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Job repeats his innocence and asks his friend how someone is supposed to prove they are innocent; what judge can a man take God before? Job then reiterates his plea to God to finish his period of testing and end his life. Job’s third friend Zophar then rebukes Job for thinking that Job could know the will of God. Zophar argues that if God brings trials into a persons life then, since God knows all, those trials must be deserved.

Jobs friends continue to insist that Job can cure the condition in which he finds himself; if Job would only repent of his sin then God would alleviate his suffering. Unfortunately, Job’s friends do not understand that God is not punishing Job. God allowed these events to come into Job’s life in order for Job to prove his faithfulness to God. The only proper response for Job to give is to turn to God and say, “I am miserable, take my misery. I am angry, take my anger. I am sorrowful, take my sorrow.” There is no one who can speak to Job’s condition accept God.

In the 1640’s George Fox was struggling in a similar manner to Job. He did not suffer the extreme loss of family that Job experienced, but Fox was trying to understand how God spoke to his sinful condition. He wrote in his journal:

But as I had forsaken the priests, so I left the Separate preachers also, and those called the most experienced people; for I saw there was none among them all that could speak to my condition. And when all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could I tell what to do; then, oh! then I heard a voice which said, ‘There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition’: and when I heard it, my heart did leap for joy. …and this I knew experimentally. My desires after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal in the pure knowledge of God, and of Christ alone, without the help of any man, book, or writing. For though I read the Scriptures that spake of Christ and of God, yet I knew Him not, but by revelation, as He who hath the key did open, and as the Father of Life drew me to His Son by His Spirit. Then the Lord gently led me along, and let me see his love, which was endless and eternal, surpassing all knowledge that men have in the natural state, or can get by history or books; and that love let me see myself, as I was without Him. I was afraid of all company, for I saw them perfectly where they were, through the love of God, which let me see myself.

At the end of the day our friends know nothing and Christ knows everything. Jesus Christ is the only one that can deal with our misery, anger, and sorrow. If we are looking for relief from any other source we are fooling ourselves. I must lean on the forgiving, accepting, loving arms of Christ when I struggle through life.

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I have four critical concerns with the sermon. First, it was not Biblically based. The point of Psalm 139 is not the formation of a zygote, rather the author is declaring that there is nowhere he can go where God is not. God is with him in the day and in the night, in the past and in the future, before our birth and after our death. I believe that you can make a Biblical argument to oppose abortion. But throwing this one verse on the screen does not make that argument. I do not go to church to hear questionable statistics or video propaganda; I go to hear the revealed word of God.

Second, I do not believe that any woman sitting in that room who had previously had an abortion was brought closer to Jesus Christ by that sermon. At the conclusion of the sermon our pastor gave some cursory comment about his availability and that anyone in the congregation should be available if someone needs a loving ear. Unfortunately, by this point in the service the people who needed to hear this would already have tuned out.

Third, the sanctity of life does not end with birth. We need to care about war, poverty, discrimination, suicide, abuse, and a host of other sanctity of life issues. I was disappointed that Martin Luther King Jr. day was not mentioned once. This day honoring advancment in racial acceptance seems to go together perfectly with sanctity of life.

Finally, the congregation was not called to any action other than to feel smug that they agreed that abortion was bad. If we are going to speak out against abortion, then I believe we need to take physical actions to provide for those who would otherwise choose abortions. We need to provide support for the women who have had their child and either have given them up for adoption or are raising them. We need to provide support for the women who have had an abortion and are struggling with that decision. We need to provide support for the women who are considering abortion. We need to provide emotional, financial, psychological, and spiritual assistance. We need to share the love of Jesus Christ with those in need. If we are not doing this, then I do no believe we have the moral authority to speak to the issue of abortion.

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