Readings:
Job 6
Job 7
Job 8
Job 9
I love how Job is being real with his “friends” about his suffering even in the midst of their “religious reasonings, justifications, and judgements” while he just needs someone to be a mediator on his behalf with God and a friend beside him in his suffering:
Job 6:4-5 NLT
For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. Their poison infects my spirit. God’s terrors are lined up against me. Don’t I have a right to complain? Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass, and oxen bellow when they have no food?
I love how Job’s response starts with :
Job 9:1-2 NLT
Then Job spoke again: “Yes, I know all this is true in principle…
It’s like so many times when people are genuinely suffering or grieving and someone “tells them something about God”, quotes a scripture, or says “I’ll pray for you” yet never actually wrestles with God on their behalf over the pain their “friend” is going through.
It is in this place where Job points out what he truly needs — and unknowingly prophesies about the coming Messiah Jesus and the Holy Spirit. His great need and heart suffering cuts through any confusion or distraction and paints such a clear picture of exactly what is needed — and explains why men need a comforter, a guide and a teacher, who can pray on our behalf when we do not have words (the Holy Spirit):
Job 9:32-35 NLT
“God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial. If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together. The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment. Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength.
In this upside down Kingdom of God, it seems that deep suffering here and now in this life can be a great blessing in the grand scheme of eternity — because it cuts through the distractions and temptations to set our eyes in the only direction left (towards God).
It seems harsh and unkind if we only have eyes to see and consider the worthless things of this life (that will all eventually waste away) or we love our own lives (not realizing that our whole life is just a speck and blink of the eye in comparison to all of history and eternity).
So whether it is long suffering where our only option is to cry out to God (because no one else can help us) — or whether it is that moment of calamity (where we are definitely facing the possibility of our own destruction and our body and mind jump into high gear — where time seems to slow so much that we are in that quiet place with no distractions for possibly the last time) — will we turn to God in that moment and be real about our heart?
Harold J. Ballinger 