Where is Hope?

“If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.  I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.  And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?  They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.”  Job 17:13-16

Job was a deeply depressed and destitute man.  Just reading his words throughout the book of Job makes me depressed.  I have not experienced the depth of tragedies that Job did, although I have been through some very difficult days in my life, thus, I can identify in some teeny-tiny way with Job.  A person can get to the point that they desire to die to escape the emotional pain that comes with certain experiences in life.  They say that “time heals all wounds”.  Maybe so, but the scars may still be there.  Extremely painful experiences are never forgotten; they just go with folks for the remainder of their lives.  The key to survival is to accept those things that happen, knowing that nothing takes God by surprise, that He allowed those things to happen for a reason, likely known only to Him, and, if folks are believers, God has them in the palm of His great big hand and will never fail them.  While peace comes with acceptance, that doesn’t mean that we have to like suffering losses, pain, or disappointments.

Job had just said that a few years would pass before he died, but he realized that death was not that far away for him.  He had drifted back to his original desire to die and be done with all of his misery.  It is bad enough to be so low that there is no hope of rising out of the pit of turmoil, but to have others who were supposed to be friends and supporters push you down even further by their condemnation and ridicule is just about more than an extremely oppressed person can take.  This is where Job was.  Why were they tormenting him so?  Why was God allowing them to torment him?  He was stuck, nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide.

Job had earlier called for an Advocate to represent him before God.  He now called for “surety”, an assurance that his case would be adjudicated fairly before God.  He couldn’t prove his innocence.  Job’s words were a foreshadowing of Christ, the Mediator between God and man, a “Surety” that God would accept those who come to Him through Christ.  Job was desperate for a Surety to plead his cause.  Job believed that God had blinded his friends to the truth of his situation causing them to not understand, and thus they were abusive to him.  Folks often respond unfavorably when they don’t understand the situation.

Job became a joke to the people of his community.  He became an example of how NOT to live rather than one who, before calamity struck, showed his neighbors how a godly man should live.  Job found out what is so true about humans:  as long as one is rich, he will have all kinds of friends, but just let him lose his fortune, and everyone will turn their backs on him.  People are so fickle.  Job had wept so much for the loss of his children, his possessions, and his health, that his eyesight had grown dim.  It’s hard to see clearly through tears.  He was skin and bones, a shadow of a man, whose strength and vitality were gone.  He remarked that righteous, godly men would be astonished to see him.  They would wonder how such a good man as he was could end up in such a tragic and pitiful place in his life.  However, Job gave a positive spin to his example:  rather than other men doubting the goodness of God, Job saw them as becoming even more determined to obey and worship the LORD.  Paul had the same idea in Philippians 1:14. While he was imprisoned, other preachers had become much bolder to speak the gospel without fear.

Job regarded the truly righteous as men who were wise, compassionate, and faithful, but how did he see Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar?  He asked them to really think about what they had been saying to him.  Did it make sense?  Could they back it up?  Could they assure him that if he followed their advice to repent that he would be completely restored?  No, they could not.  Job saw no wisdom in any of these three men.  They offered him no help at all.  Job considered his life was over.  He saw nothing for which to look forward.  The thought that things will never get better is all consuming.  He felt that if he was ever to find peace, it would be through death.  His father would be the earth to which he would return, and his mother and sister would be the worms which would return his body to the dust from which it came.

As for now, life gave him no hope.  Was there a glimmer of hope for Job as he sat among the ashes of bereavement?  Don’t tell him that things will get better when there is no proof of that.  If Job had any hope, it would be buried with him.  All of his talk of death was a reminder to his three friends that they, too, would eventually join him in the soil of the earth.  Any hope that they had would be buried with them as well.  Job then ended his depressing and despondent words, and Bildad responded to his moaning.

Next week:  Wind It Up, Job