Share Your Pain with God
Opening Prayer
My loving Shepherd, I trust Your leading. When You take me through the valley, You bring me to open fields.
Read Job 5:1-27
[1] “Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? [2] Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. [3] I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed. [4] His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender. [5] The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth. [6] For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground. [7] Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. [8] “But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. [9] He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. [10] He provides rain for the earth; he sends water on the countryside. [11] The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. [12] He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. [13] He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away. [14] Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night. [15] He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful. [16] So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth. [17] “Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. [18] For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal. [19] From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will touch you. [20] In famine he will deliver you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword. [21] You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes. [22] You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the wild animals. [23] For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you. [24] You will know that your tent is secure; you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing. [25] You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth. [26] You will come to the grave in full vigor, like sheaves gathered in season. [27] “We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself.” Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How do you respond to pain?Even if Eliphaz’s theories about the cause of suffering are wrong (42:7), he offers some helpful clues in this chapter about how to respond to suffering.First, he reminds Job (and us all) that troubles and suffering are part of the human condition (7). We live in a world that is dying, where decay and disorder are inevitable. Despite what politicians say, the world isn’t becoming a better or happier place. Second, he tells us that resentment and envy of those who appear not to be suffering are dead ends (2). They may be natural responses, but suffering is only exacerbated by these destructive emotions. And third, his advice to Job to present his case to God (8) is worth following. Peter, centuries later, suggests a similar course of action. The basis of their advice is the same: God’s loving care (10-16,19-26; 1 Pet. 5:7). When the universe seems uniformly dark, that’s one spark of truth worth clinging to and a helpful course of action.
Apply
Take out your journal, or a piece of paper, and talk to God about what troubles you. Expect him to draw near.
Closing prayer
Lord, when I suffer, let me not be like those with no vision of You. Help me keep my eyes and heart toward eternity.
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