Not Nearly,Yet
Sep27 by justhappeneduponthis
Job and his Friends by Tissot
You have not suffered as did the righteous patriarch Job. Not nearly, yet.
In the stroke of a day sickness, impoverishment, homelessness, childlessness, oppressive self-doubt. But God was prepared to put His confidence in Job, that his trust would not give out.
God was involved in sending this package of anguish.
But read on. Job finally ceases his rantings and falls down prostrate before His sovereignty. The curses are reversed and the man’s blessings are literally twice the amount of his prior estate and family.
At the lowest Job stands firm and proclaims, “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”.
It is particularly helpful to read chapters 29 through 31. Job recites how he has obeyed the moral law to the best of his ability. But still extreme humiliation and suffering have come. We get some idea of the lowest of things in chapter 30:
16 “And now my life ebbs away;
days of suffering grip me.
17 Night pierces my bones;
my gnawing pains never rest.
18 In his great power God becomes like clothing to me[d];
he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,
and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
20 “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer;
I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;
with the might of your hand you attack me.
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;
you toss me about in the storm.
23 I know you will bring me down to death,
to the place appointed for all the living.
24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man
when he cries for help in his distress.
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.
27 The churning inside me never stops;
days of suffering confront me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother of jackals,
a companion of owls.
30 My skin grows black and peels;
my body burns with fever.
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,
and my pipe to the sound of wailing.
NIV
Sep27 by justhappeneduponthis
Job and his Friends by TissotYou have not suffered as did the righteous patriarch Job. Not nearly, yet.
In the stroke of a day sickness, impoverishment, homelessness, childlessness, oppressive self-doubt. But God was prepared to put His confidence in Job, that his trust would not give out.
God was involved in sending this package of anguish.
But read on. Job finally ceases his rantings and falls down prostrate before His sovereignty. The curses are reversed and the man’s blessings are literally twice the amount of his prior estate and family.
At the lowest Job stands firm and proclaims, “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”.
It is particularly helpful to read chapters 29 through 31. Job recites how he has obeyed the moral law to the best of his ability. But still extreme humiliation and suffering have come. We get some idea of the lowest of things in chapter 30:
16 “And now my life ebbs away;
days of suffering grip me.
17 Night pierces my bones;
my gnawing pains never rest.
18 In his great power God becomes like clothing to me[d];
he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,
and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
20 “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer;
I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;
with the might of your hand you attack me.
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;
you toss me about in the storm.
23 I know you will bring me down to death,
to the place appointed for all the living.
24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man
when he cries for help in his distress.
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.
27 The churning inside me never stops;
days of suffering confront me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother of jackals,
a companion of owls.
30 My skin grows black and peels;
my body burns with fever.
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,
and my pipe to the sound of wailing.
NIV
