God, can You turn my suffering into Your blessing? That is the last question in the book of Job, and this past Sunday Pastor Chip closed out The Struggle is Real with the answer from Job 42.
Why Football Camp Was Worth It
Pastor Chip opened with high school football. His friends talked him into playing by telling him how fun it would be. Then came camp, and there was nothing fun about it. Three-man rolls until he could not breathe. Bull in the ring, getting hit from directions he could not see coming. Running the Jericho wall around the whole field. Gassers at the end, where the last ones finishing kept running.
He wanted to quit. None of it made sense.
Then came the first Friday night. The lights, the band, the crowd, his team on the field together, and a win. In that moment all of it made sense, because he was finally experiencing what the suffering had been for.
That is what Job 42 does for your life. Your suffering is not only going to make sense one day. It is going to be worth it, on the day you see Jesus face to face.
Where the Book Left Off
Job was a godly man, a wealthy man, and a loving father, and he became a target precisely because of it. The enemy accused him before God of worshiping only for what he received, so God permitted everything to be stripped away. His possessions, his wealth, and all ten of his children.
Job tore his robe, fell on the ground, and worshiped. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
Pastor Chip drew the test out of it plainly. Do we worship God for who He is, or for what He gives? If the enemy can take one thing from you and your worship stops, that thing was functioning as your god.
Then came 34 chapters of friends offering counsel that sounded almost biblical and was not. Then God Himself spoke out of a whirlwind and never explained Himself. Which brought last week’s point: more important than knowing the why is knowing the Who.
Job 42 is what happens after. Three things that open the door to God’s blessing.
One: Repenting Brings God’s Blessing
Job 42 opens with Job answering the Lord. Pastor Chip stopped on that before reading further. We have a God who speaks personally to us through His Word and then lets us speak personally back to Him in prayer and worship.
Job says he knows God can do all things and no purpose of His can be thwarted, and that he spoke about things too wonderful for him to understand. Then verse 5 lands. He had heard of God with his ears, but now his eye sees Him. So he repents in dust and ashes.
Pastor Chip pressed on the gap that verse exposes. How many people only ever hear about God and never actually see Him for themselves? How many know about Him without knowing Him?
What did Job need to repent of? The same thing we do. In Job 13 he had said he would argue his case before the Almighty and win. Most of us have prayed some version of that. God, You are wrong to do this to me. This is not right.
Repentance is not just feeling bad. It is turning. Pastor Chip had the whole room stand and physically turn from one wall to the other to make the point. You cannot turn to Jesus without turning from your sin, and you cannot turn from your sin without turning to Jesus. You do not just turn your face. You turn your heart, your direction, and your life.
1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Two: Forgiving Brings God’s Blessing
Verse 7 is where it gets hard. God tells Eliphaz that His anger burns against him and his two friends because they did not speak rightly about Him. Then He tells them to bring an offering and go to Job, because Job will pray for them.
Read that again. God calls Job to pray for the three men who spent 34 chapters telling him his suffering was his own fault.
Pastor Chip did not soften it. There are people who hurt you in your suffering, and some who caused it. Living in unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping someone else dies. The only person it is killing is you. It gives the enemy room to grow bitterness and resentment and pent-up anger in your heart.
Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of the very people who put Him on the cross, while He was on it.
He also named what forgiveness is not. It is not saying what they did was okay. It is not excusing the sin or the pain. It is asking God to work in them, so they come to know Him, so they stop hurting others, so He gets the glory from their life.
1 Peter 3:9 says do not repay evil for evil, but on the contrary, bless, because to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. There are blessings in store for your life that unforgiveness keeps you from receiving, because you would rather hold the bitterness.
Three: Persevering Brings God’s Blessing
Job 42:10-17 says the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and gave him twice as much as he had before.
Notice the timing. The blessing came after the repentance and after the forgiveness.
Pastor Chip pointed out that Scripture describes God restoring the fortunes of His people some 25 times across the Old Testament. Whatever Satan, sin, or a sinner has taken from you, God is in the business of restoring.
Job ends up with double the livestock, which in today’s terms runs past a hundred million. He has seven more sons and three more daughters, and Pastor Chip made the case that this really is double, because his first ten are not gone. They are in heaven. He sees four generations and dies old and full of days.
Then he landed the plane on something important. God does bless in this life. He may restore your finances, your relationships, or your years. But His greatest blessings are not the ones He hands out here, because anything given on this earth is temporary and will come to an end.
1 Peter 1 describes an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 1 Thessalonians 4 promises that we do not grieve like those without hope, because we will be with the Lord and with the people we love who are in Him. And 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 says this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
Somehow, what you are carrying right now is going to feel light next to what He reveals.
What Suffering Actually Does
Pastor Chip gave four, and they rhyme.
It **makes** you more like Jesus, because He suffered for you.
It **takes** you closer to Jesus, because you run to Him as your refuge.
It shows you whose **sake** you are living for, His glory rather than your own comfort.
It **wakes** others up to the Gospel, because when people see you worship through pain, they learn your God is worth it. Your suffering is your witness.
Live It Out
Do not wait on this one. Pastor Chip’s whole point was that these two steps come before the blessing, not after it.
First, name the sin you have been circling and repent of it today. Not at lunch. Not tonight. Not after you have had long enough to talk yourself out of it.
Second, name the person. You already know who came to mind. Ask God for the power to release them, and then pray for them. Not because what they did was fine, but because bitterness is costing you something God wants to give you.
Then keep going. Do not quit. Do not stop worshiping. The enemy designed your suffering to turn you back toward your old life, and the single most defiant thing you can do is keep trusting God through it.
If what you are carrying feels heavier than you can hold alone, tell someone. Reach out to our staff. We would consider it an honor to pray with you and help you find real support.
There’s a Seat for You
Whether you are in the middle of it, coming out of it, or bracing for what is next, you are welcome here. This is a church full of people who worshiped before they ever got an answer.
Plan Your Visit and come as you are. Or take your next step and Get Connected with our church family. We would love to walk alongside you.