Lenten Study Job Ch 3
Grief, despair, and heart-ache cloud Job’s vision. He is unable to allow the happy memories of the past soften the loss of the present. It is at times like these we need the body of Christ around us to help us manage and carry the burdens of life that might otherwise overwhelm us.
"There was a man in the land of Uz" by andrevanb is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
1 Afterward, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2 And Job said,
3 “Let the day perish on which I was to be born, And the night which said, ‘A boy is conceived.’
4 “May that day be darkness; Let not God above care for it, Nor light shine on it.
5 “Let darkness and black gloom claim it; Let a cloud settle on it; Let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 “As for that night, let darkness seize it; Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; Let it not come into the number of the months.
7 “Behold, let that night be barren; Let no joyful shout enter it.
Job 3:1-7 (NASB)
Everything is so bad for Job he laments even being born. It seems like Job has a short memory. He was recently at the top of the world with a large family doing well. Do the past good times have no force or impact on the present?
Perhaps the memories of his children bring about the pain of their loss so great that pain overshadows the joy of the past? Grief is a powerful thing. It takes over our lives when we are in the midst of it, and all other considerations fall away. We need community, family, friends around us in the midst of adversity to help shepherd us through it.
2 Bear one another’s burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 (NASB)
Having this community established before adversity strikes is one of the chief reasons for building up a strong church-family, small-group, or other relational connection in the faith. It is far easier to enfold someone in a loving embrace if we already know who they are when they have a need instead of being introduced to them when their hand it out.
If you are walking the path with Christ by yourself, for this reason, I strongly encourage you to seek out a church and get involved with it now. I’m not predicting calamity is waiting for you around the next corner. However, if you are alive, and you are if you are reading this, then Life is going to happen. Something uncomfortable will occur. When it does, it is prudent to have already an established community that is familiar with you there to help you in your time of need.
8 “Let those curse it who curse the day, Who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.
Job 3:8 (NASB)
What is Leviathan? No one really knows. However, we have a number of scriptures referencing this beast. It is large. It lives in the sea. It has teeth, and it eats grass. Some suggest various dinosaurs might have been the Leviathan or maybe a hippopotamus. Whatever it is or was, it was very big. Job invokes the imagery of this hulking beast to mirror the size of his grief, the unstoppable nature of unhappiness he feels.
9 “Let the stars of its twilight be darkened; Let it wait for light but have none, And let it not see the breaking dawn;
10 Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb, Or hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why did I not die at birth, Come forth from the womb and expire?
12 “Why did the knees receive me, And why the breasts, that I should suck?
13 “For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,
14 With kings and with counselors of the earth, Who rebuilt ruins for themselves;
15 Or with princes who had gold, Who were filling their houses with silver.
16 “Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, As infants that never saw light.
Job 3:9-16 (NASB)
The alliteration continues as Job laments his birth questioning his very mother’s desire to see him live. I don’t think Job is actually blaming his mother for his birth but is merely using the idea that if he had died, then he would remember none of the calamity that has befallen him.
17 “There the wicked cease from raging, And there the weary are at rest.
18 “The prisoners are at ease together; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 “The small and the great are there, And the slave is free from his master.
20 “Why is light given to him who suffers, And life to the bitter of soul,
21 Who long for death, but there is none, And dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22 Who rejoice greatly, And exult when they find the grave?
Job 3:17-22 (NASB)
It is interesting to note the people Job lists here are all hurting in some fashion. Suffering is clearly evident in this list. All of these people, in one fashion or another, seek an escape from the troubles that beset them. This is a similar state for many addicts as well. Perhaps there is some value in those of us who are doing well, who have the sun on our faces, and blessings abounding to reflect on Job’s loss from the standpoint of someone else trying to escape their own loss. If we can use Job to visualize better and understand the level of grief addicts might be going through, the level of desire to escape whatever they perceive as their difficulties, perhaps we can better connect with those hurting and lost souls to help illuminate a path out of their despair?
23 “Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in?
24 “For my groaning comes at the sight of my food, And my cries pour out like water.
25 “For what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me.
26 “I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”
Job 3:23-26 (NASB)
This last string of verses highlights the fact that even given adequate necessities of life, Job cannot see through those things to the other side of his grief, and he can see no path through his current state that leads to anything other than more despair. This is where that community of family and friends can step in and help if we can connect with Job in scripture, understand his perspective on his loss, and try to discern the best course of action each of us might take if we ever find ourselves walking with someone in Job’s shoes.