This Looks Like a Job for Job

Scripture Reference: Job 1:13-22

A skit that demonstrates that we should worship in times of trouble.

Cast:
MIKE – Worship Leader
MATT – Person who doesn’t know how to worship

Props:
Bible for MIKE opened to the book of Job.

(During the first song, MATT stops sings. He sits down looking sad and dejected.)

MIKE: What are you doing, Mr. MATT? Don’t tell me you are embarrassed by singing?

MATT: No.

MIKE: You don’t still think it’s girly or undignified?

MATT: No.

MIKE: Then what is it?

MATT: Nothing.

MIKE: It’s not nothing. You look like someone popped your balloon.

MATT: I’ve just had a bad week. I don’t want to go into detail.

MIKE: Well, if you want to talk…

MATT: It’s just that we’ve been on the road a lot, and there’s more work that can be done. I have customers screaming for help and not enough time to help them. The phone keeps ringing, I am getting hundreds of email…

MIKE: I’m sorry to hear…

MATT: Then I think I’m going to get a break for the weekend and my car breaks down and the toilet overflows and the lawn needs mowing and …

MIKE: I’m glad you don’t want to go into detail.

MATT: What? Oh, sorry. Anyway, I’m just not up to worshiping. Worship is all about feelings, and I just don’t feel like it.

MIKE: Worship is a lot more than just about your feelings. It isn’t just supposed to engage your heart. It is suppose to engage your mind, body, and spirit. In the book of John, Jesus says that “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”

MATT: Yeah, but if you’ve had a bad day…

MIKE: Ever heard of Jōb? [NB: ō indicates to use a long O, as in "robe".]

MATT: I don’t think so.

MIKE: You know, Jōb – in the Bible. J-O-B, Jōb.

MATT: I thought it was pronounced job.

MIKE: No, it’s Jōb.

MATT: Did he have a brother named Bōb?

MIKE: What?!?

MATT: Bōb. B-O-B.

MIKE: That would be Bob.

MATT: And did he eat corn on the cōb?

MIKE: No.

MATT: What about him?

MIKE: What about who?

MATT: Job

MIKE: That’s Jōb, and he had a REALLY bad day. One day a messenger came to him and told him that his enemy had stolen all his oxen & donkeys and killed all his servants working in the fields.

MATT: I bet that made him sōb.

MATT: That’s sob. Then another messenger came to tell him that fire had fallen from the sky and killed all the sheep and shepherds.

MATT: That’s bad, but…

MIKE: Then another messenger came to tell him that raiders had carried off his camels and killed his servants.

MATT: That’s really bad, but…

MIKE: Then another messenger…

MATT: Not another messenger!

MIKE: Yep, another messenger. This one came to tell him that while his sons and daughters were all together, a huge wind came up, blew down the house, and killed them all.

MATT: Yikes! That is a REALLY bad day! I had a great day compared to all of that!

MIKE: That is probably one of the worst days anyone’s ever had.

MATT: And you’re going to tell me that Jōb worshiped God after all of that?!?

MIKE: Yes. Jōb 1:20-21 says: Then he fell to the ground in worship and said, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

MATT: How could he do that? He just had his family wiped out?

MIKE: When we remember that God is our Redeemer and that He truly loves us, we can rest in the knowledge that He is in control even when we don’t understand the reasons for what is happening.

MATT: But how can I do that?

MIKE: You have to prepare. You can’t wait until things get hard to trust God. You have to practice that when things are good. Spend time in His Word, talk with Him in prayer, stand in His presence in worship. You have to KNOW you can trust Him BEFORE the bad times. In the bad times, you will want to doubt, it’s only natural. But if you have a foundation of trust already, you can stand on that foundation when the trust is hard.

MATT: So worship is like getting into shape. You can’t wait until you are in the middle of a football game to start working out. You have to do that before the game, so that you are prepared.

MIKE: Exactly. Worship is part of what makes us healthy Christians. And when we are in difficult times in our lives, it reminds us that God is our Rock and our Redeemer.

MATT: Wow! If Jōb can worship after all of that, I guess I can, too.

MIKE: That’s our jōb.

MATT: Now don’t YOU start that!