Job SPEAKS to God

“I’m not keeping one bit quiet,

I’m laying it all out on the table;

My complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest..

I hate this life!

Who needs more of this?

Just let me alone!

There’s nothing to my life--

It’s nothing but smoke.

Let up on me…

Don’t you have better things to do?

Why make a federal case out of me?

The way things are going, I’ll soon be dead!”

I have never experienced anything like the pain that Job bore. 

I don’t think I have ever been this honest with God either. 

Maybe they go together?

I recently read, Heaven is for Real, by Burpo, and in this book 

the Dad shares how he went into the chapel, not to cry out to 

God for help, but to “let God have it.” During this time his 

three year old son reported that he “saw” his dad in the 

chapel-- praying. I think this pastor/dad is still amazed that his 

anger was taken as prayer by his loving heavenly God,--and answered. 

His dying son recovered. As the book progresses it is obvious 

that Colton spent considerable time in heaven and did many things. 

His dad asked him, "Colton, you did many things. 

Just how long were you there?"  

Colton answered, "Two minutes." 

It is a good read

An Unfinished Life

Job 7 in The Message

“I’m given a life that meanders and goes nowhere--

months of aimlessness; nights of misery.

I’m covered with maggots and scabs. 

My skin gets scaly and hard, then oozes with puss….

My days come and go swifter than the click of knitting needles,

And then the yarn runs out--an unfinished life.”

Job’s life was meaningless

He felt meaningless.

An unfinished life...what could be sadder?

God Has Dumped on Me

Chapter 6--the Message

“The arrows of God almighty are in me, poisoned arrows--

I’m poisoned all through!

God has dumped the whole works on me...

Do you see what God has dished out for me?

It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach.

Everything in me is repulsed by it--

It makes me sick.

When desperate people give up on God Almighty, 

their friends, at least should stick with them.

But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert--

one day they’re gushing with water…then dry as a bone...

You pretend to tell me what's wrong with my life,

but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air.

Job is mad clear through.

He is mad at God and mad at his friends. 

The Message gives us straight up mad in modern English.

Is God listening? You bet He is!

Eliphaz Chimes In

"...Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up
on the scrap heap?" (Job 4:7 The Message)

Eliphaz blows a lot of wind, but this sentence seems
particularly cruel to me. He gets down and dirty with
his very first speech. No support, no empathy for his
friend. It seems that Satan continues to come at Job
through the relationships around him.

What about the comment above? Is Eliphaz implying
that a man's righteousness is a way to keep suffering
out his life? Does Eliphaz speak the truth?

This friend of Job's is just winding up, when all Job
wanted was some winding down.

Job Breaks the Silence

“Why was I ever born?

Obliterate the day!

Erase it from the books!

Why does God bother giving light to the miserable, 

why bother keeping bitter people alive, those who 

want in the worst way to die, and can’t, who can’t 

imagine anything better than death…?

What’s the point of life when it doesn’t make sense, 

when God blocks all roads to meaning?

My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed.

No rest for me ever--death has invaded my life.”

(Excerpted from Job 3, The Message.)

Job’s life is overwhelming and Job let’s God have it! 

He is just getting started. 

Does it make you feel uneasy to read his rant? 

Does this ring a bell with you? 

His words tug at my heart.

Job's Friends Arrive

Listen to Job 2:11-13 out of The Message:

“Three of Job’s friends heard of all the trouble that had fallen on him. 

Each traveled from his own country--Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad 

from Shuhah, Zophar from Namath--and went together to Job to keep 

him company and comfort him. When they first caught sight of him, 

they could not believe what they saw--they hardly recognized him! 

They cried out in lament, ripped their robes, and dumped dirt on their 

heads as a sign of grief. Then they sat with him on the ground. Seven 

days and seven nights they sat there without saying a word. They could 

see how rotten he felt, how deeply he was suffering.”

What about those who lived nearby, like the elders of the city, close friends, 

family? Where WERE they? Did they all abandon Job? The friends of his who 

traveled from a distance said nothing until after Job revealed the anguish of his heart. 

But what were they thinking during the fourteen days of silence?  Soon their 

world view would emerge as they try to explain to Job “why "good" people suffer.”

Absolute Surrender

(Last week I had trouble getting things posted. For several days 

the blog came out looking fuzzy with small print--then large. 

Hmm, wonder why...)

Job’s life is crashing around his ears, but how does he answer 

his wife’s advice to curse God and die?

“‘We take the good days from God--why not the bad also?’ 

NOT ONCE THROUGH ALL THIS DID JOB SIN.

HE SAID NOTHING AGAINST GOD.”  (Job 2:10)

Amazing, simply amazing! Job lived before Abraham when there 

were no Jews, nor Christians; no Bibles, support groups, or worship songs. 

What had touched Job’s heart so deeply? God Himself.

Our dog knows how to surrender. He flips over on his back and waves 

his paws. But his mistress cannot seem to stay surrendered. I find it 

much easier when everything is to my liking, but when the bad times 

come--I crab. However, I still know that God is good--all the time, and 

though I sometimes let Him have it, I give into His ways in the end. 

As we progress through the Book of Job, we will get a better handle 

on how a righteous man grieves.