Sun. Aug. 1, 2010 (Kevin Hiebert)

Kevin introduced our four-Sunday series on the Book of Job. This is essentially an lengthy ancient poem addressing the realities of life (e.g., good and evil, the strained relationship between humans and God). Anonymous writers provided a mythological context by composing a fascinating parable (story) to surround the various sections of the poem like bookends. Grouped with the other poetic and wisdom writings in the Old Testament, this ancient poem asks questions such as, "Why does a good God allow suffering and evil?" At the beginning of the story, Job is portrayed as being so utterly God-fearing that he even offers sacrifices and prayers on behalf of his ten children after their parties, just in case any had fleeting 'thought sins' (a concept Jesus still needed to explain centuries later). The poem then asks, if God is all-powerful, why is there suffering, even for the truly righteous? If God is all-knowing, why are we (especially the righteous) not sufficiently warned? If God is truly all-benevolent, why is there so much evil in the world? The disasters, falling one after another in a miraculous succession, provide a literary device designed to portray supernatural intervention in the story. The stage is now set for us to explore the themes of this poetry. [JEK] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, August 1st, 2010 using your browser's preferred media player.