“Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water. What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” (Job 3:23-26)
Satan’s goal is to get Job to curse God. The best he can do, however, is to get Job to curse the day of his birth and to question why God would give him life.
Job’s lament is probably the most emotional lament in all of Scripture…though Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet,” said similar words in Jeremiah 20:14-18. Job curses the day of his birth. He wishes that his birthday was never on the calendar. If the day never existed, then he would never exist and would be free from his unspeakable grief. If the day must exist, then Job wishes that he was born dead so that he would be in grave free from pain.
Job’s primary question seems to come in vese 20: “Why is light given to those in misery and life to the bitter of soul?” In other words, why does God give life to someone who must suffer so much? Or why does God give life to the child in a third world country who must suffer in poverty and hunger only to die before he reaches age ten? There are some things about suffering that simply do not make sense. Job has “no peace, no quietness, no rest, only turmoil.” In such a state, why live?
As I think about Job 3, several thoughts come to my mind:
1. God desires honesty in our prayers. God not only hears Job’s lament but thinks it is so important that He puts it in His Word. This tells me that God is not threatened by our questions, struggles and cries. He would rather us be honest and pour out our soul, then sit back in some apathetic state, spouting out religious cliches.
2. The “why” question is our biggest question in life. As a father of four boys, I hear the “why” question all the time. Why can’t we stay up later? Why can’t Daddy stay home all day and play games with us? Why does Nate get to go to the birthday party and we don’t? Why do we have to eat our vegetables when Daddy doesn’t ;>)? At the root of our being is a desire to make sense of things, to know that there is meaning and reason to life. This to me is evidence that we are not accidents of nature but rather created in the image of God. We are designed with a purpose and we long to know what that is. Suffering brings this to the surface like nothing else. Suffering often just doesn’t make sense. If God exists, and He is good, why do we suffer? Job sees no reason for his suffering. This makes his condition all the worse. But behind the scenes, there is a reason.
3. We grow in the struggle. If there is a reason for Job’s suffering, why doesn’t God just intervene immediately and tell Job what is going on? Why make Job suffer and question so long? None of us like to struggle but it is only in the struggle that we grow. It is in “fighting with God” and struggling with His purposes that we often grow stronger in our faith and closer to Him. I can’t help but think of the butterfly coming out of the cocoon. The struggle of getting out of the cocoon is necessary to strengthen its wings. If, in our sympathy, we cut short the struggle and remove the butterfly gently from its cocoon, the butterfly will never be able to fly. The same is true with us.
Lord, thank You for hearing my prayers, for inviting me to come boldly before Your throne, for listening to my questions, for giving purpose to my struggles in life.
His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” Job replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. (Job 2:9-10)
Job’s wife is often painted as an evil or quarrelsome wife because of her statement to Job–”Curse God and die!” It certainly wasn’t the best thing to say but we can’t forget that she felt the stinging pain of the tragedy as well. She lost all her children in the course of one day and was now living a life of grief, pain and profound loss. So I am sympathetic to her even though her words to Job are far off the mark. She is basically saying, “Why are you still worshipping and focusing on God? He has afflicted you and abandoned you so abandon Him! He obviously hates you so hate him back. Just curse Him and die!” Her mindset is a common one, perhaps the natural one. If life ain’t working for you, then God either is not real or not good so find something else to occupy your time and attention.
Job’s response is gracious. He does not appear to have anger in his voice when he tells her that she is talking foolishly. He merely points her to a different way of looking at the situation. “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?”
Here is a man experiencing the most profound loss in all of history, scraping scabs off his afflicted body, saying with tears in his eyes and sorrow in his heart, “God has been good to me and I have praised Him. Now He has brought trouble into my life yet I will still praise Him and trust Him.”
To be honest, I cannot even fathom that response. I see why Job is held forth by God as the absolute model of faithfulness. It is one thing to serve God for the blessings you might receive; it is another to serve Him simply because you love Him and trust Him, no matter what happens. There is a world of difference between those two motives for serving God yet they are often hard to discern…until suffering comes.
Why do I serve God? Is it just to get good stuff from Him? Is it an attempt to “earn” His blessing or to protect myself from bad things? Or do I serve Him because I love Him and trust Him? I almost hate to ask the question because I fear that my motives may be more selfish than I would like to believe. God often allows suffering into our lives to purify our motives and draw us to new depths in our relationship to Him.
Job has no idea that his life is the battleground between God and Satan. He has no idea that the entire heavenly realm is focused on watching his life and his response to suffering. All he knows is that his life is in a tailspin, his body aches, and his heart grieves…yet he also knows that God is good and there must be a reason for his suffering. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?
Lord, strengthen my faith and deepen my love for You.
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ”Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (Job 1:20-22)
I can’t even fathom the tragedy Job experienced. Four messengers come in a span of about five to ten minutes and report that Job has lost all of his possessions and that all ten of his children have been tragically killed. Few people in history, if any, have experienced the magnitude of loss that Job experienced in the course of one day. Everything he worked for and almost everything he found precious in life was instantly taken away. His response is incredible.
“I brought nothing into the world and I will bring nothing out of it. Everything I have is a gift from God. God gave these things to me. Now He has taken them away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (It’s hard not to sing the song we sing in church when you read Job’s words!)
Needless to say, the strength of Job’s faith is immediately seen in the midst of unspeakable tragedy. He shows intense emotion by tearing his robe and shaving his head. He shows incredible faith by worshipping God and trusting Him in the midst of his loss.
I guess the thing that really stood out to me this morning, however, was verse 22. This seems to be the crux of the matter in chapter one–”In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” Job sacrifices for his children lest they “cursed God in their hearts.” Satan goes after Job in order to get him to curse God to His face. The whole battle seems to be over “will Job curse God or not?”
What does it mean to curse God? From verse 22, it seems to involve charging God with wrongdoing, with assailing His character, with blasting Him for all our woes. Satan’s first temptation in Genesis 3 began by questioning God’s goodness–”God is holding back from you. He doesn’t want you to eat the fruit because He knows that it will make you stronger and better. He is self-serving and not good.” Satan’s strategy is not much different in Job 1. He wants Job to curse God, to deny His goodness, to doubt His love, to hate His presence.
Thus, the real battle in suffering is over the character of God. Am I willing to trust Him even when I do not understand His plan? Am I willing to believe His goodness even when I am experiencing bad times? Am I willing to praise Him even when I do not feel like it? Am I unwilling to charge Him with wrongdoing even when I am confused, grieving, or angry at the unfair circumstances of life?
Father, teach me to trust You even when I do not understand. Teach me to praise You even when my emotions are drained and depressed.