Daily Thought

Job gave vent to his feelings of bitterness as he prayed this prayer to God, v. 1. His attitude is one of contention, and he speaks out against the injustice of his afflictions, considering them to have come upon him from the hand of God.

Acceptance of circumstances that befall us in life as part of God’s dealings with us for good becomes us as Christians. It should be a characteristic of ours, and certainly will be noted by our fellows who look to see how we react in situations of difficulty and trial. Should we express seething resentment at our lot it is tantamount to criticizing God’s chosen method with us, and questions the wisdom of His judgement in our case. It is, of course, the antithesis of our Lord’s reactions during His life of trial and suffering - these He accepted with patient submission and humility of spirit, acknowledging not only God’s right to impose upon Him any form of testing, but also rejoicing that God’s will would be done thereby. That ‘patient’ Job should speak in such a way indicates the immense gulf that separates an exemplary man of earth from the One who came out of heaven to tabernacle on earth.

Job begins his prayer impressively, with admission of his own frailty and brevity of life, and acknowledgment that he owes his existence to God. God is his Creator and it is God who sustains him in life. He ends dismally, with gloomy anticipation of death in a land of darkness, but before this he presumes to express his feelings to God, and asks his question. It is one that many a stricken saint of God has asked when brought to a point of despair by overwhelming stress and sorrow; ‘Why?’. If we construe this to be a question of annoyance at the injustice of God’s treatment of Job, let us compare it with the sentiments he expresses in his much shorter prayer at the end of his experience. The first represents an outburst of misunderstanding, at why God could allow such unjustified suffering - the last represents acceptance of God’s will, in whatever way He chooses to work it out in human lives. Job’s experience brought about within him such massive change of heart, and he must by then have realized with certainty that herein was one of the reasons why God had allowed him to suffer so much!