Sermon for March 26th, 2017

Job 40:1-8

1 And the Lord said to Job:
2 “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
    Anyone who argues with God must respond.”
3 Then Job answered the Lord:
4 “See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
    I lay my hand on my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
    twice, but will proceed no further.”
6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
7 “Gird up your loins like a man;
    I will question you, and you declare to me.
8 Will you even put me in the wrong?
    Will you condemn me that you may be justified?

Job 42:1-6

1 Then Job answered the Lord:
2 “I know that you can do all things,
    and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
    I will question you, and you declare to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
    but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
    and repent in dust and ashes.”                                          

Job's Prayer of Repentance

Larry the painter would often water down his paint to make it go further. One day, the church in Larry's neighborhood decided they were in need of a new paint job for the exterior of the church. They put out a request for bids, and Larry, being the low bidder, got the job. As always, he thinned down his paint with turpentine in order to keep his costs low.

Larry had almost finished the job, and was up on some scaffolding, when he heard a horrendous clap of thunder, and the sky opened up and the rain began to pour down. The thinned-out paint washed right off the church walls. Just then, a strong gust of wind blew Larry right off the scaffolding and landed him in the church courtyard, at the foot of the cross, in a puddle of thinned out, worthless paint.

Larry knew that this was a warning from the Almighty, so he got on his knees and cried: "Oh God! Forgive me! What should do?"

And from the thunder spoke a mighty voice: "REPAINT! REPAINT AND THIN NO MORE!"

Today we are examining Job's prayer of repentance in chapter 40 and 42. I'm calling it a prayer of repentance, because that word, "repent" actually appears in the final line of the prayer. But before we jump into the text, it might be helpful to understand what exactly we mean when we say "repent."

In English, the word repent comes from Latin by way of French, and is closely connected to the word "penance." Doing penance is the act of making something (that was wrong) right again.

In the New Testament, whenever we come across the word repent, it's a translation of the Greek word μετάνοια. Meta means around, and Noos or Noia is one's conscious mind. Incidentally, the word paranoid is related--para means irregular, so an irregular mind). So a "Meta-noid" is a changed mind. To repent in this sense is to change one's mind.

But in the Old Testament, the word we translate as repent is נָחַם (naham) and it means to be sorry, to grieve, to comfort/console one's self.

Hopefully you can see how all three of these senses of the word are related, but also distinct.

It also might help us understand why Job, after 30 chapters of insisting that he is innocent, that he is being unjustly punished, suddenly out of nowhere, says, "Just kidding, I was wrong. I'm sorry. I stand corrected." If you've been paying attention to the deep, heartfelt cries, to Job's anger and bitterness at his situation and at his God, this seems almost out of character for Job. It just doesn't fit.

Unless you read closely, of course.

First some background. Job's prayer of repentance begins in chapter 40, but God actually showed up in a whirlwind two chapters ago, in chapter 38, and has had quite a few things to say to Job, before allowing Job to respond. Before that, for thirty long chapters, Job has been doing three things: Blaming God for his situation, protesting his innocence, and demanding an audience with God.

On the first point--Job has been blaming God for his situation, for his suffering and loss--God does not defend himself, or for that matter even deny that he is, in fact, the cause of all Job's grief and suffering.

On the second point--Job has been protesting his innocence--God does not argue with Job here either. In the very first chapter and in the very last chapter, God declares Job to be blameless, and nothing God or Job says in between indicates anything different. So if Job says he's innocent, and God says Job is innocent, why does Job repent? More on that later.

But on the third point--Job's demand for an audience with God--that's the one point where something different happens. For 36 chapters, God was silent. Now God speaks, granting Job's request. So what has changed since the last time Job spoke and the beginning of his prayer of repentance? He's had a face to face encounter with the Divine Creator of the Universe, that's all.

A couple of weeks ago, during Spring Break, I took some time off to go camping by myself up in the Franklin Mountains. Grady was on a trip somewhere else with the scouts, and I'm grateful to Amy for watching Jonah and Abby so I could do this. My intent was to get away for awhile, do some studying, and do some sermon planning for the coming year. That didn't happen.