Pray:
Mighty God, You are Alpha and Omega, before the beginning and after the ending. I bow before You.
Read:
Job 3:1-26
Meditate
Consider: Think back to some good, lovely things that have happened in your life, that cause you to thank God that you were born.
Think Further:
Having no children myself, I derived huge joy from the birth of my first great-niece, and I am of course as biased as any fond mother or grandmother. She is beautiful, clever, full of charm and utterly gorgeous! No doubt Job felt the same--but now with the death of his precious children he can see deep darkness about his existence as he curses the day of his conception and that of his safe arrival in the world.
Note that it is Job who breaks the week's silence, not his friends. He is not cursing God. He is merely giving vent to his pent-up feelings--an activity of which God approves (Job 42:7). This is wonderful poetry; indeed the whole book is poetry except for the introductory chapters and the final few verses. As with the psalms, the way this book has been preserved for us allows us to identify deeply with real human feelings in a way that factual prose could not express so well. It is OK to vent one's feelings before God, as Job did.
It is likely that some readers have at some point in their lives longed for death (21) because their undeserved suffering is so great. Sometimes it is hard to understand why a sufferer cannot just die in their sleep but has to awaken to yet another long day of pain. Job felt that God was hedging him in (23), preventing any escape from his dreadful circumstances, or any help from reaching him. This is ironic, in view of the satan's comment in 1:10 (unheard by Job), where such hedging was seen as keeping Job safe! "To Job it appears that God has locked him into turmoil and thrown away the key" (John E. Hartley). Can you enter into those feelings?
Apply: Be honest before God. If you need to vent your feelings to him, do so. That's OK with God!
Pray:
Patient One, I can identify with the psalmists and with Job. Thank You for handling my questions and distress.
