AS A WIDE BREAKING IN OF WATERS

In chapter 29 Job recounts his past life, when his wisdom and charity earned the respect of young people, older people, rulers, widows, and the poor. Confidently, he assumed that he would have a tranquil future, saying, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand’, Job 29. 18. Circumstances turned out differently, however, for he was now reproached by the low class youths of his society. The repeated attacks on his person make him feel like a besieged city. They conjure up the image of strong waves incessantly beating against him, v. 14. It is lan­guage reminiscent of a military assault with battering rams violently breaching a city’s walls. In Job’s view, his defences are compromised and he is utterly vulnerable.

The Bible commonly uses the flood metaphor to describe the severe troubles and trials of life. For example, David says ‘the floods of ungodly men made me afraid’, 2 Sam. 22. 5; Ps. 18. 4. Psalm 32 verse 6 promises the one who trusts in the Lord that ‘in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him’. Astonishingly, the Lord Jesus did not extend this same protec­tion to Himself. As Psalm 69 verse 2 declares, the thoughts of the crucified Christ were, ‘I sink in deep mire , where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods over­flow me’. Speaking of his discipline within the great fish, Jonah maintained that, ‘all thy waves and billows passed over me’, Jonah 2. 3. In reality, this dispirited prophet did not experience the flood of judgement that befell the Lord on the cross. He alone endured the torrent of God’s holy wrath against sin.

In life’s storms it is comforting to know that God experi­entially knows what it is to be assailed by pain and troubles. He does not stand aloof from His people’s suffering. As the waves beat upon them, they are upheld by the Lord who ‘sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever’, Ps. 29. 10. Just as He sovereignly supported Job amidst grave problems, God gives help to modern suffering saints. The Man of Sorrows triumphed over the floods that encompassed Him and uses the same power for the victory of His followers.