Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Doug Ranck is a twenty-seven-year veteran of youth ministry, and is the youth pastor at the Free Methodist Church in Santa Barbara, CA. He’s a regular writer of Bible studies and articles for youth workers as a member of the Interlinc Ministries WriteGroup, and coordinates a local network of youth leaders and Southern California Free Methodist youth leaders. When he’s not hard at work, he’s enjoying life with his wife, Nancy, and their three teenage children, Kelly, Landon, and Elise.

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If your students have ever heard the story of Job, they are likely to remember one thing--suffering. (Well, they might remember a pile of cow dung, but they're teenagers!) While suffering is a prevalent theme in Job, the stories inside this book also provide readers with truth and wisdom about a just and loving God who walks with us in the midst of an unjust world.

Every human being--Christ follower or not--has asked, “Why does God allow suffering?” We all know that there are no easy answers to that question. But as you take the book and story of Job piece by piece, you'll be able to guide students towards a better understanding of this God who can be so difficult to comprehend.

Through the twelve sessions, you'll help your students face some of the tougher issues of life, like:
• The relationship between sin and suffering
• How to be a friend to those who are suffering (and how not to be!)
• Why don't the wicked suffer?
• How to survive suffering (and let God be God)

In the tradition of the best selling Creative Bible Lessons series, CBL in Job presents each session in sections to help you move your students through a sequence of engagement, reflection, learning, and application. Including preparation for leaders, materials lists, discussion starters, scripture lessons, and activities to help personalize the learning, you'll find that any youth worker can use this book to effectively guide students toward the important lessons from Job.

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Creative Bible Lessons in Job

Zondervan

Contents

INTRODUCTION THE POINT AND PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK................................................................9SESSION 1 GOD, SATAN, AND US (JOB 1:1-12; 2:1-6)............................................................15SESSION 2 RESPONDING TO LIFE WHEN IT BLINDSIDES US (JOB 1:13-22; 2:7-10)....................................29SESSION 3 HOW TO BE-AND HOW NOT TO BE-A FRIEND TO THOSE WHO ARE SUFFERING (JOB 2:11-13).....................41SESSION 4 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SIN AND SUFFERING (JOB 8:1-22)...........................................51SESSION 5 A TEST OF FAITH-PERSONAL, NOT INTELLECTUAL (JOB 9:1-20)...........................................63SESSION 6 TALKING TOUGH WITH GOD (JOB 13:1-27)..............................................................75SESSION 7 WEIGHING THE WISDOM OF WELL-MEANING FRIENDS (JOB 16:1-5)..........................................87SESSION 8 WHEN JOY ISN'T HAPPINESS (JOB 19:1-27)............................................................99SESSION 9 WHY DON'T THE WICKED SUFFER? (JOB 21:1-21)........................................................111SESSION 10 THE WISDOM OF GOD (JOB 28:1-28)...................................................................123SESSION 11 HOW TO SURVIVE SUFFERING-LETTING GOD BE GOD (JOB 42:1-6)..........................................135SESSION 12 THE REWARDS OF PASSING THE SUFFERING TEST (JOB 42:7-17)...........................................149

Chapter One

YOU'LL NEED

newspaper sections covering world or local news events, one section for each group

Bibles

copies of Job's Very Bad Day (pages 23-26)

paper

pens or pencils

copies of The Biblical Truth about God and Satan (page 27)

scrap paper

LEADER PREP

From Genesis to Revelation, we learn about God through his words, his actions, and his interaction with the people he created. On the surface it would seem that all we need to know about God is found in the Bible. However, as we live life on a day-to-day basis, we understand-sometimes painfully-that there's much more to know about God than we can humanly understand. We come to recognize that we won't have all the answers nor will we fully comprehend the nature of God while we're still on earth. There comes a time when we must live with the unanswered questions and take what Soren Kierkegaard refers to as a "leap of faith."

The beginning of Job provides us with yet another description of God's character that we don't often consider. It shows God involved in a conversation with Satan. Have you ever thought about what God might be doing while you work, sleep, eat, or play? Had you ever pictured God carrying on a conversation with Satan? Through the context of the entire Bible, we can be assured that God and Satan are truly enemies. God is not "kicking back" with Satan while they discuss the merits and challenges of their roles.

What about Satan? The Bible gives us a less detailed profile on Satan's specific actions, but 1 John says much about him:

He's called "the devil" in 3:8 and the "evil one" in 2:13-14; 3:12; and 5:18-19. We know he's been sinning from the very beginning, according to 3:8. His origin is not specifically given, but John 8:44 tells us he was not "holding to the truth," which could imply he was a fallen being. 1 Timothy 3:6 shows us that Satan was under judgment by God because of his pride. Some scholars don't subscribe to the Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:12-15 passages as applying to Satan, while others believe these clearly show his rebellion before the fall of Adam and Eve. Back to 1 John, where it shows that Satan moves humans to sin and all those who sin belong to him (3:8,12), and are even called his children (3:10). Satan is a part of the world (1 John 4:3) and "the whole world is under the control of the evil one" (5:19). 1 John 5:18 tells us Satan cannot harm believers; they are kept safe by God. Finally, we learn that Christians have "overcome the evil one" (1 John 2:13-14) and that "the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

As you prepare for this session, be aware that Satan is alive and working. His desire is for us to understand neither him nor God. He hopes you won't think about how all this works. He loves it when you're unprepared. Pray for clarity and wisdom as you challenge your students to a greater understanding of our almighty God and Satan, who is under God's control.

THE MAIN IDEA

The Bible is clear: Spiritual forces are at work in our world. God created us, God is in control, and through Christ's sacrifice God won the ultimate victory over sin and death for all time. However, Satan is still roaming around the earth, and it is his desire to take life away from us. Thus, we human beings are somewhere in the middle of it all. This chapter explores the roles of God and Satan in the story of Job. Through our study we'll discover where we fit and how we should live.

FOR STARTERS

Option 1: Have students divide into groups of two to four people. Give each group a different section of the newspaper containing world or local news stories. Allow each group about five minutes to go through their section and tally up the number of articles with positive content and the number of articles with negative content. For each positive or negative article they find, students should be prepared to present their reasons why they categorized it that way.

Option 2: In the large group, have students share about positive and negative events that are happening on a global, national, local, or personal scale, and explain why they categorized each event in either a positive or negative way.

REFLECTION

Offer the following questions as a way to reflect on the previous activity:

In general, do there seem to be more negative than positive events in the news or vice versa? Why?

What side of the news does the media prefer to report? Why?

Generally speaking, what would our culture say causes the good and bad events in our lives?

What would Christians say causes the good and bad events in our lives?

TRANSITION STATEMENT

Say something like-Life isn't fair. We live in a world where any number of good or bad circumstances may come our way. And there are no guarantees, except God will be with us. What's going on behind the scenes? God loves us and he created us to live forever with him in eternity. Satan roams the earth bringing evil and destruction wherever he goes. And we live in the midst of this battle for our souls. Where do we fit in? Are we like toys that God and Satan just throw back and forth between them? How do we respond?

Today we begin our study of Job. The book of Job is about a man God loves. This is a man who has been faithful to God throughout his life. Job loves and obeys God, yet he still experiences great suffering. These chapters deal with many of the great questions we ask about the role of pain, disease, unhappiness, loss, and death in our world-all under the...