Pastor John Mochel

September 28

Reading: Job 7

1  “Has not man a hard service on earth,

     and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?

2   Like a slave who longs for the shadow,

     and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,

3   so I am allotted months of emptiness,

     and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

4   When I lie down I say,

     ‘When shall I arise?’

     But the night is long,

     and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

5   My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;

     my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.

6   My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle

     and come to their end without hope.

 

7  “Remember that my life is a breath;

     my eye will never again see good.

8   The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;

     while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.

9   As the cloud fades and vanishes,

     so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;

10  he returns no more to his house,

     nor does his place know him anymore.

 

11 “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;

     I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

     I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12  Am I the sea, or a sea monster,

     that you set a guard over me?

13  When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,

     my couch will ease my complaint,’

14  then you scare me with dreams

     and terrify me with visions,

15  so that I would choose strangling

     and death rather than my bones.

16  I loathe my life; I would not live forever.

     Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

 

17 “What is man, that you make so much of him,

     and that you set your heart on him,

18  visit him every morning

     and test him every moment?

19  How long will you not look away from me,

     nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

20  If I sin, what do I do to you,

     you watcher of mankind?

     Why have you made me your mark?

     Why have I become a burden to you?

21  Why do you not pardon my transgression

     and take away my iniquity?

     For now I shall lie in the earth;

     you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

 

In the seventh chapter Job continues his response to Eliphaz in poetic verse.  Job is pouring out his confusion, grief, and complaint.

We live in a culture in which everyone knows that it is wrong to complain.  You hear it at funerals, “She did all this and never complained.”  Is this a good thing?

We see in the Scriptures; with Moses, with David, with Jeremiah, now with Job; these faithful believers poured out their complaints to God.  They held nothing back.  I think that what we are seeing is something right and healthy.  This is the spiritual gift of lament.  Lament navigates the hazardous road between the ditches of denial and despair.  It refuses to deny God and it refuses to give up entirely.

In the first half of this chapter Job is revealing to Eliphaz the view of life from his overwhelming grief.  He makes three points.

  1. I just work like a slave all day and then cannot sleep at night and there is no hope. (vss. 1-6)
  2. “My life is but a breath.” Soon I will be dead and that will be all. (vss. 7-10)
  3. “Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth.” (vs. 11) Notice the “therefore” at the beginning of this verse.  It indicates that the misery and the brevity of life are the reasons that Job will not stop speaking.  After all, what else could be more meaningful in this short bitter life than talking to God?

Beginning in verse 11, or certainly in verse 12, Job is now talking to God.  We see that this is so because of how the pronouns are used.  The “You” in these verses cannot be Eliphaz or any man.

Beginning in verse 12 Job harangues God with a series of questions.

  1. Am I such a threat that You must set a guard over me? (vs. 12)
  2. When I seek peace, why do you terrify me at night so that I want to die? (vss. 13-15)
  3. My life is short, so why don’t you just leave me alone to die? (vs. 16)
  4. You are God and I am just a man, so why is it so important to You to test and examine me all the time? (vss. 17-19)
  5. “Have I sinned?” Tell me what I have done rather than just ruin my life. (vs. 20)
  6. If I have sinned why do You not forgive me and “take away my sin?” Otherwise, I’ll just lie down and die and what good is that to you?

Have you ever asked God any of these questions?

Do you see how Job is expressing his need to God?  It is both honest and beautiful.  In these words, we have the beginning of the gospel.  Job is expressing the agony of enmity with God, the earnest desire to repent, and the desperate need for forgiveness.