Job's Misery

Jam.5: 11 Yes, many people have heard about Job and his trials; but not many people understand what those trials were all about and what God was trying to accomplish. Nor do they realize that Job suffered as he did so that God’s people today might learn from his experiences how to be patient in suffering and endure to the end. As we study the book of Job together, I trust that two things will be accomplished in your life: you will learn to be patient in your own trials, and you will learn how to help others in their trials. The book of Job is not religious fiction. Job was a real person, not an imaginary character Ezek.14: 14, 20. Because he was a real man who had real experiences, he can tell us what we need to know about life and its problems in this real world. These first three chapters introduce us to the man Job and reveal four important facts about him.

Job’s misery – In this section, you hear four different voices.

THE VOICE OF THE ACCUSER – Job.2:1- 8.

Satan does not give up easily, for he returned to God’s throne to accuse Job again. As in the first meeting Job.1: 8, it is God who brings up the subject of His servant Job; and Satan accepts the challenge. We get the impression that God is confident His servant will not fail the test. “Every man has his price,” said Satan. “Job can raise another family and start another business because he still has health and strength. Let me touch his body and take away his health, and you will soon hear him curse you to your face.” With God’s permission 1Cor.10: 13, Satan afflicted Job with a disease we cannot identify. Whatever it was, the symptoms were terrible: severe itching Job.2: 8, insomnia Vs.4, running sores and scabs Vs.5, nightmares vs.14- 15, weight loss Vs.20, chills and fever Vs.21: 6, diarrhea 30; 27, and blackened skin Vs.30. When his three friends first saw Job, they did not recognize him 2: 12.

Not all physical affliction comes directly from the evil one. Sometimes physical affliction is the natural result of carelessness on our part, and we have nobody to blame but ourselves. But even then, Satan knows how to use our folly to further his cause. So abhorrent was Job’s appearance that he fled society Job. 19: 13- 20; and went outside the city and sat on the ash heap. There the city garbage was deposited and burned, and there the city’s rejects lived, begging alms from whoever passed by. The city’s leading citizen was now living in abject poverty and shame.

THE VOICE OF THE QUITTER – Job.2: 9- 10.

“Curse God and die” was exactly what Satan wanted Job to do, and Job’s wife put the temptation before her husband. Yes, Satan can work through people that are dear to us Matt.16: 22- 23. And the temptation is stronger because we love them so much. Adam listened to Eve Gen.3: 6, 12, and Abraham listened to Sarah Gen.16; but Job did not listen to the advice of his wife. She was wrong, of course; but in all fairness, we must consider her situation. She had lost ten children in one day, and that would be enough to devastate any mother. The family wealth was gone, and she was no longer the “leading lady” in the land. Her husband, once the greatest man in the East Job.1: 3; was now sitting at the city garbage dump, suffering from a terrible disease. What did she have left? Rather than watch her husband waste away in pain and shame, she would prefer that God strike him dead and get it over with immediately. Perhaps if Job cursed God; God would do it. In our times of severe testing, our first question must not be, “how can I get out of this?” But “What can I get out of this?

Faith is living without scheming. It is obeying God in spite of feelings, circumstances, or consequences, knowing that He is working out His perfect plan in His way and in His time.

The two things Job would not give up were his faith in God and his integrity, and that is what his wife wanted him to do. When life is difficult, it is easy to give up; but giving up is the worst thing we can do. A professor of history said, “If Columbus had turned back, nobody would have blamed him; but nobody would have remembered him either. In the end, Job’s wife was reconciled to her husband and to the Lord, and God gave her another family Job.42: 13.

THE VOICE OF THE MOURNERS – Job.2: 11- 13.

The term “Job’s comforters” is a familiar phrase for describing people whose help only makes you feel worse. But these three men had some adorable qualities in spite of the way they persecuted Job.

For one thing, they cared enough for Job to travel a long distance to visit him. And when they commiserated with him, they didn’t sit in a comfortable home or hospital room; they sat with him on the ash heap, surrounded by refuse. Because their grief was so great, they couldn’t speak for seven days. The best way to help people who are hurting is just to be with them, saying little or nothing, and letting them know you care. Don’t try to explain everything; explanations never heal a broken heart. If his friends had listened to him, accepted his feelings, and not argued with him, they would have helped him greatly; but they chose to be prosecuting attorneys instead of witnesses. In the end, the Lord rebuked them; and they had to ask Job’s forgiveness Job.42: 7- 10.

THE VOICE OF THE SUFFERER – Job.3: 1- 26.

After seven days of silent suffering, Job spoke, not to curse God but to curse the day of his birth. “Why was I ever born?” has been sobbed by more than one hurting child of God, including the Prophet Jeremiah Jer.20: 14- 18. This is not quite the same as saying, “I wish I were dead”; though Job did express that desire more than once Job.6: 9; 7: 15- 16; 14: 13. At no time did Job speak of ending his own life. Job’s birthday lament is not a defense of suicide; it is the declaration of a man whose suffering was so intense that he wished he had never been born. When you are hurting, you may say and do a lot of things that you later regret. Job’s suffering was so great that he forgot the blessings that he and his family had enjoyed for so many years. Had he never been born, he would never have been the greatest man in the East! But pain makes us forget the joys of the past; instead, we concentrate on the hopelessness of the future. Job’s friends heard his words but did not feel the anguish of his heart, and they took the wrong approach to helping him handle his trials. They argued with his words instead of ministering to his feelings.

Job cursed two nights: the night of his conception and the night of his birth Job.3: 1- 19. Conception is a blessing that comes from God. So, when we curse a blessing, we are questioning the goodness of God. The key word here is darkness. When a baby is born, it comes out of darkness into the light; but Job wanted to stay in the darkness. In fact, he thought it would have been better if he had been born dead! Then he would have gone to the world of the dead and not had to face all this misery. He closed his curse with four “why?” questions that nobody but God could answer. There is nothing wrong with asking why, as long as we don’t get the idea that God owes us an answer or explanation. Even our Lord Jesus Christ asked, “Why hast Thou forsaking me Matt.27: 46. But if the Lord did tell us why things happen as they do, would that ease our pain or heal our broken hearts? Does reading the X ray take away the pain of a broken leg. We live on promises, not explanations. So, we shouldn’t spend too much time asking God why.

Job shares a secret at the close of his lament vs25- 26: before all his troubles started, he had a feeling, and a fear, that something terrible was going to happen. Was it an intuition from the Lord? Sometimes God’s people have these intuitions, and it motivates them to seek God’s face and pray for His help. Is that what Job did? We don’t know, but we do know that he was a broken man whose fears had now been realized.