Year 1, Week 3, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 3, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Job 29-31.

Today’s reading completes Job’s words as he finished the three rounds of exchange with his friends: “The words of Job are ended” (Job 31:40b). 

What struck me about God from today’s reading is that He understands the human trauma of suffering. In providing us with Job’s final speech, God provides us a glimpse into the operations of the human heart in the face of suffering. Job’s suffering has been severe. Not all human suffering has the same intensity or duration, but that does not dismiss the reality of it being suffering nonetheless. So, while there are variations in both the reality of suffering as well as in how that suffering is personally perceived or interpreted, there is a common thread that runs through the experience of suffering. Job’s final speech might help us better understand how we think, feel, and speak in the midst of suffering.

The three chapters of today’s reading divide up along three perspectives. Job first looks back to reflect on the good life that he once had (Job 29), then he pivots to review the afflictions that he currently faced (Job 30). Finally, Job concludes with a rehearsal of his moral innocence (Job 31). God is showing us how the human heart responds to suffering. In seeing all hearts, God is providing us with something of a framework so that we might better understanding how we respond to suffering.

Job reflects on the life he once enjoyed: “Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me” (Job 29:2-5a). Job reminisces. The comforts and pleasures he once knew are only a distant memory. Certainly one of the complications of present hardships is the memory of previous happiness. Such reminiscing can be torturous. Such reminiscing can also reveal how deeply we love comfort and pleasure. While comfort and pleasure can be wonderful provisions from the Lord, we are never too far away from idolizing comfort and pleasure. How we respond when comfort and pleasure are interrupted can be very revealing.

Notice how Job theologically explains his past: God was with him; and his present: God has abandoned him: “But now…God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.” (Job 30:1,19-21). Job implies that the reality of his present sufferings is due to the Lord distancing Himself. What exacerbates our experience of suffering is how we interpret it theologically. When we believe that we are facing our sufferings alone, we interpret our sufferings in light of that perspective. The upside of Job’s words is that they underscore the conviction that we absolutely need the Lord constantly. But what Job is mistaken about is that God has not in fact abandoned him. Job’s misinterpretation is a devastatingly common one. To counter this, the Lord has repeating told us of His presence and aid in our difficulties: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1). While it seems like God has distanced Himself from us, He promises us that He has not. We quickly interpret reality in light of how we feel, not what God has said.

As Job finishes his words, he legally swears an oath: “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?” (Job 31:1-4). Job reflects a knowledge of God’s standards as he works through a host of moral categories to state the case of his innocence. Perhaps Job need not have rendered his own verdict for the Lord Himself had already declared Job was, "a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8b). But Job feels the need to make his case.

Job’s suffering reveals what suffering often draws out of us too. We tend to turn inward and self-focus in the midst of suffering. The shape of our self-focus can give rise to self-pity, self-reliance, and self-justification, just to name a few examples. But there is a better orientation than ourselves in the midst of our sufferings. The grace of Christ can come into sharper focus: “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe