As I pondered what to speak about this morning, I could not help but consider the recent transition at Evangelical Fellowship Church.

This congregation has said more than one difficult and unexpected goodbye to people that you love in the last few months.

And those sorrowful experiences, I think, cut deeper during the holidays.

And I don't know about you but I believe that the Lord

despises the fake Pollyanna spirit that expects Christians to ignore trials and

tribulations.

And I don't think there's anyone like that here,

but I've met people like that that if you have a problem or a trial,

you just, you can't think about it,

you should shut it down because that's somehow not

trusting God or something like that. The reality is that God is a god of truth that

he offers consolation in such times and Jesus was a man of sorrows himself.

The scripture says acquainted with grief.

So this morning I would like to take a tour through the book of Job and examine the Bible's teaching on

handling grief, loss, disease, financial ruin, all of these things that we're seeing

in our world and will always be in our world

right until Christ comes. Scripture teaches that our Lord when he was on this

earth experienced many of these things. Now Job was a righteous man who endured much

without a specific explanation as to why his life included so much pain. However God

spoke directly into Job's sorrow by giving him a fresh perspective on the meaning and purpose of life itself.

And that's what I need, that's what we need, as believers.

One of the things that I think makes the book of Job so fascinating is the window it offers

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