Week of November 1

It has been said, “Don’t misinterpret God’s silence as rejection.” Job had yet to hear from God, so he was fearful of divine rejection. We have in our focal passage today the powerful emotions that rise to the surface in the life of a person who feels God’s antagonism, experiences contempt from his family and friends, and is clinging to his last thread of hope! Job’s entire life was being pressed from all directions, yet it produced the sweet honey of hope that will bring rejoicing to our hearts today.

There is a melancholy rhythmic movement throughout Job 19. Job mourns all that has happened to him and provides us with a panoramic view of his life at that moment. He turns the camera, as it were, on his “band mates” (friends) who had come allegedly to show their friend support, but who had “crushed” him instead (19:2). The word means the futility and “feelings of worthlessness” one experiences when overwhelmed by misfortune. Robert Alden writes, “One could be very successful counseling the depressed by simply applying in reverse the principles exhibited by these three friends” (NAC). Our social media culture uses the word “friend” loosely, but we should know that friendship holds deep and rich implications for our lives in relationship to God and others.

What on earth had Job’s friends done? They had heaped insult upon insult upon Job (19:3, “ten”). Job wonders aloud what business it was of theirs to judge him, even if he had committed some sin of omission (19:4). They had used his back to step up and exalt themselves (19:5). Perhaps their greatest assault was to assume erroneously that they knew how God’s justice worked. Job argued, if this indeed were the case, that God had wronged him. Bildad sees Job’s plight as a sign of God’s retribution. Job declares that if Bildad’s claim were the case, it would be a divine injustice.

Job then turns the camera lens toward God to show us his complaint (19:7-20). Job takes two angles of approach: God is center frame in verses 8-13, and He is accused of being responsible for Job’s social alienation in verses 14-19. First, God is pictured as “blocking” Job’s way (19:8), being “on every side” (19:10), then of keeping his “kith and kin” at a painful distance (19:14-19; NAC). All these images remind us of the various ways God’s net had ensnared Job (19:6). We know the exhaustion that follows trials where we feel entrapped and unable to escape from our circumstances. Magnify this tenfold, because this all-powerful God is being portrayed as the one who had ensnared Job! Oh my! Yet, there is more.

Job changes the setting in his portrait portfolio of suffering, and he begins to use legal terminology (19:7-12). It was bad enough to suffer all the indignities he had encountered at home and in society, but now he pictures his perceived mistreatment by God: brought about “darkness” (19:8), “uncrowned him” (19:11) and “besieged him” (19:12; NAC). Job feels like he had been wronged, that God had ignored his case and was indifferent toward him. Well, we certainly have a miserable man, don’t we? Have you ever felt this way toward God?

We cannot point the finger at Job because we too often lift our own cameras of offense and seek to capture God in a bad light. Speaking of light, we do know that God is light and in Him there is no darkness (1 John 1:5). God does not pour out evil upon us, nor does He tempt us to fall into sin (James 1:13). Job knew this truth, and he pointed the camera to the future, adjusted the lens to bring what was to come into clear view, and then snapped a shot of what hope looks like amid dark despair! He writes, “I know that my redeemer lives and that the final One will rise against the dust.” Job assumes that he would soon die and that his tormented body would be thrown out like garbage. Despite this grim belief, he sees God (vision) and yearns for this Intercessor and hopes for a resurrection (19:25). From the agony of dejection and defeat he points a finger to heaven and cries out in faith, “I know that my Redeemer lives!” In other words, he would conquer human mortality and would rise from the dead and behold God in his body (HCBC). Job helps us to picture God’s redemption, not His rejection.

Norm was a member of one of the churches I served as pastor. He had battled leukemia for many years. He heroically endured many rounds of chemotherapy and all the side effects it causes. He was told at last that there was nothing more that could be done, and his family and I watched as he began the trek down the path toward life’s end. 

Here is a spiritual testimony to encourage you this day. Norm was admitted into the hospital when the disease was more than he could bear at home, and I will never forget the scene in that room as his family and I were gathered by his bedside. He had been unable to communicate for some time, and we knew that the end was near. We prayed aloud, and we continued to pray in our hearts for him. Then, as if we were being permitted to enter a private conversation between Norm and the Savior, he began to talk and speak with excitement and was rising up in his bed and pointing to heaven. We all were given one last picture of the victory that was his in Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). Suffering was soon gone as he stepped into the loving, healing presence of the Risen Lord. Your suffering is not due to God’s rejection this day. His hands are the ones redeeming you. Trust Him.

1. What great burden has weighed your heart and body down this day? Take a selfie! Yes, use your phone and take a picture of your expression in this moment. Now, give your circumstances to God and know that He is moving forward to redeem you, not reject you. Return to this picture at the end of your travail and take another shot of your face filled with the joy that comes from God’s rescue.

2. For Families: Do your kids think their lives are too hard? The next time one of your children complains about their difficult lives, ask them to run fetch the bathroom scales and come into the kitchen for a little experiment. 

Next, get several grocery sacks out and ask your child how much weight they think they can handle? Have them step on the scales to see how much they weigh. Next, give your child a grocery sack to hold, and begin filling the sack with items from your pantry: packaged foods, canned vegetables and fruit, bags of sugar and flour. Then add another sack and fill it full too! Add pots and pans, potatoes and onions, apples, and the jug of milk. 

When they begin to groan under the weight, add one or two more items and have them step on the scale. Time them for a whole minute while they stand, holding all of that weight. Congratulate them for their strength, lift the sacks, and put them on the countertop. Then remind them that there are people who bear unthinkable burdens, like Job, whose so-called friends even thought he deserved the hardship. 

Share about all of the things Job lost - his cattle and sheep and all of his children. Yet Job’s heart did not sink down. Instead, Job declared that God is always good. He is in the business of helping, not hurting. We do have bad times, but we can all cling to God and have hope. 

Now have your child stand on the scales again, holding the weight, while you lift most all of it from them. Remind them that God takes our burdens. “Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock