Job Laments

Oh, boy. Well, if you've stuck in here this long, boy, I'm so sorry we missed the intro and everything. Why don't we go ahead and just jump straight in? Here we go. Job chapter six. And then Job answered and said, Oh, that my grief were fully weighed and my calamity laid with it on the scales. For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea. Therefore, my words have been rash for the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My drink, my spirit drinks in their poison. The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass? Or does the ox loathe over its fodder? Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? My soul refuses to touch some. They are loathsome food to me. Oh, that I might have my request. that God would grant me the thing that I long for, that would please God to crush me, that He would loose His hand and cut me off, then I would still have comfort. Though I anguish, I would exult. He will not spare, for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. What strength do I have that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? Is my help not within me, and is success driven from me? To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown to his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, like the streams of the brooks that pass away. which are dark because of the ice, and into which the snow vanishes. When it is warm, they cease to flow. When it is hot, they vanish from their place. The path of their way turns aside. They go nowhere and perish. The caravans of Tima took. Look! The travelers of Sheba hope for them. They are disappointed because they were confident. They come there and are confused. For now you are nothing. You see terror and are afraid.
Did I ever say bring something to me or offer a bribe for me from your wealth or deliver me from the enemy's hands or redeem me from the hand of the oppressors? What is Job saying here? He's saying, Eliphaz, you're crazy, man. It's not because I need anything, right? An animal doesn't loathe because he's got food right in front of him. No, it's because he's hungry. But I'm not even hungry, I'm just miserable. I can't even eat. Food is flavorless to me. And you're like someone who promises prosperity, someone who promises hope, and all you bring is nothing. Desert is dry, dust in your mouth, parched, nothing. Let's just say here, right? I never told you to offer me a bribe. I never told you to deliver me from the enemy's hand or redeem me from the hands of the oppressor, right?
Job is saying, look, I'm an innocent man, and yet the arrows of the Almighty are within me and I'm drinking their poison. Teach me, verse 24, teach me and I will hold my tongue. Cause me to understand where I have erred. How forceful are right words, but what does your arguing prove? Do you intend to rebuke my words and the speeches of a despised one, which are as wind? Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless and you undermine your friend.
Now, therefore, be pleased to look at me. For I would never lie to your face. Yield now. Let there be no injustice. Yes, concede my righteousness still stands. Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory? What if he's calling Eliphaz out here, right? What a friend you are. Never lied to you. And yet you treat me this way. Chapter 7, is there not a time of hard service for man on earth?
Are not his days also like the days of a hired man, like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, and like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages? So I have been allotted months of futility, and wearisome nights have been appointed to me. While I lie down, I say, where shall I rise, and the night be ended?
For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn. My flesh is caked with worms and dust. My skin is cracked, breaks out afresh. Do you get the picture here? Job is sitting in the hot sun and his flesh is covered with boils and sores and he's saying that there's raw flesh. More than that, there's most likely these maggots who are eating away at his flesh. He's saying, I'm weary some of this. I can't even sleep. I turn over in the night and wish it was the morning because you can't even sleep. Verse six, my days are swifter than a weaver shuttle and are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is a breath.
My eye will never see again. The eye of him who sees me will see me no more. While your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be. As a cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, nor shall his place know him anymore.
Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. I am a sea or a sea serpent. Am I a sea or a sea serpent that you set guard over me? When I say my bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint, then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions so that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my body. I loathe my life. I would not live. Forever, let me alone for my days are but a breath.
What is man that you should exalt him, that you should set your heart on him, that you should visit him every morning and test him every moment? How long will you not look away from me? Will you then let me alone till I swallow my saliva? Have I sinned? What have I done to you, O watchers of men? Why have you set me as your target so that I am a burden to myself? Why then do you not pardon my transgressions and take away My iniquity for if I now I lie down in the dust and you will seek me diligently, but I will be no longer And joe was pouring out his heart here Did you hear the anguish in his soul the bitterness of his spirit and he's looking at his friend alive? And he's saying you don't even get it man You come to me with your stupid visions trying to scare me.
But what have I done? I don't know why god's looked upon me and and why i'm suffering suffering such calamity I have a dear friend who has felt this way over the last year and a half. She suffered the loss of her husband, her mother, family member after family member after family member after family member. There are seasons in our lives when we go, why, God, why is this happening to me?
I think about a homeless man I met who, of no fault of his own but just God's providence, His wife dies. His children abandon him. He loses his job because his employer goes bankrupt. He finds himself behind on his mortgage. He loses his house. He can't find a new job. And there he is on the streets.
There are times when you just have a bitterness in your soul and you go, God, I don't know why this is happening to me. There are times in life, where this is the cry of the human soul. God, why don't you just let me die? Maybe you felt like that before. Right, that's what this is getting at here.
Again, in all these sayings, Job is not sitting against God with his lips. Nor did Jesus sin against God when he spoke from his lips, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I count on my bones and they divide my garments. They laugh at me and they mock at me. This is the heart cry of somebody who really knows God. But then comes a second friend, Bildad. Then Bildad, the Shuhite, answered and said, How long will you speak these things and the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?
Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression. If you would earnestly seek God and make your supplication to the Almighty, if you were pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you and prosper your rightful dwelling place.
Though your beginning was small, yet your later end would increase abundantly." Think about what this dude just said. Think about what this friend, Bildad, just said to him. He has this theological construct. God is just and righteous and does all things good. And that's true. But notice what he says. If your sons have sinned against him, he has cast them away for their transgressions. Could you imagine that? It's only been a week since this kid's death. This man had all of his children murdered by Chaldeans. And now this fool is coming to him.
And he's saying they're dead because they're sinners. If you turn to God, you wouldn't have all this trouble either. Oh, woe to him who doesn't mourn with those who mourn. It's better they stop their mouths. For inquire, please, of the former age and consider the things discovered by their fathers. For we were born yesterday and know nothing because our days on earth are a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words from their heart? Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut down, it withers before any other plant.
So are the paths of all who forget God. And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, whose confidence shall be cut off and whose trust is a spider's web. He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure. He grows green in the sun, and his branches spread out like in his garden. His roots wrap around the rock heap, and look for a place in the stones. If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, I have not seen you." Again, how cold-hearted is this man? I mean, he's sitting there literally saying, Your trust, your faith is like a spider web. It's thin and fragile.
If you were righteous, your house wouldn't have fallen down. He's literally saying everything that's happened is because of your sin. Remember, God's already declared to us, told us clearly that Job was a righteous man. It's really easy to throw someone else under the bus as a sinner. Tell them your life is miserable because of your sin. without walking in their shoes. Thank the Lord that Jesus isn't like that. Jesus tells us the truth. He says sin is sin. And yet Jesus has suffered in every way like we have. Let's keep going. Let's finish this guy's sayings.
Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth others will grow. Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, nor will he uphold the evildoers. He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, and your lips with rejoicing. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing."
He's saying the exact same thing his friend said. He's saying, repent and everything's going to be okay. Repent and all this is going to go away. But how does Job answer? This truly I know it is so. But how can a man be righteous before God? If one wished to contend with him, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
He removes the mountains, and they do not know when he overturns them in his anger. He shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble. He commands the sun and it does not rise. He seals off the stars. He alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. He made the bear Orion and Pleiades. and the chambers of the South. He does great things past finding out. Yes, wonders without number.
If he goes by me, I do not see him. If he moves past, I do not perceive him. If he takes away, who can hinder him? Who can say to him, what are you doing? God will not withdraw his anger. The allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath him. Job is firmly Orthodox in his doctrine of God. He knows who God is. He speaks here of the transcendence and the mastery, the sovereignty of God. But then what does it say, verse 14? How then can I answer him and choose my words to reason with him? For though I were righteous, I could not answer him.
I would beg mercy of my judge. If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. If it is a matter of strength, indeed he is strong. And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court? Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. He's saying he has, who is his advocate before God?
He can't argue with God. God knows what's righteous. God knows what's just. And Job, knowing that God is a master of the universe and fully perfect, he's crying out, I don't know what to do. Thank the Lord Jesus has given us that answer that we have an advocate before the Father. That we have a comforter and an exhorter in the Holy Spirit now. What does Job continue on and say though in verse 21?
I am blameless, yet I do not know myself. I despise my life. It is all one thing, therefore I say, he destroys the blameless and the wicked. If the scourge slays suddenly, he laughs at the plight of the innocent. The earth is given into the hands of the wicked. He covers the face of its judges. If it is not he, who else could it be? Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good. They pass like a swift ship, like an eagle swooping on its prey.
If I say I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile. I'm afraid of all my sufferings. I know that you will not hold me innocent. If I am condemned, why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water and cleanse my hands with soap, yet you will plunge me into the pit and my own clothes will abhorred me.
For he is not a man as I am. that I may answer him, and that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us who may lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me, and do not let dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak and not fear him, but it is not so with me. This is a real honest assessment from Job.
He feels like there's no mediator between him and God. He feels like he can't argue with God. He has a fully transcendent view of who God is, and yet here he's crying out. His days are fleeting. He's going to die. He's going to be plunged into the pit. He knows that's where he's coming, but he doesn't know how he's going to answer God.
This is what the book of Hebrews warns all of us. There is a day of death. But after this, the judgment. Job continues, my soul loathes my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
Does it seem good to you that you should oppress? That you should despise the work of your hands and smile on the counsel of wicked? Do you have eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees? Are your days like the days of a mortal man? Are your years like the days of a mighty man, that you just seek for my iniquity and search out my sin, although you know that I am not wicked, and there is no one who can deliver from your hand?
I mean, this is, again, an incredibly honest statement from Job. Remember, Job wasn't in heaven. Job didn't know that this was actually Satan doing these things to him. Job doesn't know that God is firmly fixed on Job's good and on his own righteousness. That he sees Job and he sees him righteous in Christ and he's not telling, he's not doing this for his harm.
But sometimes we feel that way in our own lives. We don't know what's going on, and yet there's something cosmically going on. See, the disciples didn't get this either. Do you remember that story in the Gospels where there's a man and he's been, I can't remember if he's blind or lame, and the disciples ask him, is he this way because of his sin or his parents' sin? And Jesus says, it's neither, but that you might know the power of God, and Jesus heals him. The Lord is working in mysterious ways, but that doesn't mean it's easy for us to understand or wonderful for us to get through.
No, indeed, in the depths of our hearts, when we're going through those darkest of times, this is the hope we have. This is why Romans 28 is both trite to tell someone when they're in the midst of their suffering, well, all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposes, right? And yet, And yet at the same time, that's something tangible we can hold on to. That God really is for his people.
And that even as all this is going on, there is a sovereign in heaven who rules. So you might be going through something in your life today. I don't know what you might be wrestling with in your soul. And yet do we trust that it is God who is doing something far greater than our circumstances? Let's keep going.
Your hands have made me and fashioned me in intricate unity, yet you would destroy me. Remember, I pray, that you have made me like clay, and will you turn me into dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?
You have granted me life and favor. And your care has preserved my spirit." Job's saying, you made me God. This is what the psalmist says. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. I know that full well. Job is saying the same thing here. And these things, verse 13, you have hidden in your heart. I know that this was with you.
If I sin, then you mark me and will not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am wicked, woe to me. Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace. See my misery. If my head is exalted, you hunt me like a fierce lion. And again, you show yourself awesome against me. You renew your witness against me and increase your indignation towards me. Changes and war are ever with me. Why then have you brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me. I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
Are not my days few? cease leave me alone that I may take a little comfort before I go to the place from which I shall not return to the land of darkness and the shadow of death a land of darkness as dark as dark itself as the shadow of death without any order whenever the light is like darkness again this is Job saying you made me but why didn't you just let me die and I want to close us out with with this You might feel that way at times.
Something that Christians don't want to talk about, right? But Christians get depressed too. Because the sin and the scenarios and the reality of life press and crowd upon us. And yet here, God shows us in the book of Job, we don't know what all is going on in the universe. But we do have a righteous God. And why it's so dangerous to take these passages really slowly is because we need to get to the end of this book. Remember, this is a one book. It's not a bunch of little books. This is a full lament and conversation. And we're gonna see at the end of the book that God has a purpose for this.
That those who love God will endure unto the end and God will bless them and care for them. Not because of their repentance per se, No, no, we're perfect in Christ. But we'll love us and care for us because he loves us and cares for us. And not even Satan can snatch us from the Father's hand.
So I don't know what's going on in your life. If you're struggling with depression, I pray that you would pour out your heart in a similar way. But you might also be comforted today that there is a God who's in control. He hears you and He loves you.
If you are one of His children, let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for this day and we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for revealing these marvelous truths to us. Lord, we pray that You would care for us the rest of this Sabbath. Thank You for a day of rest. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, I pray that you have a great rest of your day and I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.