Job has lost everything. Job has lost his possessions and wealth. Job has lost his way of life. Job has lost his ten children. Job has lost his health. Satan has taken Job to the edge of his life, yet Job still breathes. Job’s wife has told Job that if God is not going to protect him from suffering and hardship, then there is no reason to serve God. The logical thing to do would be to give up your faithfulness, curse God, and die. Job responds that such thinking is foolishness. In spite of all of his pain, Job has proclaimed critical faithful words. We will accept the good that comes from God and we will also accept the adversity (Job 2:10). We come into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. No matter which happens, blessed is the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong (Job 1:22; 2:10). But now what? The book does not end. There are 40 more chapters of content regarding the life of Job. Further, the trial does not end. It is easy to leave Job right here, saying the right words, but not follow through with the rest of the account. But Job’s suffering did not stop at the end of chapter 2. Job’s faithful words have not changed the outcome of anguish in his life. We are not specifically told how much time has passed by when the friends of Job arrive. It is easy to think that when we read Job 2:11 that the three friends got in their cars, drove down the street, and came to Job’s house. But we are told that these friends live in completely different parts of the world. Job 7:3 indicates to us that Job has been going through this suffering for months. It has not been hours. It has not been days. It has not been weeks. This has been going on and on for months. Nights of anguish and sleeplessness (cf. Job 7:4). Every night trying to go to sleep, believing you are about to die, only to wake up again in continuing pain (cf. Job 7:7-8).
Job’s Friends
At the end of Job 2 we see that three of Job’s friends have arrived from far away places. Their names are Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Job 2:11 tells us that they came to show Job sympathy and comfort. But when they arrive, they find Job unrecognizable (Job 2:12). So they show their mourning as they raise their voices and tear their robes. Then they sit on the ground with Job for seven days and nights. No one spoke a word to Job during those seven days because they saw that his suffering was very great. I want to say this with all sincerity that this was the best thing those friends could do. I say this because of what we are going to see them saying to Job, which is going to inflict only more pain. But I also say this because there is great wisdom in keeping quiet when in the presence of someone’s loss and pain. Sometimes what we really need is an acknowledgment of the pain we are experiencing. We are not looking for cliche answers or regurgitated platitudes. We just want someone to know that we hurt. The best thing these friends do for Job is show that they are present and they are available. They show that they are there for him. There is nothing that these friends can do to fix what has happened. There is nothing that these friends can do to change what has happened. There is nothing that these friends can say to make anything better. Their purpose for coming is comfort. They have taken a good first step. They are weeping with Job. They are sitting with Job. They are quiet before Job. Now Job is going to speak.
Job’s Curse
When Job opens his mouth in Job 3:1 we are told that Job will curse the day of his birth. Before we consider this, I want us to notice that Job is still not doing what Satan said he would do. Satan declared that Job would curse God to his face (cf. Job 2:4-5). Job does not curse God. Job does not curse others. Job utters a curse of the day of his birth. Now I want to remind us that Job is not cursing in the way we talk about cursing. This is not anger-filled tirade of filth flowing from his lips. What you are reading in Job 3:1-10 is Job proclaiming that the day of his birth should have never been considered a day of celebration but a day of grief. He says that it would have been better if that day he was born had been erased from the calendar. But it is also important to note that Job is not seeking to end his own life. Rather, Job is indicating that it would have been better to never have been born than experience what he is going through.
I want us to notice what Job wishes for verses 11-19. In verse 13 he says that if he had died at birth he would be able to lay down in quiet and peace. Then he would have sleep and been at rest. Look at verse 17 where again Job longs for turmoil to cease and where the weary can have rest. Can you appreciate where Job is coming from? Have you been in so much suffering and so much turmoil that all you are looking for is a little rest? You just want a moment to lie down. You just want to not think about all that is happening. You just want to close your eyes and turn off the pain. But what Job eats and drinks all day long is sighing and groaning because each day is just another day of fear and dread (Job 3:24-25). Job 3:26 is an excellent summary of what Job is crying out over.
“I have no ease, I have no quietness; I cannot rest; turmoil has come upon me.” (Job 3:26 NET)
It is tempting to read what Job says and condemn him for his words. But we need to remember what Job is going through and notice that he is crying out ultimately for rest. If he had not been born, then he would have the rest and peace that he so desperately longs to enjoy. I would also remind us that Job does not say these words in a prayer to God or even to his friends. He just seems to say these things into the air. He just hurts and wants rest. There are other people in the scriptures who said far more challenging words to God than what Job says. You may remember that we read of Elijah longing for death in 1 Kings 19:1-4. Moses tells God that is this is the way this is going to go in the wilderness that God should kill him (cf. Numbers 11:14-15). The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:8 that they were so utterly burdened beyond their strength that they despaired of life itself. Further, the prophet Jeremiah also cursed the day of his birth when his preaching leads to persecution rather than the repentance of the people (cf. Jeremiah 20:14-18). The point I want to simply make is that Job is human. We should not turn on Job at this point as he expresses his deep desire for peace and rest.
What I am wanting us to see is that faith is not like a light switch. Job is not expressing faith in chapters 1-2 but now faithless in chapter 3. We do not charge Moses with lacking faith in Numbers 11 or Paul with lacking faith in 2 Corinthians 1:8. The point we are seeing in Job’s life is that it is possible to be full of faith, continue to trust God, maintain your love and worship for God, and be in turmoil, without ease, peace or rest (cf. Job 3:26).
Job’s Hurt (Job 3:23)
But there is a deeper problem for Job that is contributing to his mental anguish and pain. Look at Job 3:23.
Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? (Job 3:23 ESV)
Notice that Job believes that God has boxed him in. He believes that God is hostile toward him. God has fenced him in so that there is no path forward and no path for relief or rescue. What we are going to see in Job’s mind is that his suffering means that God has abandoned him. His pain means to him that God has left him fenced in. I think this is a very common feeling for God’s people. Suffering challenges our belief that God could possibly still be with us, leading us, and helping us. It feels like we have been put in a box and the light has been turned off. I want to quickly confirm that this is a key part of Job’s anguish. Look at how many times Job says this in the book:
Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy? (Job 13:24 ESV)
“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….” (Job 29:2-4 ESV)
You see that Job thinks that God has left him. His suffering indicates to him that his friendship with God is over. Has God left us when we hurt? Has God cut himself off from us when we suffer? It can be a conclusion that we are tempted to draw because suffering feels like God has withdrawn himself. One of the more well-known expressions of this feeling is Psalm 22. Psalm 22 begins:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. (Psalm 22:1-2 ESV)
Then the psalmist cries out that the Lord would not be far from him (Psalm 22:11,19). But like in the book of Job, we cannot stop reading Psalm 22 and think we know the message. The message is not that God is far from us when we are suffering. Rather, the message is that even though it feels like God is far from us when we suffer, God has not moved away from us and has not forsaken us. Look at Psalm 22:22-24.
I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. (Psalm 22:22-24 ESV)
It looks like your suffering means God has left you. It feels like your suffering means that God has abandoned you. But the psalmist says that even though it felt that way and looked that way, God has not despised the affliction of the afflicted. God has not hidden his face from the afflicted. He has heard when they cry out to him. Jesus applied this psalm to his own situation while he was on the cross. It looked like the Father no longer delighted in the Son. The crowd was saying that to him. It looked like God had left and it felt like God had left. But God proved that he had not abandoned his Son when he raised his Son from the dead three days later. The apostle Peter quotes David from Psalm 16 to prove this point, “Moreover, my flesh will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me in Hades, or allow your Holy One to see decay” (Acts 2:26-27).
Friends, we will give up on God, give up on faithfulness, give up on worship, and give up our confidence because we think our suffering means God has fenced us in and left us. David thought this in Psalm 22. Job thinks this as he walks through his suffering. But I will remind us of what the New Testament tells us so that we will not give up or lose heart.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39 ESV)
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 ESV)
Nothing that we are going through means that God loves us any less or that he has separated himself from us. Notice that Paul says that when afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, or struck down they are not forsaken. When it feels like things can never get better, that you have been fenced in, that you cannot rest, and you are worn frail from your suffering, God has not left you. God has not forsaken you. God has not abandoned you. God has not turned his face from you. God has not stopped listening to you. So do not leave God. Do not turn your face from him. Do not stop listening to him. Do not stop being faithful when you are restless and weary. God will give you strength for today.