THEOLOGY DRIVES EVERYTHING
Opening Prayer
God, I don’t always understand You—help me to trust You.
Read Job 6:1–30
Job
6 Then Job replied:
2 “If only my anguish could be weighed
and all my misery be placed on the scales!
3 It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—
no wonder my words have been impetuous.
4 The arrows of the Almighty are in me,
my spirit drinks in their poison;
God’s terrors are marshaled against me.
5 Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass,
or an ox bellow when it has fodder?
6 Is tasteless food eaten without salt,
or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow?
7 I refuse to touch it;
such food makes me ill.
8 “Oh, that I might have my request,
that God would grant what I hope for,
9 that God would be willing to crush me,
to let loose his hand and cut off my life!
10 Then I would still have this consolation—
my joy in unrelenting pain—
that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.
11 “What strength do I have, that I should still hope?
What prospects, that I should be patient?
12 Do I have the strength of stone?
Is my flesh bronze?
13 Do I have any power to help myself,
now that success has been driven from me?
14 “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend
forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,
as the streams that overflow
16 when darkened by thawing ice
and swollen with melting snow,
17 but that stop flowing in the dry season,
and in the heat vanish from their channels.
18 Caravans turn aside from their routes;
they go off into the wasteland and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema look for water,
the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.
20 They are distressed, because they had been confident;
they arrive there, only to be disappointed.
21 Now you too have proved to be of no help;
you see something dreadful and are afraid.
22 Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf,
pay a ransom for me from your wealth,
23 deliver me from the hand of the enemy,
rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?
24 “Teach me, and I will be quiet;
show me where I have been wrong.
25 How painful are honest words!
But what do your arguments prove?
26 Do you mean to correct what I say,
and treat my desperate words as wind?
27 You would even cast lots for the fatherless
and barter away your friend.
28 “But now be so kind as to look at me.
Would I lie to your face?
29 Relent, do not be unjust;
reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.
30 Is there any wickedness on my lips?
Can my mouth not discern malice?
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How does what you believe about God affect how you live?Job has lost everything. But it’s God’s arrows that have pierced him and terrify him (4). He can no longer see the kindness of God. And when he needs his friends the most, they are worse than useless (14–30). “Even if God is against me,” says Job, “you guys should at least have been here for me!”
Remember when they’d first found Job? They sat with him in silence for seven days (2:11–13). Perhaps this was the best thing they ever did. But perhaps, even then, they’d begun to distance themselves. They’d wept and torn their clothes and put dust on their heads as if he were already dead (2:12). And although they didn’t speak to him (2:13), they may have spoken to one another.
Job’s suffering is so intense, and the fact that God might have allowed it to happen to an innocent man shakes their religion and terrifies them (21b). They don’t treat Job as an agonized brother. They toss ideas about and toss him aside (27) and refuse to look him in the face (28). They’re like a riverbed in a parched land that you’d relied on for life itself, but that tricked you and led to your death (14–21).
Apply
Are there relationships that drag you down or speak falsehood over you? Ask God to give you wisdom to navigate these relationships. Do you need to set up boundaries today?
Closing prayer
Thank You, God, for Your amazing grace. Help me to act graciously toward others.
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