Job 7:11-21 – God knows our pain and plight

Overwhelmed by the thought of the brevity of life, Job began to rationalize with God. Here he was freely expressing his mind, describing the anguish he felt in his spirit and the bitterness he felt in his soul. He was puzzled that he should be the target of God. After all, he was harmless and not a threat to anyone. Unlike the sea that could sweep over the land or a sea monster that could harass  people, Job insisted that he posed no danger to anyone. Thus, he was puzzled that God should target him and afflict him with such a condition so as to disarm his capacity to harm.  

Job then wondered why God continued to afflict and harass him despite his severely weakened body. Anyone in such a suffering would be able to find some respite and relief in sleep. But for him, the suffering was unremitting till he couldn’t even find relief in sleep. During his sleeping hours, he would still be troubled by dreams and vision, and his incessant suffering would continue to suffocate him. He became so emaciated, leaving him looking like a bag of bones. So, it was unusual if he did not wish for death to overtake him. His suffering was so excruciating that he loathed life itself. He felt it was pointless to live on, so he pleaded with God to leave him alone. Here Job unwittingly agreed with his friends that what he was going through came from the hand of God. His argument was that if God would just cease from His attack, his pain would stop instantly.  He longed for a short breather, before death seize him to lessen his agony.

He lost all perspective and felt victimized. He wondered why God should consider and target an insignificant person like him. Job couldn’t understand why God should concentrate on him so unceasingly, that whether by day or by night, his affliction ruthlessly raged on. He wished God could look away from him for a scintilla of time to give him a quick respite. At least take a short look away so that he could swallow his spittle. Job felt that even if he had sinned, that sin would not affect God. So, it couldn’t be the reason he was afflicted. God, he felt, was way too high up to be affected by what a person would do on earth, regardless of his right or wrong action. Hence his conclusion was that God seizes the smallest of reasons to afflict man, hence he felt weary of life. He once knew God to be magnanimous and could easily overlook his transgression, even those he was oblivious of. And if He should just do that his fellowship with the Almighty would be instantly restored. If what was happening persist, he would soon be gone. God would be deprived of his friendship.  

So overtaken by the agonizing suffering that Job had lost all sense of propriety and perspective. We can only conclude that Job’s suffering was relentless and was way beyond his capacity to endure. One likely question any reader of Job will ask is: how could such a God-fearing man like Job suddenly have such a great shift in perspective? Here are two thoughts worth our consideration. Firstly, God will not begrudge a person who is honestly seeking to understand his excruciating plight. He knows that we do not have His perspective especially in suffering. Secondly, instead of allowing our words to become a murmur or a complaint to man, we could honestly and plainly tell God our pain and inability to endure them. We can take heart in Psalm 103:14. It says that “For He Himself (God) knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”