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THIS WEEK’S PASSAGE : Job 13:20-25, 17, 38:1-21
PREPARATION
You will need pieces of paper and pens for the unanswered questions section.
MAFIA
15 mins
Play a round of the youth group classic, Mafia. Get your young people into a circle and, once they’ve closed their eyes, choose three mafia members and a doctor. Once everyone’s been selected and knows who they are, the game begins. Walk around the circle saying that it is night time, and that everyone in the village has gone to sleep. Invite the mafia to wake up and to silently point to the person they want to kill. Then tell the mafia to go to sleep. Invite the doctor to wake up and choose who they would like to save, by pointing at the person (they can choose themselves). Unless the doctor chooses the correct person, the mafia have successfully murdered their victim.
Announce that it is morning and that there has been a murder in the town. Reveal who it is and an elaborate cause of death (anything you like!) and invite them to die accordingly. The rest of the townspeople must then discuss who belongs to the mafia. They select two suspects, who must plead their innocence. A final vote decides who will be hung by the townspeople. Ask them to reveal whether or not they belonged to the mafia. Repeat the process until the three mafia members are revealed or everyone in the town is dead.
Say: In Mafia, a lot of people are slaughtered for the purpose of discovering who the mafia are. Throughout the book of Job many people are caught up in the drama, but essentially it is about two central characters: Job and God. Satan’s devastation of Job’s life is a test of his loyalty and blamelessness before God and at the end of the saga we see Job confront God directly and God’s response.
JOB’S CASE
10 mins
Say: Job presents his case to God in several places in the book of Job. Ask someone to find and read out Job 13:20-25. In groups, ask your young people to discuss these questions:
• What is Job saying here? • What is his request of God?
• Do you think his feelings are fair?
Say: The debates with his friends and the ongoing grief and suffering Job has endured lead him to the point of depression. He begins to wish he had never been born. Read through chapter 17 in your groups and discuss the following:
• Can you sympathise with Job’s feelings here?
• What particularly strikes you?
• If you want to, can you share a time in your life when you have felt something similar?
GOD’S RESPONSE
10 mins
Say: After 37 chapters of drama and debate, God finally speaks to Job ‘from the whirlwind’. Before reading the passage, ask the young people: how do you expect God to reply? What do you think he might say? Write their answers on a board or flipchart. Ask one of your young people to read 38:1-21. Ask:
• What is God saying here?
• Was this how you expected God to reply?
• How does God’s response make you feel?
Say: After God has said his piece, Job replies with this:
‘I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?” It is I – and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said: “Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.” I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.’ (42:1-6, NLT)
• How does Job respond?
• Why do you think he responds like this?
• Do you think you would respond in the same way?
HAPPILY EVER AFTER..?
5 mins
Say: At the end of this long and unusual tale Job is blessed by God abundantly, with more than he had to start with. He has more livestock and wealth and a whole new set of children.
• Do you think this justifies losing everything before?
• Do you think it makes it better?
KEY POINT
As we reach the end of the book, we might expect God to answer all of Job’s questions, and explain why he had to suffer so much, yet we see no such answers or justifications from God. God simply reminds Job of who he is and what he’s done, and it seems to be enough for Job. He takes back what he said before. He feels content knowing that God is God and he is not. Although he doesn’t know exactly why God allowed what happened to happen (he never found out about the heavenly drama) he knows what isn’t true – he knows that his punishment is not because of his sin, and that God is great, just and right.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
10 mins
Hand around pieces of paper and pens. Ask your young people to write down any unanswered questions about Job and all that happened to him on a piece of paper. Collect all the pieces of paper together and put them into a box (so that they are anonymous). Take one question out of the box at a time, reading it out and praying the following prayer of Job as a final reflection:
God, I don’t understand. I don’t understand why there is suffering, but you say that you are good and worthy of praise, and I will believe you. I don’t understand why you allow suffering, but you say that you are good and worthy of praise, and so I will praise you. I don’t understand why you give things and take them away, but you say that you are good and worthy of praise, and so I will trust you. I don’t understand why innocent people suffer, but you say that you are good and worthy of praise, and so I will not blame you. Help me to understand. Help me to see you as you truly are – your greatness and power – just as Job did. Even when I don’t understand, even when I suffer, help me to say, like Job, that these ‘things are too wonderful for me’. Amen.
