Devotional Steps....Step One

Hope Amidst Suffering

Bible Reading: Job 6:2-13

 

2 “If my misery could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales,

3 they would outweigh all the sands of the sea. That is why I spoke impulsively.

4 For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. Their poison infects my spirit. God’s terrors are lined up against me.

5 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?

6 Don’t people complain about unsalted food? Does anyone want the tasteless white of an egg?

7 My appetite disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it!

8 “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my desire.

9 I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.

10 At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 But I don’t have the strength to endure. I have nothing to live for.

12 Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze?

13 No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.

Job 6:2-13

 

 

We admitted that we were powerless over our dependencies- that our life had become unmanageable.

 

There are times when we are so confused and overwhelmed by the pain in our life that we wish we could die. No matter what we do, we are powerless to change things for the better. The weight of the pain and sadness seems too heavy to bear. We can't see why our heart doesn't just break and allow death to free us.

 

Job felt that way. He'd lost everything, even thought he had always done what was right. His ten children were dead. He had lost his business, his riches, and his health. And all this happened in a matter of days! He was left with a sharp-tongued wife and three friends who blamed him for his own misfortune. Job cried out, "If y sadness could be weighted and my troubles be put on the scales, they would be heavier than all the sands of the sea...Oh , that I might have my request, that God would grant my hope. I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me...I do not have the strength to endure. I do not have a goal that encourages me to carry on. Do I have strength as hard as stone? Is my body made of bronze? No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success" (Job 6:2-3,8-9, 11-13_.

 

Job didn't know that the end of his life would be even better than the beginning. God eventually restored everything Job had lost, and then some. "Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, good life" (Job 42:17). Even when we're pressed to the point of death, there is still hope that our life will change. Our recovery could be so complete that the final lines written about us might read: "At last he or she died, after living a long, good life." We must remember: Life can be good again!