October 20
Reading: Job 29
1 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
2 “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
3 when his lamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
4 as I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent,
5 when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my children were all around me,
6 when my steps were washed with butter,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
7 When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
9 the princes refrained from talking
and laid their hand on their mouth;
10 the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13 The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
15 I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
18 Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
19 my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches,
20 my glory fresh with me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.’
21 “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them.
23 They waited for me as for the rain,
and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and the light of my face they did not cast down.
25 I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
We have heard Job’s lament of chapter 3, then Job’s responses to three rounds of accusations from his three friends, then Job’s summary response of chapters 27-28. Now, in Job 29, he begins his closing lament.
There is a great difference between Job’s opening lament in chapter 3 and his closing lament in these three chapters. In Job 3 his cry was essentially “I wish I’d never been born.” Now he speaks little of even his own death in the present. Job has made progress. His journey of lament and the foil of his friends has not been a waste.
He begins in chapter 29 longing for a return to days when he felt the presence of God, His blessing, and the warm company of family. This is a sign of great spiritual and emotional health. The self-pity is gone. He is simply being honest with himself and saying, “I really miss what I had.” The next step might be thanking God for what he had.
Beginning in verse 7, we find Job mourning the loss of the respect that he once had in the community and the opportunities he had to be a blessing to others.
In verses 17-20 Job looks back on how he thought that those days of happy blessing would last forever. Now he knows how fleeting such moments can be.
In verses 21-25 he laments the loss of the wisdom he was able to share and the influence he had for the good of all.
Some might remember the now famous song written by Joni Mitchell, “Big Yellow Taxi.”
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone
This ought to motivate us to overwhelming thankfulness in the present, or honest lament with thankfulness regarding the past. Many people look back on “those golden days” with longing, but God gives us “golden days” so that we can forever remember His goodness and hope for what He has promised.