Job

We read in Job 42:7, "[The Lord] said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right...." Job’s reply to this is in Chapters 6 and 7. In Chapter 6 Job rebukes his friends, speaking to all three of them. And, in Chapter 7, Job addresses his complaint to God. First, Job says he has a right to complain.6:1 Job answered: 2 "If my misery could be weighed, if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales, 3 It would be heavier than all the sand of the sea! Is it any wonder that I’m screaming like a caged cat? The message He admits he has been speaking very strongly but he says, "If you were where I am, you’d understand. My sorrow is so terrible it gives me a good reason to complain." 4 The arrows of God Almighty are in me, poison arrows - and I’m poisoned all through! God has dumped the whole works on me. 5 Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture - so don’t expect me to keep quiet in this. 6 Do you see what God has dished out for me?...... "You never hear an animal complain," Job says, "when he is well fed and taken care of. So I have a right to complain. It helps me to bear my troubles." Many people talk that way. I know a lot of people who feel that if God sends them tribulation they have a right to complain! And most of them do. Job felt that way: "What I am going through is so bad I have to complain!" Then he speaks of his inability to bear more, Verse 8:8 "All I want is an answer to one prayer, a last request to be honored: 9 Let God step on me - squash me like a bug, and be done with me for good. 10 I’d at least have the satisfaction of not having blasphemed the Holy God, before being pressed past the limits. 11 Where’s the strength to keep my hopes up? What future do I have to keep me going? 12 Do you think I have nerves of steel? Do you think I’m made of iron? 13 Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps? Why, I don’t even have any boots! My So-Called Friends . " Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever said, "Lord, you promised that you would not tempt me above that which I’m able to bear and Lord we went by that point weeks ago!" But God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows how much we can take. He knew how much Job could take, and he has a reason for all this. Then Job turns to his friends and rebukes them, expressing his irritation at their misunderstanding, (Verses 14-21):14 "A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. 15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams ........21 Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.Job is saying You said you came to comfort me, and all you’ve given me is trouble. "Did I ask you to help me? I didn’t send for you. You came to comfort me and instead you rebuke me. I didn’t ask for it!" 24 "Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong. 25 How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove? 26 Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind? 27 You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend. 28 "But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face? 29 Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake. 30 Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice? Job is simply saying, "If there is something wrong then tell me, for I don’t know what it is." His dilemma is that he knows God is doing this to him, but he cannot find a reason. He knows there is nothing in his life that he has not already confessed and dealt with. He is not claiming to be sinless; he is saying that he has handled whatever sin he has been aware of, so what else is there? Why is this going on?Then he turns to God, and complains about the hardness of his present experience & about the hopelessness of the future, . Chapter 7: NIV 7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again. 8 The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more. 9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to the grave does not return. 10 He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.Job has given up. He thinks he will never see any relief that he will go on like this to the end. And out of that meaningless suffering and hopeless darkness he cries out in honest despair, Verses 11-21:11 "Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul ....... 16 I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning. NIV…….. 17 "What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, 18 that you examine him every morning and test him every moment? 19 Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant? 20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? 21 Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more." NIV Have you ever felt that way? "Lord, leave me alone, I’ve had enough! Why are you so intent on making life miserable for me? Why don’t you just let me go?" So Job cries out in baffled bewilderment. Now, even at this point in the book, there are some things that we must constantly remember. One is, we know something about this that Job does not know. Satan’s purpose here was to use the pain of Job’s illness to afflict his body; to use the well-intentioned comfort of his friends to irritate his soul; and to use the silence of God to assault his spirit and to break his faith. But God’s purpose is to teach Job some truths that he never knew before, to deepen his theology, and help him understand God much better. God’s truth was to answer Satan and to prove him wrong . What an encouragement to those of us who must go through some times of suffering, to understand that it is not always because we are sinful. Sometimes it is, and we will know it when it is. But if, like Job, you know of nothing you have done that you have not dealt with, and still the suffering goes on, look behind the curtain of God’s purposes and you will see that great and eternal events are hanging upon the outcome of the struggle.