Week of October 26
Your Light of Hope in the Forest of Despair
Read: Job 17; Acts 24-26
“Lay down a pledge for me with you;
who is there who will put up security for me?
Job 17:3, ESV
Introduction
Pastor and author, Tim Keller, once said, “Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you” (Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering, 58). Sometimes, we reach a breaking point when we suffer and begin to wonder if God really cares for us, and then we pour out our hot emotion. Job similarly vents his frustration over the pain and suffering he is experiencing, his confusion about God’s place in all of it, and his anger at the meaningless words of his “comforters.”
We often cannot see the forest for the trees when we suffer because our pain obscures something more significant. Even well-meaning friends are poor wilderness guides through the timberland of grief. Enter hope! Hope clears a path to see God’s hand of help in our misery. Job’s confession of hope lies beneath his emotional outburst in today’s Bible readings (HCBC). He reaches out to the heavenly “Intercessor” in his great trial (cf. Romans 8:26-28; the Spirit intercedes). Job’s suffering was teaching him things about God and His ways that he never understood before. He expresses himself in a poetic cry that reverberates through the soul of every believer who suffers anguish. Let’s see the ways we may identify with Job and glorify the Lord for His nearness in the storm!
We often cannot see the forest for the trees when we suffer because our pain obscures something more significant. Even well-meaning friends are poor wilderness guides through the timberland of grief. Enter hope! Hope clears a path to see God’s hand of help in our misery. Job’s confession of hope lies beneath his emotional outburst in today’s Bible readings (HCBC). He reaches out to the heavenly “Intercessor” in his great trial (cf. Romans 8:26-28; the Spirit intercedes). Job’s suffering was teaching him things about God and His ways that he never understood before. He expresses himself in a poetic cry that reverberates through the soul of every believer who suffers anguish. Let’s see the ways we may identify with Job and glorify the Lord for His nearness in the storm!
Interpreting the Bible Text
Ways that hope guides us through our pain and suffering
Hope is our foothold. Verse 1 flows from the previous chapter and continues the theme begun there (see 16:22). The verse is powerful in its simplicity—three, two-word lines. The style of writing helps us to see and feel Job’s predicament. He is “broken in spirit,” his days are “cut short,” and the graveyard will soon be his abode (17:1). Job may simply be out of breath from his pain, or he may refer to the fact that his spirit is broken (Handbook). It is quite possible for us to see a bit of both meanings in the simple expression. Suffering knocks the breath out of a person and can also break the spirit. Job’s lamp is about to go out, signaling metaphorically that his days are coming to an end. We would say, “My life is almost over.” He then dives even deeper into his travail by crying out that the grave is ready for him. Hope gives us a foothold when we have one foot already in the grave!
Hope is our trustworthy companion. To make matters worse, Job’s friends had hardly been the support he needed. The Scripture tells us that there is a friend who is closer than a brother, but Job was not blessed with this fellow (see Proverbs 18:24)! His buddies mock him rather than mourn with him (17:2). The verse is a difficult one to translate. but the meaning is something like, “Everywhere there are people who laugh at me, and I watch as they cruelly attack me” (Handbook; see also Matthew 27:27-29, 39-44). The stage has been set for Job to indicate his “next step” in the face of such overwhelming sorrow.
Hope never fails. Have you ever watched as the first rays of sunshine top the horizon? In similar fashion, the earliest rays of hope had yet to appear to Job, but the promise of their arrival lay just beyond the horizon of Job’s circumstances. I have not endured this type of loss in my life, but I do know that there is One, our God, upon whom we may lean in our own severe trials. Well, you may be thinking, “Where is my ray of sunshine?” Hold on for a minute longer, or you will miss God’s whisper. Job’s deepest longing in his darkest night offers us a key perspective when we suffer.
Boldly hope in God. Job says, “Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me?” Do you hear it? Job has switched from complaint to plea, and he asks God to put up a pledge for him. He wants God to step in and provide the money to obtain his release from this prison of pain. He pleads, “Be my surety!” His friends think he is guilty of some hidden sin, so Job calls out to God, his only hope, to demonstrate God’s mercy and justice and to prove that he is blameless. Job uses legal imagery of a court room when he reaches out to God and asks Him to take on the responsibility for His freedom.
Hope is our trustworthy companion. To make matters worse, Job’s friends had hardly been the support he needed. The Scripture tells us that there is a friend who is closer than a brother, but Job was not blessed with this fellow (see Proverbs 18:24)! His buddies mock him rather than mourn with him (17:2). The verse is a difficult one to translate. but the meaning is something like, “Everywhere there are people who laugh at me, and I watch as they cruelly attack me” (Handbook; see also Matthew 27:27-29, 39-44). The stage has been set for Job to indicate his “next step” in the face of such overwhelming sorrow.
Hope never fails. Have you ever watched as the first rays of sunshine top the horizon? In similar fashion, the earliest rays of hope had yet to appear to Job, but the promise of their arrival lay just beyond the horizon of Job’s circumstances. I have not endured this type of loss in my life, but I do know that there is One, our God, upon whom we may lean in our own severe trials. Well, you may be thinking, “Where is my ray of sunshine?” Hold on for a minute longer, or you will miss God’s whisper. Job’s deepest longing in his darkest night offers us a key perspective when we suffer.
Boldly hope in God. Job says, “Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me?” Do you hear it? Job has switched from complaint to plea, and he asks God to put up a pledge for him. He wants God to step in and provide the money to obtain his release from this prison of pain. He pleads, “Be my surety!” His friends think he is guilty of some hidden sin, so Job calls out to God, his only hope, to demonstrate God’s mercy and justice and to prove that he is blameless. Job uses legal imagery of a court room when he reaches out to God and asks Him to take on the responsibility for His freedom.
The message for our hearts
God offered freedom for all humanity when he broke open the grave and raised His Son as the guarantor of new life (cf. also John 11:23-25; “Your brother will rise again”; “I am the resurrection and the life”; Romans 5:8). Job knew in the depths of his being that God was there and that He cared for him. Job did not understand his ordeal, or why he was required to pass through it, but he knew who did know and understand—God—and he trusted Him (cf. Job 42:1-6). We may trust Him as well.
Applying the Text to Your Life
I recall the first time that I heard MercyMe sing the contemporary Christian song, “Even If.” I was driving in the predawn darkness when some of the lyrics pierced my soul. “What will I sing when I'm held to the flames like I am right now. . .” was the group’s testimony that God could deliver them through the fire, but even if He didn’t, their “hope” was Him alone! I paused at a traffic light with tears streaming down my face because I was reminded that such hope in the Lord “abides,” as Paul writes (1 Corinthians 13:13). Sadly, I sometimes do not avail myself of its benefits. How about you? Job found hope and serves as our witness today in our own trials. Trust God in your suffering and hope in Him when you cannot trace His hand (Psalm 23:4).
For Reflection and Action
1. Sometimes the way is dark, so you must simply follow the hope God has placed in your heart through the resurrection of Jesus. Sometimes God is silent, so you must simply walk by faith, with hope, and in response to God’s love (2 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Corinthians 13:13). What will be your next step today?
2. For Families: Parents need to help their children come to faith, THEN model how to walk in faith, hope, and love when life’s trials come their way. Share age-appropriate testimonies of how God is helping you through family trials (i.e., four-year-olds cannot yet understand abstract theological concepts, so be concrete and tangible in your witness to hoping in God). Ponder this passage and consider how you will equip your children to walk through tough times when God appears to be distant. Here are two ideas.
Some of you enjoy camping. On your next family outing, attach verses of Scripture that instill hope in hard times to various campsite items like tents and chairs and cook stoves (e.g., 1 Peter 2:1-3, when drinking milk at breakfast!). Then take your children (grandchildren, too!) on the trails and share Scriptures that encourage faith and hope when the journey is wearying, and they begin to wonder where they are (God places signs in nature that guide you along the trail, and His word guides our steps in life; Psalm 119:1-3, 9-11, 105).
You may choose to do the same thing when teaching your children (grandchildren, too) to cook difficult dishes. Pause in the preparation process at specific times and share verses of Scripture about faith and hope even when we do not know if the final product will be tasty! Pray aloud throughout various times and upon completion of the cooking.
May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock
2. For Families: Parents need to help their children come to faith, THEN model how to walk in faith, hope, and love when life’s trials come their way. Share age-appropriate testimonies of how God is helping you through family trials (i.e., four-year-olds cannot yet understand abstract theological concepts, so be concrete and tangible in your witness to hoping in God). Ponder this passage and consider how you will equip your children to walk through tough times when God appears to be distant. Here are two ideas.
Some of you enjoy camping. On your next family outing, attach verses of Scripture that instill hope in hard times to various campsite items like tents and chairs and cook stoves (e.g., 1 Peter 2:1-3, when drinking milk at breakfast!). Then take your children (grandchildren, too!) on the trails and share Scriptures that encourage faith and hope when the journey is wearying, and they begin to wonder where they are (God places signs in nature that guide you along the trail, and His word guides our steps in life; Psalm 119:1-3, 9-11, 105).
You may choose to do the same thing when teaching your children (grandchildren, too) to cook difficult dishes. Pause in the preparation process at specific times and share verses of Scripture about faith and hope even when we do not know if the final product will be tasty! Pray aloud throughout various times and upon completion of the cooking.
May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock
Posted in Pathway Devotionals