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"A Nation Mourns But Lives On"
Job 1:1-3 (13-21)
INTRODUCTION 1. At 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning September 11th, our world changed. Just as things have never been the same since December 7, 1941, they will never be the same from here on. a. So many questions confront us b. So few answers are available. c. The moral world, Is Wounded 2. As I watched the TV, listened to the radio, listened to people in
our community, talked with children, attended prayer vigils, and met with other clergy, a. I have been struck by the questions: Why did they do that? b. How can people be so evil? c. Who is to blame? d. Where is God? e. What can I do? f. And are we still in danger? [Questions are so hard to answer in tragic times. But we ask questions none the less...] I. If you were to take a tour of the Bible you would find that one
book has a more disproportionate number of questions than any other. A. Which book is that? It is the book of Job.
1. Job has over 330 questions in it’s 42 chapters. 2. The first book of the bible, Genesis, only has 160. 3. Matthew, the first book of the New Testament has around 180. a. And that’s odd because it seems that Jesus was asking questions every time he opened his mouth. b. Even the book of Psalms with its 150 chapters has only 160. c. So why does the book of Job have so many more questions? There is a very simple reason.
B. The book of Job deals with a horrible tragedy.

1.Here is what happened. Job is a righteous man.
2.Greater than all others.
3.A hedge, a barrier, is set around him, his family, and his business. C. Without warning, and for no reason other than his being blameless and upright.
1. His family and business is wiped out. 2. In the middle of the business of everyday life 3. Two rogue groups from Arabia and Mesopotamia conduct a raid a.Taking away Job’s livestock putting his servants to the sword. b.His family is lost in a freak accident c.A mighty wind sweeps in from the desert,
d.Strikes the four corners of the house, collapses it and all are lost. [It was swift. It was unwarranted. It was unconscionable...] II. Our very large family, our very robust economy has been hit and hit hard. A. Events of this past week seem eerily echoed in the story of Job. 1. Why is there such a similarity between the events of Job and the events of our life this past week? 2. Even though 4000 years separated the two events of life, and I mean the things that make life meaningful 3. The things that make life meaningful have not changed at all. Not even over 4 millennium.
B. So what do we do?
1. We do what Job did when he learned of his loss. We mourn. a. He was silent when he received the first two reports that his business and livestock had been wiped out. b. But when he received the news that his children were lost… He got up and tore his robe. Then, he feel on his knees and mourned: c. Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return.
d. In other words, everything that had meaning in his life was gone. As he came into this world so Job felt he was leaving it: Barren. 2. As the news poured in, we learned that many children of our country were lost: a. Dads, moms, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. b. The news has shown their faces and told their stories and the mourning has rippled across the country. c. We mourn for every family lost. Every family torn apart. d. We weep for our nation not because it has been weakened. It has not. e. We mourn because of our loss.
[Does mourning demoralize our people and paralyze our country? No, it does
not. It rather under girds our strength and reveals our soul...] III. After we feel we have cried about as much as is possible, we start asking questions. A. Who is to blame? That is where we stand now.
1. Scary thing about answering this question is that in this situation the implications are so profound. 2. Our world is now so small. 3. How we answer this question involves the world.
B. Job had a hedge of protection. ?
1. Spiritual barrier which God erected, but then a trial came Jobs way.
a. Satan was allowed to have his way with Job.By touching his business, livestock, all he had, but not his life. b. It is the Old Testament’s way of saying even the most righteous and best of this earth are not immune to evil. c. Just because we are good does not mean we are protected from bad. Not in this life.
d. But Job could not understand this. He was too caught up in his grief and loss. 2. Neither could Job’s friends comprehend what had happened. a. His three friends come to him and say, in effect, only those who have done evil perish. b. Those who are righteous are never destroyed.
c. They thought Job had done some terribly evil thing and this is why he was suffering. d. God had lifted the barrier to punish you, they said. They of course are wrong. [I was struck this week by a comment made by a journalist on one of the network news shows. We thought we were impervious to attack because of two great barriers the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Those are no longer barriers. They have been breached and our protection is gone. The Disney song was correct: It is a small world after all. A World War II Vet said,“Most of us think we can’t be hurt over here. But most of us who have been through it know better”...] [I have heard Christians say who have good intentions that this was God’s will and we need to have faith that something good will come out of this. They are wrong. You cannot pin this on God. We must learn what Job eventually learned. That as good and great as America is we do not have an exclusive and closed relationship with God. No one does. There is a third party in this world who at any moment can intrude. And Satan and all the evil he inspires intruded this Tuesday through the hearts and minds of ruthless men...] IV. Final question. Where then is God? Where is God when terrible tragedies befall us? A. Job’s friends are silenced because they are wrong. 1. Job continues to speak, He wants to know why he has suffered. 2. Why God has allowed this to happen. a. He finally gets his answer when God visits him from out of a storm and asks Job 86 questions. b. 25% of the questions in the book of Job are asked in four chapters where God is interrogating Job. B. God's questions to Job 1. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you understand. 2. Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? 3. Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane. [Job is silenced and he realizes he is only a man, that he cannot possibly
comprehend the meaning of the events around him. In the end Job repents in
dust and ashes.] V. Where was God this week? A. Hear me now. God was not in the cockpit of those four planes. 1. This was an act of evil, the same destroyer that came to Job 2. Was the same enemy that used these evil men to bring destruction. B. I’ll tell where God has been. 1. He has been in the fireman’s suit 2. Behind police badges. 3. Holding a scalpel and a syringe. 4. He is near the heart of all who in the face of this tragedy love their neighbor and turn to God in repentance--those who in the ashes of these last few days turn to him, not for answers, but because in the end tragedies teach us that we are mortal and that God is our strength at times like this and always. 5. Jesus said come unto me all that are week and heavy burdened and I will give comfort, rest and peace. CONCLUSION 1. And as mortals it is only natural for us to ask questions. a. What should we do? b. We should mourn, yes, c. but we should also rebuild and we should start as soon as we honor in death those who have fallen. d. Who is to blame? e. We have done nothing wrong to warrant such atrocities. f. This is the work of evil men. 2. Where is God? He is here, a.He will never leave us or forsake us b.Jesus said I will be with you even in you until the end of the world And the world still is here so christ is here with us as well.

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