The book of Judges is a guidebook to teach us about how people can get things wrong – As followers of Jesus, it is our opportunity to work on behalf of each other and get things right – to make a positive difference in the lives of other people.

Let us do so with love in our hearts today and all days. Amen. 

Holy Curiosity in the Shadows -- A Message for July 5, 2026

 

This summer, our worship services are focused on our members and friends' favorite scripture passages. Today, we focus on the favorite scripture of the oldest member of our congregation: John Becker Senior. It is not every congregation that can boast we have a 101 year old member – and a World War II veteran at that. Since this is the weekend we celebrate our Declaration of Independence, it is a wonderful privilege to focus on the favorite scripture of a man who made sure other citizens of the world would be free from tyranny and oppression and evi – that they too would have access to independence.

Mr. Becker selected John 3:16 for his favorite scripture – 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jesus made this statement, this declaration, in the middle of his nighttime conversation with Nicodemus the Pharisee.

This morning, we will read the entire passage about their visit with each other, as we turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 3, and read verses one through twenty-one….listen now to the word of God. 

The Scripture Lesson John 3:1-21 

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 

He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 

You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 

Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our 

testimony. 

I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…

The Message Holy Curiosity in the Shadows

Nicodemus was an important man in Jerusalem… He was a devout Pharisee…. He was a member of the Jewish Ruling Council – The Sanhedrin – which made him both a religious leader and a politician. Years after the conversation we read today, Nicodemus defended Jesus when he was at risk for arrest by telling the other members of the Sanhedrin that they couldn’t convict Jesus of a crime unless they gave him a fair trial. And, when Jesus’ life was over after he was crucified by the Romans, Nicodemus brought a one-hundred pound mixture of aloe and myrrh to the tomb and prepared Jesus’ body – this was a very expensive mixture and Jesus’s body was prepared for burial like a king, not like a Galilean peasant. Nicodemus must have been a man of means in order to provide such a luxurious balm to anoint the deceased body of Jesus. So, Nicodemus was faithful, he was a religious leader, he was a politician, and he was wealthy…

After Jesus’ baptism, he started doing things that attracted attention – he turned water into wine…he cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem of money changers…he preached profound sermons..he performed miraculous healings….he got noticed. Nicodemus heard about Jesus. And, he may have seen Jesus in action – but the scriptures describe Jesus as always attracting a crowd…whereever he went, he not only had his disciples with him, but he also had others seeking him out and observing his every move. Jesus was never alone. 

Nicodemus wanted to talk to Jesus one-on-one.  He didn’t want a crowd of people to listen to their conversation. He wanted Jesus’ undivided attention. So, Nicodemus visited Jesus in the middle of the night.

Nicodemus wanted to find out what Jesus was all about…who was he and what was his mission?

We were not in the room with Jesus and Nicodemus, so we are missing many details – how long did they talk? Were they standing up or sitting down? Were they eating and drinking? Was Jesus wearing his outer robe or just his night shirt? How formal were they? There are so many things we don’t know about their conversation.

But, we do know the highlights – Jesus told Nicodemus that no one can achieve spiritual truths without being born again. This was a new term for Nicodemus…and a new idea for him. He initially thought Jesus meant that people needed to literally shrink down into the form of a baby and be reborn out of their mothers – an impossibility. But, Jesus didn’t mean a literal birth – he meant a spiritual rebirth….being born of the waters of baptism and the Holy Spirit. 

Whenever we baptise someone at Trinity, whether they are two years old or 92 years old, we invite the Holy Spirit and the baptismal waters to be present with them so that they are born again. When we confirm our young people, like we confirmed Crystal a few weeks ago, we invoked her baptism and invited the Holy Spirit to once again help her be born again. And, when people join our church, we do the same – we remember their baptisms and invoke the Holy Spirit, asking them to be born again as they become a part of our church. Today, when we celebrate communion, we will invite the Holy Spirit to bless the bread and the cup, and bless all of us in our eating and drinking at the communion table – in a way, every time we receive the bread and wine of communion, we are born again because we are filled with the Holy Spirit as we take in the body and blood of Jesus.

When we are born again, we ask the Holy Spirit to give birth to our spiritual life. We stop being religious spectators and start being religious practitioners. We become followers of the Way of Jesus ourselves. We start living out the teachings of Jesus as part of how we live our lives.

Nicodemus probably wondered if Jesus was the Messiah. The signs Jesus accomplished certainly pointed to him being the Messiah, but he wasn’t sure. Although Jesus was sometimes poetic in his language, and asked as many questions as he answered, he was the Messiah….sent by God to save humanity.

The second topic that Nicodmus and Jesus covered was Jesus’ authority. Nicodemus wanted to know how Jesus could make these statements…how did he know what he knew? Jesus then told Nicodemus that he is the Messiah – he was God born as a man. And, Jesus was going to die on a cross, and whoever believed in him would receive eternal life.

The late-night conversation concluded with the most famous verse in the Bible, Mr. Becker’s favorite: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. God loves the people of our world so much that God shared himself with us in the form of Jesus….God wanted to teach us directly. And, God didn’t shy away from pain – God knew Jesus would die a gruesome death. God sent himself as Jesus so that the world would be saved through him. Jesus’s words taught us about God and how God wants us to treat each other: with kindness, generosity and love. God wanted everyone to know about God’s love for us and achieve salvation – not just Jewish people, not just well-behaved people, not just pious people, not just do-gooders, but everyone. 

Jesus came to the earth to save us…all of us. He didn’t come to judge us – decide who was in and who was out. He didn’t come to cordon off the good people and separate them from the flawed people. He didn’t come and say only the Jewish people are saved or only the white people are saved or the rich people are saved or the people who eat beef are saved. Jesus came to the earth to save us all and to encourage everyone to believe in and follow the guidance of God. 

Jesus came to earth to heal and save people, not for condemnation. But, we sometimes forget this. People are guilty of picking sides, and thinking some people are winners and some people are losers. We like to imagine that we are the good guys and others are the bad guys. We sometimes follow false prophets and false ideologies. We sometimes think we belong to a superior group of people and everyone else is wrong. 

Jesus came to earth to break us of these tendencies. Jesus came to the earth to save all people – all of us. The good guys and the bad guys. The Jewish people and the Gentile people. The people of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and Europe and Africa and Asia and Australia and the Americas.  Jesus came to save straight people and gay people….women and men and trans people alike. People with resources and people who are struggling. People who are old and people who are young and everyone in-between. Jesus came to earth that the whole world will be saved through him.

This weekend, this summer, we are celebrating the two-hundred and fifth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. We live in a nation founded on principles of justice and equality and fraternity for all people. And, we are also believers in a faith that is thousands of years old - although we are proud of the achievements we are part of as Americans, we should even be more proud of achievements we have made as part of the Christian family. God sent Jesus to save the world and to call upon us to take care of each other – the people who believe and the people who don’t believe yet. The people of our communities and strangers who are joining us here. The people who are struggling and seeking healing and wholeness and the people who are doing ok. God sent Jesus to save the world – it is our work to help Jesus however we can – help Jesus to heal and restore the world and make it the creation God intended it to be from the very beginning of time.

May we do so with our whole hearts and very beings – today and all days. Amen. 

The Eternal Word -- A Message for June 28, 2026

 

This morning, we are turning to a familiar scriptural passage, the first twelve verses of the book of John. This is a passage we hear twice a year in worship – on Christmas Eve and on Maundy Thursday. These poetic and philosophical words summarize the mission of Jesus and God’s intentions for sharing the embodied Christ with the world.

This morning’s “favorite” comes to us from our own Janet Crossgrove – Janet lifted up a verse from this passage as her favorite scripture ‘’Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” This is a description of the Christian faith in one sentence.

Let us now listen to the entire passage as we turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 1 and read verses one through eighteen: 

. 

The Scripture Lesson John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

He was with God in the beginning. 

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 

He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 

He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 

children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…Living God, by Your Holy Spirit, let the same Word that was in the beginning speak to us now. Silence the noise of our minds and the distractions of our hearts. Let Your truth pierce our darkness, and let Your grace transform our lives as your scriptures are read and proclaimed. Amen. 

The Message The Eternal Word

“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

Although we are focused on the Gospel of John today, we need to start at the beginning of the Bible...the beginning of time…the beginning, period.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

“And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.”

In the beginning of creation, God the Creator was present. God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, was Present. And, God’s word, the voice of God, was present. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

The Creator of Creation, The Redeemer of all People, and the Sustainer of all the faithful were together from the beginning.

This is Christianity in a nutshell – we were created – our earth was created – the heavens were created by our Triune God – As Psalm 19:1 sings: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” Jesus was always present as part of God – He is the word of God made flesh….God’s word embodied in a human form. 

The first verses of John explain, in very poetic language, that God decided to split off the Part of God we call Jesus to live on earth – for a moment in God’s time and for a human lifetime as we understand time and space.

God wanted us to hear directly from God. And for those of us who embrace Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and who believe in God “...he gave the right to become children of God…born of God” As followers of Jesus Christ, as followers of the Way of Christ, we are God’s children.

And, because of our faith in God, and the illumination of Jesus Christ, “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” We receive Grace and Truth through Jesus Christ.  Grace is God’s unmerited favor – God forgives us and loves us even though we are deeply flawed and make mistakes. Jesus revealed God’s truth to us, and shares God’s grace with us.

 Jesus came to earth to teach us about God….that God is real…that God has a good plan for us as individuals and for us as the collective body of humanity. God wants us to live lives in service to God – caring for God’s creation and caring for those Jesus called “the least of these”: people who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, or imprisoned...people who are often overlooked or marginalized. 

God wants us to have our faith at the center of our lives – not as an afterthought, not as something we do when we are not too busy, not as something we only think about a few hours a week on Sunday mornings – but at the center of who we are, how we live, and how we treat each other.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Jesus was part of the creation of the world, the creation of the universe, and our own creation from the beginning. Without Jesus nothing was made. There are no mistakes….no accidents…no forgotten corners of creation.  The same Word of God that engineered the creation of the cosmos and the oceans knit us together in our mother’s wombs. We are unique creations of our loving God…our personality, our gifts, our senses of humor, our senses of justice…everything that we are, our whole existence is crafted by God.

Sometimes, when we are feeling blue, we feel like we are worthless. We sometimes feel invisible. We sometimes feel like our mistakes are dominating our lives. We can feel unworthy or unloveable. In these hard times, we must remember we were created by God, on purpose, with our unique talents and personality and gifts. We are part of God’s creation. We are a gift from God.  

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Let us remember we are a cherished creation of our God, as is everything that surrounds us in the natural world and the cosmos. Let us care for God’s creation, each other and ourselves and remember we are loved and cherished by our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sustainer. 

Amen.

The Wisdom of the Creatures -- A Message for June 21, 2026

 

This morning, we welcome Nan Burch as our first Pulpit Assistant in a long time. You are invited to also lead us as the pulpit assistant – people have asked for us to have different voices leading worship, and serving as the pulpit assistant is a way for you to help enrich our worship time.

This summer, we are turning to Trinity’s favorites. After the message, Nan will tell us a little about her favorite hymn. And, for those of us who know Nan, we know that she is an animal lover. This morning, we hear one of her favorite scriptures, a selection from Job that highlights the trust the natural world has in God.

Nan: 

The Scripture Lesson Job 12:7-10

 

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,

    or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;

 

or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,

    or let the fish in the sea inform you.

 

Which of all these does not know

    that the hand of the Lord has done this?

 

In his hand is the life of every creature

    and the breath of all mankind. 

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…

The Message The Wisdom of the Creatures

Job, the man at the center of the book of Job, had a very strange life. He was a man of faith. He was a hard worker. He was a good family man. But, he got thrown a curve ball that he didn’t expect, and the book named after him is focused on how he responded to that unexpected circumstance.

The book of Job starts out with an imagined conversation between God and Satan – they made a wager of sorts – Satan told God that if Job lost all of his possessions and family members, then Job would curse God….Satan theorized that Job was only blameless and upright and rejecting of evil because God had blessed him with abundance and possessions. Satan wagered with God that if everything was taken away from Job, he would no longer be blameless and upright – and he would become evil and curse God.

This is an imagined conversation – Job is a parable used to teach us a lesson about why God allows suffering – why God allows bad things to happen to good people ... ..why God allows evil to exist.

After this imagined conversation between God and Satan, bad things happened to Job. God allowed Satan to inflict harm on Job – his children all die, his wealth and possessions were lost, his health failed. And, then after all these problems, Job’s three friends came to “console” him, supposedly, but they tried to tell Job that his suffering was a punishment from God because Job had failed – the friends tried to tell Job he was deserving of his suffering because he had done wrong.

Despite every miserable and sad thing that happened to Job, he didn't curse God…   .he complained ... ... ..he bemoaned his situation…but he didn’t curse God.  Job’s friends told him to curse God and die (again, these friends were unhelpful)...but Job remained steadfast in his faith and his loyalty to God.

Finally, God spoke to Job (and his friends) out of a whirlwind, told Job he didn’t do anything to bring on his suffering, and then God restored Job’s health, possessions, wealth and children. God proved to Satan that people can remain faithful to God, and thankful to God, even when bad things happen to us. This book was written to encourage us to hold on to our faith in God even when our lives fall apart….No matter what befalls us, God is with us. God is real.

In the midst of the challenging conversation Job had with his unhelpful friends, we find the scripture we read today. 

Job told his friends to stop being so intellectual – to stop speaking about theories and ideas and to take a look around outside…Job said the natural world, and God’s creations, help us understand God’s character.

Job tells his friends to look at creation to see God at work. The natural world doesn’t question the existence of God – instead, God is the source of all life.  We are not self-sustaining – every single breath we take is a gift from God. Everything we need on earth is a gift from our loving God – the plants and animals we eat, the air we breathe, the materials we use to build our homes, the water we drink. Everything in our natural world is a gift from God.

We can also look to the natural world to calm our own anxieties.  A 2020 article published by the American Psychological Association (“Nurtured by Nature”) describes several ways time spent in natural settings can improve our mental health and sharpen our cognition. And, we don’t need to read an article to feel this for ourselves – our moods lift when we take a walk outdoors or spend time sitting on a bench at a park or watching the waves crash at the ocean. Walking through a forest or watching birds play can remind us that there is a grand, intentional design operating perfectly well without our control.

Sometimes. we can also fall into the trap of Job’s oblivious friends – we sometimes over-intellectualize things. But, looking at the natural world reminds us God is in control and we can depend on God. Sometimes, we need to tell our intellectual brain to quiet down and just return to simply relying on God.

We don’t always understand what God is doing in the world. We certainly don’t understand the randomness of life – sometimes bad things happen to the best people, and good things happen to deeply flawed people. But, no matter what we experience, God is our sustainer. God is with us, rooting us on, comforting us, listening to us, holding us up in the midst of our struggles. God’s presence is with us no matter what. God loves us and cares about what happens to us. God stands by us even when we feel alone. 

The book of Job reminds us that God cares about us even when our lives are hard. We don’t invoke bad things – our behavior doesn’t cause bad things to happen to us. And, even when we don’t understand how God’s plan is at work, God does have a plan. We must remember we don’t have to be in charge of everything – God is with us. 

Thanks be to God. Amen.