Bible open, verse by verse
We read the text together and slow down where it gets hard — Job’s losses, his friends’ speeches, and the questions he brings straight to God.
A verse-by-verse series · Wednesday evenings
Beyond the Ash Heap
A study in the book of Job.
Wednesdays 7:00 pmRogers City Baptist Church 2946 M-68Taught by Pastor Drew Rogers
Wednesday evening Bible study
Why the book of Job, and why now
Every Wednesday at 7:00 pm, Pastor Drew is walking verse by verse through one of the hardest and most honest books in the Bible — a righteous man loses everything in a single day, and has to decide whether God is still good and still in control when no explanation ever comes.
The series takes its name from where Job ends up — sitting in the ash heap outside the city, scraping his sores with a piece of broken pottery, while his friends argue about why. The goal each week is to look beyond that ash heap to the sovereignty and goodness of God underneath it. Bring your Bible; no notebook required, though it helps.
Latest available lesson
Lesson 6 · When Assumptions Hurt: Zophar’s Answer to Job
Job 11; 20; 6:21; John 9:1–3
Recorded
Being right about God does not mean we are right about someone else’s suffering. Pastor Drew Rogers examines Zophar’s speeches in Job 11 and 20 and the danger of speaking with certainty when we do not know what God is doing.
The series so far
- 1Trusting God when life falls apartAn introduction to Job, and six things his response to suffering teaches us · Job 1:20–22; 42:2
- 2When everything is taken awayJob's prosperity and adversity: what made him rich, and how it was all stripped away in a day · Job 1–2
- 3Integrity in miseryJob grieves honestly and still worships — and four voices we can expect to hear in our own hard days · Job 1:20–22; 2:1–13; 3
- 4When comfort becomes judgmentMeeting Job's four friends, and what Eliphaz, the voice of experience, got right and wrong · Job 4–5; 22
- 6When Assumptions Hurt: Zophar’s Answer to JobZophar’s certainty warns us to listen before judging another person’s suffering · Job 11; 20; 6:21; John 9:1–3
Posted lessons are linked — catch up any time.
What to expect
Honest questions, held with open hands
Wednesdays, 7:00 pm
The study runs about an hour at Rogers City Baptist Church, 2946 M-68. Come as you are — you do not need to have read ahead.
Grief taken seriously
Job grieved honestly and still worshiped. If you are walking through your own hard providence, this study was written for you as much as anyone.
Common questions
About the book of Job
Why did God allow Job to suffer?
Job 1–2 shows Satan accusing Job of only serving God for the blessings, and God sovereignly permitting the test to prove otherwise. The book never gives Job himself an explanation — the point is not that suffering always has a tidy reason, but that God's character can be trusted even when no reason is given.
Were Job's friends right or wrong?
Both, in different places. Their theology about God's holiness and justice was often sound; their application — assuming Job's suffering proved hidden sin — was not. It is a good warning against turning a true principle into a universal rule and using it to judge someone else's pain.
Is Job a real, historical person?
Yes — Scripture treats him as a real man, not a parable. Ezekiel lists him alongside Noah and Daniel as a historical figure (Ezekiel 14:14, 20), and James points to “the patience of Job” as a real example to follow (James 5:11).
What is the main lesson of the book of Job?
That God is worth trusting for who He is, not only for what He gives — and that it is possible to grieve honestly, even to question God directly, without losing your faith in Him along the way.
You will be welcomed as family
Whether you grew up in church or have never attended a service in your life, come as you are this Sunday. Questions first? Call (989) 306-2615 — a real person answers.