Please read Job 3 before beginning this. (don't forget to ask the Lord to guide you to what He has for you to learn from it)
In Job 3, after 7 days, Job finally breaks the silence. Now we don't know how much time passed between the time he went to the ash heap and his friends arrived, although I'm sure there was some time in between there. So the amount of time that's passed since Job was made ill by Satan, is longer then just a week.
Note also that these verses show us that we are a person, a human being, from the moment of conception. There is no doubt here about when life begins.
At this point, when Job starts to talk, we discover that he's fallen into despair and self pity. He's very depressed and says he wishes he was never conceived or born. That if he had to be born, he wishes he'd been born dead. Note that he never suggests that he will take his own life, he's simply doing what I suspect many of us do at times like this, and wishing he were dead.
Even with his friends right there with him, Job is feeling very much alone. His friends can't take or share his physical pain or even his emotional pain. Often we can be surrounded by people who love and care for us and still feel very much alone. That's one of the nasty things self pity does to us. We stop looking at reality, although we think at the time that's exactly what we're looking at. It's amazing how we can deceive ourselves. We look at the past and all the "bad" that's happened, we look into the future and only expect more pain. We refuse to have hope for anything better or to recognize anything good in our lives in the present. We even forget the joys of the past and only focus on the pain.
Job didn't stop believing God was in control, but he did, for the moment stop believing God loved him. I went through a time like that in my life too and remember how miserable I made myself and everyone around me. Thankfully the Lord showed me that I was sinning by being so full of self pity and how to get out of it.
As Job continues to talk about death and how great it would be if only he were dead, we see that he got himself pretty confused, for the views he expressed about what happens when we die, aren't the same here as what he says later with a clearer head, and aren't at all what the Bible says is true about it. For example in Job 3:17 he says the wicked are no longer in turmoil and can rest. The reason for this is because Job wasn't thinking clearly. He was hurt and confused and was only thinking about how great it would be if only there was an end to all the physical and emotional and even spiritual pain he was in. So he mixed things up in his mind, just as we all do when we're in that kind of mental state. The only thing he knows for sure is that death would end all of his pain and in that he was correct.
Then in verse 20 he begins to do what we all do, he starts asking "why" and "why me". There's nothing wrong with asking God why, but we should not demand an answer, for He doesn't owe us anything, and we should be aware that He may not give us an answer in this life. Another thing we should also be aware of is that even knowing the answer doesn't always relieve the pain. For example if you're sick and go to the doctor and he tells you that you have cancer, and that's why you feel the way you do, that's not going to make you feel any better. In fact, it'll probably make you feel worse. We need to remember that we live on promises and not on explanations. Plus, I've learned in my walk with the Lord that He often doesn't tell us "why" until after we've obeyed Him. Job isn't in that kind of position, but I used to often ask God why He wanted me to do something, before doing it, which is how I learned that the answer isn't given until after we obey.
In verse 23 something interesting happens. Job accuses God of hedging him in so that he can't escape the pain. Remember that Satan used the same word "hedge" to describe how God was protecting Job, and now Job was turning it around. He feels trapped and unable to get out of all that's happening.
Notice though that although Job curses the day of his conception and his birth, he never curses God. Satan bet God that Job would curse Him instead of worshiping Him, but once again Satan loses. However, since Satan can't see into the future or know our hearts, but only what we say and do, he was probably thinking that he was well on his way to breaking Job and winning by now.
But God was still with Job, though he didn't know it. He still loved Job and was still very proud of him.
The last couple of verses are quite interesting as many people feel this way. Job 3:25–26 —What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. *I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” * Job was so involved in only allowing negative thoughts into his mind, that he had no peace anymore. He says that he'd feared these things would happen and now they have. We aren't told for sure, so we don't know if the Lord gave Job an intuition that something horrible was going to happen ahead of time or not. It's certainly possible that He warned him though.
However, it's more likely that these verses are the key to why God permitted Job's suffering to happen in the first place. It's also possible that Job feared God and tried to serve Him, but that he also feared the future. Perhaps Job was one of those people who constantly allowed dark thoughts into his mind. Thoughts of "what if this or that happened", and would think of all the possible things that could go wrong. If so that would show that although Job was a righteous man since God Himself had said so, that He didn't entirely trust God with his future. If that's true, then perhaps God allowed all this to happen in order to help Job find a deeper faith and love for Him, that would free him from these terrors and dark thoughts.
The Lord does tell us at the very beginning though that this was all brought on by Satan, so that's the only thing we can know for sure. We also know that Satan loves it when we pity ourselves, for then he can waltz right in and take control. We know that the only reason Job "has no peace" etc, is because he's not taking his thoughts captive and he's not guarding his mind. But then he's not aware that Satan is behind all his troubles, and like us, may feel entitled to let his guard down for now. Having read this book before, I'm sure we're all aware of just how much pain and heartache he could have spared himself if only he'd keep his guard up and take those thoughts captive. But if he had, we wouldn't be able to learn the many lessons this experience teaches him and us.
That's yet something else to remember too. Often when we first learn about taking our thoughts captive, we wish we'd known about it years ago so we could have avoided much of the pain we've gone through. We're forgetting once again though that God is in control of everything, including the timing of everything. We learned about this at exactly the time we were meant to, and all the experiences we went through before hand were to teach us and bring us closer to the Lord.
In Job 3, after 7 days, Job finally breaks the silence. Now we don't know how much time passed between the time he went to the ash heap and his friends arrived, although I'm sure there was some time in between there. So the amount of time that's passed since Job was made ill by Satan, is longer then just a week.
Note also that these verses show us that we are a person, a human being, from the moment of conception. There is no doubt here about when life begins.
At this point, when Job starts to talk, we discover that he's fallen into despair and self pity. He's very depressed and says he wishes he was never conceived or born. That if he had to be born, he wishes he'd been born dead. Note that he never suggests that he will take his own life, he's simply doing what I suspect many of us do at times like this, and wishing he were dead.
Even with his friends right there with him, Job is feeling very much alone. His friends can't take or share his physical pain or even his emotional pain. Often we can be surrounded by people who love and care for us and still feel very much alone. That's one of the nasty things self pity does to us. We stop looking at reality, although we think at the time that's exactly what we're looking at. It's amazing how we can deceive ourselves. We look at the past and all the "bad" that's happened, we look into the future and only expect more pain. We refuse to have hope for anything better or to recognize anything good in our lives in the present. We even forget the joys of the past and only focus on the pain.
Job didn't stop believing God was in control, but he did, for the moment stop believing God loved him. I went through a time like that in my life too and remember how miserable I made myself and everyone around me. Thankfully the Lord showed me that I was sinning by being so full of self pity and how to get out of it.
As Job continues to talk about death and how great it would be if only he were dead, we see that he got himself pretty confused, for the views he expressed about what happens when we die, aren't the same here as what he says later with a clearer head, and aren't at all what the Bible says is true about it. For example in Job 3:17 he says the wicked are no longer in turmoil and can rest. The reason for this is because Job wasn't thinking clearly. He was hurt and confused and was only thinking about how great it would be if only there was an end to all the physical and emotional and even spiritual pain he was in. So he mixed things up in his mind, just as we all do when we're in that kind of mental state. The only thing he knows for sure is that death would end all of his pain and in that he was correct.
Then in verse 20 he begins to do what we all do, he starts asking "why" and "why me". There's nothing wrong with asking God why, but we should not demand an answer, for He doesn't owe us anything, and we should be aware that He may not give us an answer in this life. Another thing we should also be aware of is that even knowing the answer doesn't always relieve the pain. For example if you're sick and go to the doctor and he tells you that you have cancer, and that's why you feel the way you do, that's not going to make you feel any better. In fact, it'll probably make you feel worse. We need to remember that we live on promises and not on explanations. Plus, I've learned in my walk with the Lord that He often doesn't tell us "why" until after we've obeyed Him. Job isn't in that kind of position, but I used to often ask God why He wanted me to do something, before doing it, which is how I learned that the answer isn't given until after we obey.
In verse 23 something interesting happens. Job accuses God of hedging him in so that he can't escape the pain. Remember that Satan used the same word "hedge" to describe how God was protecting Job, and now Job was turning it around. He feels trapped and unable to get out of all that's happening.
Notice though that although Job curses the day of his conception and his birth, he never curses God. Satan bet God that Job would curse Him instead of worshiping Him, but once again Satan loses. However, since Satan can't see into the future or know our hearts, but only what we say and do, he was probably thinking that he was well on his way to breaking Job and winning by now.
But God was still with Job, though he didn't know it. He still loved Job and was still very proud of him.
The last couple of verses are quite interesting as many people feel this way. Job 3:25–26 —What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. *I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” * Job was so involved in only allowing negative thoughts into his mind, that he had no peace anymore. He says that he'd feared these things would happen and now they have. We aren't told for sure, so we don't know if the Lord gave Job an intuition that something horrible was going to happen ahead of time or not. It's certainly possible that He warned him though.
However, it's more likely that these verses are the key to why God permitted Job's suffering to happen in the first place. It's also possible that Job feared God and tried to serve Him, but that he also feared the future. Perhaps Job was one of those people who constantly allowed dark thoughts into his mind. Thoughts of "what if this or that happened", and would think of all the possible things that could go wrong. If so that would show that although Job was a righteous man since God Himself had said so, that He didn't entirely trust God with his future. If that's true, then perhaps God allowed all this to happen in order to help Job find a deeper faith and love for Him, that would free him from these terrors and dark thoughts.
The Lord does tell us at the very beginning though that this was all brought on by Satan, so that's the only thing we can know for sure. We also know that Satan loves it when we pity ourselves, for then he can waltz right in and take control. We know that the only reason Job "has no peace" etc, is because he's not taking his thoughts captive and he's not guarding his mind. But then he's not aware that Satan is behind all his troubles, and like us, may feel entitled to let his guard down for now. Having read this book before, I'm sure we're all aware of just how much pain and heartache he could have spared himself if only he'd keep his guard up and take those thoughts captive. But if he had, we wouldn't be able to learn the many lessons this experience teaches him and us.
That's yet something else to remember too. Often when we first learn about taking our thoughts captive, we wish we'd known about it years ago so we could have avoided much of the pain we've gone through. We're forgetting once again though that God is in control of everything, including the timing of everything. We learned about this at exactly the time we were meant to, and all the experiences we went through before hand were to teach us and bring us closer to the Lord.
Eva posted: I have experienced times that while being in a deep depression, people where telling me things I was considering silly, and it would be better for them not to talk at all. I often felt insulted by the way they showed they care. Jobs friends did the best at that time. We all know they messed up later...
The previous, about his wife is more what I was thinking though. I would have been heart broken in Jobs position
Yes, I would have been too, and I imagine it did hurt Job's feelings too. Thankfully he was able to set his feelings aside at that time and remember that his wife was also hurting and was saying things she didn't really mean because of that hurt, as we all often do.
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