SCRIPTURE: Job 10
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands, while smiling on the schemes of the wicked? [Job 10:3]
You formed me with your hands; you made me, yet now you completely destroy me. Remember that you made me from dust— will you turn me back to dust so soon? [Job 10:8-9]
Have you ever felt like this?
Though I have not gone through something like this myself, I have been with people who have.
When the bad news just keeps coming: diagnosed with cancer, teenagers in trouble with the law, friends letting you down, bills not getting paid, an expensive car repair – all in the same day.
“Enough, just stop it” we yell, “I can’t take it anymore!”
I have been with people who honestly felt that God was oppressing them, that He was out to get them.
And what makes it worse is when people with no regard for God seem to do so well, as if God is smiling at them.
This is a dark place to be, a place of despair and defeat.
It is a land as dark as midnight, a land of gloom and confusion, where even the light is dark as midnight. [Job 10:22]
At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” [Mark 15:33-34]
Notice the connection in Jesus’ story between darkness and despair.
Jesus cries out to God, like Job, quoting Psalm 22:1, and accuses God of oppressing, rejecting, destroying Him.
“Why God, what do You gain from watching Your children suffer, while those who ignore you seem to enjoy life?”
Jesus identifies with us in our misery, He becomes one with us in our agony; this is part of the “incarnation” (God becoming a real, flesh and blood human), where He embraces life as we experience it.
This is what life is like for us without God, where even the light is dark as midnight.
What this means to me first of all is that people who struggle with how God operates are not told to be quiet, they are encouraged through Jesus to honestly express their pain and misery.
Its natural to hate sin and suffering and all of its dark, agonizing consequences.
In our blindness and misery, where we cannot see things clearly or fully (or as Job puts it, “eyes like those of a human… see things only as people see them”, Job 10:4], it is honest and real to cry out to God, to complain to Him.
Think of a young child that does not understand why their parents do what they do, or allow things to happen that are painful; they will even accuse their parents of being mean or unfair!
God is big enough to take this; it hurts, but He can take it… He loves us, He knows our struggles!
What Jesus shows me is that even when we do not understand what is happening to us, or why, that somehow through it all there is a good purpose, a reason.
Jesus was forsaken for a reason, and that reason was for the benefit of the whole world.
With “eyes like those of a human” we cannot see or understand it, but God is not limited in this way; He sees and knows all, and is working everything out for the benefit of the whole world.
Yes, our suffering may not make sense for us, but imagine how God can use our painful circumstances – and their ripple effect – to impact the lives of so many people, most of whom we will never meet.
This thought is like a small light that pierces the darkness, a glimpse of hope in a place of despair.
When the time of darkness is upon you, be honest with God – cry out, complain to Him – Jesus did!
But cling to this thought – God does not see things as we do, He sees and knows so much more!
He suffers with you, He hates the misery and agony that we experience, He longs to free us from it.
And that is what He is doing – He is working through our circumstances to free all people (not just us).
He is allowing us to go through the valley of the shadow of death so that He can lead many to the place prepared for them, to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
PRAYER:
Lord, You went through hell, You know what misery is. But You came through that valley, and many have been blessed as a result. Help me to see – as You do – that as dark as things get, they will NEVER overcome the light!
“AMEN” to that.