A man without Hope

Job 7:7-21

 

February 10, 2020

 

“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.  The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall begone.   As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; he returns no more to his house, nor does 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.   Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a 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 I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones. I loathe my life; I would not live forever.  Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning, and test him every moment?  How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?  If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?  Why have you made me your mark?  Why have I become a burden to you?  Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?  For now, I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

 

When hope is gone, many get angry at God, Job is telling God that he is overcome with the anguish of his spirit, he is telling God that dreams and visions are making things worse.  Now before you judge Job, one must recall that Satan has told God, that Job only loves you and is upright because you have built a hedge around him.  You nor I have nor do we want to have lost all our children, and our wealth, and have a wife that tells us to curse God and die.  But now God has allowed the devil to do as he pleases to Job but he is not allowed to take his life.  Job is sick, his servants no longer do as he asks, and he is all alone with no hope.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice