A man who believed and trusted God wants to go to God now that his wealth has been taken from him.  His children have died.  His own health is failing because of the curse of boils and open sores. His wife, as well as his dear friends are assuming Job must have sinned against God for all these things to happen to him.  So, as he sits in by the ashes of defeat and despair Job asks a different question. Why was I even born?

But, despite all these disasters, Job still held firmly to his faith, although he didn’t have knowledge of what lies beyond the grave.  He didn’t know about our future with God with a perfected body and soul in a perfect place.  This place is where God resides forever.  Because of Jesus, for all who believe in Him as Savior, we have hope.  When we humbly bow before God with love, respect, and awe for Him, we are delivered from death. But Job doesn’t know that yet.  In excruciating physical pain, still mourning and grieving his losses, Job cursed the day he was born.  Job is human.  Job is being honest before the God. Job knows that God knows our hearts and that nothing is hidden from God. So, he hopelessly asks;

Why bring me into this world to suffer like this? 

I don’t think anyone reading this can deny that we, too, have asked God this very question in the middle of suffering losses that overwhelmed us.

Job 3

Job Speaks

After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ² He said:

³ “May the day of my birth perish,
    and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’
⁴ That day—may it turn to darkness;
    may God above not care about it;
    may no light shine on it.
⁵ May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more;
    may a cloud settle over it;
    may blackness overwhelm it.
⁶ That night—may thick darkness seize it;
    may it not be included among the days of the year
    nor be entered in any of the months.
⁷ May that night be barren;
    may no shout of joy be heard in it.
⁸ May those who curse days curse that day,
    those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
⁹ May its morning stars become dark;
    may it wait for daylight in vain
    and not see the first rays of dawn,
¹⁰ for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
    to hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹ “Why did I not perish at birth,
    and die as I came from the womb?
¹² Why were there knees to receive me
    and breasts that I might be nursed?
¹³ For now I would be lying down in peace;
    I would be asleep and at rest
¹⁴ with kings and rulers of the earth,
    who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
¹⁵ with princes who had gold,
    who filled their houses with silver.
¹⁶ Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child,
    like an infant who never saw the light of day?
¹⁷ There the wicked cease from turmoil,
    and there the weary are at rest.
¹⁸ Captives also enjoy their ease;
    they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout.
¹⁹ The small and the great are there,
    and the slaves are freed from their owners.

²⁰ “Why is light given to those in misery,
    and life to the bitter of soul,
²¹ to those who long for death that does not come,
    who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
²² who are filled with gladness
    and rejoice when they reach the grave?
²³ Why is life given to a man
    whose way is hidden,
    whom God has hedged in?
²⁴ For sighing has become my daily food;
    my groans pour out like water.
²⁵ What I feared has come upon me;
    what I dreaded has happened to me.
²⁶ I have no peace, no quietness;
    I have no rest, but only turmoil.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.” Psalm 139:13-18

“Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness
    come to my relief.
Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.
The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead.
So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.
I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works
    and consider what your hands have done.
I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.^” Psalm 143:1-6

As we read the ups and downs of Job’s story; I am reminded of David who also had similar talks with God.  David, a man after the heart of God, wrote songs of praise to God while he guarded the sheep in the fields.  But he also wrote songs of anguish to God as he fled from his enemies, namely King Saul, who wanted to murder him and his family!  Both David and Job call out to God honestly and passionately in poetic prose as they work through their current overwhelming circumstances of troubles and pain. They both know God is listening—sometimes that is enough to cling to the “hem of His garment” with pure faith as we seek His deliverance.

David also wrote;

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  Psalm 23

Let us pause to praise our Almighty God who bends down to listen to His troubled, overwhelmed, and weary children who speak with humbled honest hearts. God loves our honesty coupled with our trust that He will hear and respond!

Job cursed two nights: the night of his conception and the night of his birth. Conception is a blessing that comes from God (Ps. 139:13–16); so it seems, when we curse a blessing, we are questioning the goodness of God. Right?

Job passionately asked why.  We all do it as humans with calamity’s first hit. Nothing is wrong with asking “Why?” but we must realize that in the asking, God does not owe us an answer. Even our Lord asked, “Why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). But if the Lord did tell us why certain events occur as they do, would that ease our pain or heal our broken hearts? Does reading the X-ray take away the pain of a broken leg? We live on promises, not explanations; so we shouldn’t spend too much time asking God why. Rather, “God what are you teaching me and where are you leading me?”

“Walking through the valley of the shadow of death…”

At the end of Job’s lament, he not only feels he is a dead man walking, he wanted to be where dead people go and reside because he thought that was the only place to find peace.  The Jews called this place Sheol.  The Old Testament does not give a complete and final revelation of life after death. In fact, the words used in death were “he/she were no more” and they were buried with their ancestors.

With the coming of Jesus, the language changed! Hope had arrived! Our resurrected Jesus defeated death and became our Hope of eternal life!  The Apostle Paul, who suffered greatly for preaching Jesus who gives new and eternal life writes;

“Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.”—Paul convinced of Jesus, 2 Timothy 1:8-12

“Just end me now”—

Sad to say, Job saw Sheol as a shadowy place where the small and great rested together, away from the burdens and sufferings of life on earth. Job would rather be dead and have rest than be alive and bear the misery that had come to him. After all, he was in the dark as far as his future was concerned so he might as well be in the darkness of Sheol.  He was not convinced.

We have only just begun to understand the misery of Job and the glory of God still in him to be discovered…later.  Hang on, it’s going to be bumpy ride; but God wins Job in the end with a lesson he will never forget.

Lord,

Thank you for the lessons you teach us in troubles, problems, calamities, and strife. Thank you for glimpses of your glory at work in and around us when we look up and focus on your Goodness.  Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh and feed our souls, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within all who believe, trust, and obey. And thank you for the Hope and Victory of eternal life with you!

In Jesus Name, Amen