What we cannot see

In this chapter, Job is really at a point of despair.  Almost all that was dear to him had been stripped from him.

His children were dead, his wife was of no comfort, he had lost his possessions, and now he was covered with sores from head to foot. I think that would’ve been enough to break any man.

And here, Job pours out his soul.  He curses the day he was born, and wishes that he had been stillborn.

Although he was by no means suicidal, nevertheless, he did wish that when he finally fell asleep at night, that he would never wake again.

But each day, he did awake, and things were no better.  And he wondered why it is that people have to live like that.  Living only to see misery and bitterness in life.

He then asked,

Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?  (Job 3:23)

In other words, “I can’t see the purpose of my own life.  Why has God given me life, when all I have is trouble and there seems to be no way out?”

He concludes by saying,

For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.  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.  (24-26)

That was his view from down on earth.

But what of heaven’s perspective?  This is something, interestingly enough to me, that is never shown to Job.

He never knew that God was actually very proud of him.  That God actually boasted about him among the angels and to Satan himself.

He never knew that God allowed these trials not because God was against him, but because God was so confident that he’d make it through.

And he also never saw the fact that despite all that happened to him, God’s hand was still very much upon him.  That though Satan would have destroyed him, God refused to let him do so.

So often as we face trials in our lives, we can’t understand why things are happening to us.  It seems like God is against us.  That he either no longer loves us, or that he simply no longer cares what happens to us.

But let us never forget that God never stops loving us.  That he instead looks upon us as a proud father and that he believes in us.

More than that, let us never forget that he will never take his hand of protection from us despite all that happens to us, and will never, ever let us go through trials beyond what we can bear.

As Paul wrote,

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.  (I Corinthians 10:13)