Job is synonymous with suffering. He lost his wealth in one day. He lost his children in one day. He lost his health. He lost the love of his wife, and he lost the compassion of his friends. We could say that with the exception of Jesus Christ that no one has suffered more than Job.
Suffering often results in loneliness. It did for Job. When we are suffering, we tend to lose our perspective and focus on ourselves. It can bring times when we worry more and that can lead to a time where we question our faith.
Here some of the vivid imagery to describe Job’s suffering.
In suffering we feel like an animal caught in a net.
know then that God has put me in the wrong
and closed his net about me. (Job 19:6)
When you suffer you feel as though you are trapped. You feel confined. All of a sudden you lost your liberty and are suddenly immobilized. You feel like you are an animal that has been trapped.
In suffering we feel like a criminal in court.
Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
I call for help, but there is no justice. (Job 19:7)
Job was standing before God, the judge and he was saying this is wrong. Why me? Job felt like he was declared guilty. He felt God was unfair. He cried out but God didn’t even answer. This is part of the loneliness of suffering. We cry out to God and sometimes God doesn’t answer our way.
The silence of God makes us hurt more and we feel like our faith is on trial. When we suffer, we feel as though we stand in court and there is no one to defend us. We are reminded about our past errors and guilt. We feel like a criminal in court.
In suffering we feel like a traveler stopped at a roadblock.
He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths. (Job 19:8)
In suffering we feel that we were making such good progress and now everything is stopped. Our faith, family and work were progressing and then suddenly we have this roadblock put up in our way.
When we suffer our plans get changed. That is what can happen. Look at Job and how he was making progress in every way. All the events that caused his suffering blocked his way.
In suffering we feel like a dethroned king.
He has stripped from me my glory
and taken the crown from my head. (Job 19:9)
Job lost his physical glory. He is on the ash heap with ugly sores all over his body. His financial glory is gone. He was rich and now he is bankrupt. His power is gone. Before he told people what to do and he was respected and obeyed. Now he is a nobody like a dethroned king.
It is like a powerful CEO of a company in the hospital taking orders from a young nurse. He was powerful but some health problem changed everything in a moment.
In suffering we feel like a building destroyed.
He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, (Job 19:10a)
Our body is like a building. As believers the imagery is we are like a temple of God, because the holy Spirit dwells in us. When we are suffering, we feel like a building that is being torn down. You feel like God sent in a demolition crew to attack you.
When we are really suffering our bodies don’t feel normal and don’t function like they did before our suffering. Job saw himself like a building being destroyed.
In suffering we feel like an uprooted tree.
and my hope has he pulled up like a tree. (Job 19:10b)
When you are suffering it seems like everything that has rooted you has now been pulled up. If there are no roots the tree will die. Without roots there is not much hope. Job felt like he was flourishing and bearing fruit and now he feels like a tree ripped out of the ground. He was like a beautiful tree and now it looks like he has no future at all.
In suffering we feel like God has turned against us.
He has kindled his wrath against me
and counts me as his adversary. (Job 19:11)
We can easily lose are perspective in suffering. We can even feel like God, who loves us has turned against us. Here is job feeling like God he is an enemy of God. This could not be further from the actual situation, but it sure feels like that when we suffer to the degree that Job suffered. It doesn’t even take near that much to cause us to lose our perspective.
In suffering we feel like an army has besieged us.
His troops advance in force: they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent. (Job 19:12)
Some of the most horrific images from battle is when a city is besieged and trapped. The enemy is building a ramp and the city is doomed. Their fate is sealed, and they wait to be killed or to be humiliated and then taken as slaves.
Job felt like he was under siege. He felt like the enemy had surrounded him and there was no hope but to wait for a tragic end.
In suffering we feel like we are abandoned by our family and friends.
He has alienated my family from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have gone away; my closest friends have forgotten me. (Job 19:11-15)
Job has no where to turn for support, not family and not friends. What a feeling of loneliness and isolation Job has experienced because of his suffering.
But amazingly Job chapter 19 is the chapter of hope. One of the most famous verses of hope shine through the darkness of suffering.
I know my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. (Job 19:25)
When we are suffering, we have hope in Jesus Christ.
There is hope when we suffer. You can take all the imagery of suffering that Job has given us and you can add Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is the suffering servant. We know in Christ that God has not forgotten us. We have hope in Jesus Christ in our suffering.
In Christ we have hope when we feel like an animal caught in a net.
Christ sets us free. If the Son has set you free you are free indeed. (John 8:36) You can confine our body but not our soul. I have learned in whatever circumstance to be content. (Philippians 4:11)
In Christ we have hope when we feel like a criminal in court.
