Job 16:6-17 – God will never abandon us

In these verses, Job painted a pathetic pictured of him being rejected by God as well as his friends. He felt the weight of loneliness and isolation. So, whether he spoke out or refrained from speaking, his condition did not get better. He even felt that God was the cause for the desertion of his friends. And that He even turned his friends into his enemies. Assuming that his condition was an indication of his guilt, all those whom he had leaned on for support had strangely turned against him. Attributing to God as the cause, he felt intensely the treatment of those who were once his friends. They, it seemed, had come to devour him. It was as if God had handed him over to the ruffians.  

Recalling how he was at ease and resting in comfort and security, when all of a sudden God seemed to target him. He described how brutally he was treated. His friends had suddenly become his enemies. They had seized upon him, dashing him into pieces. God had made him the target of His arrows that ripped into him, spilling his internal organs to the ground. He felt like a fort that had been breached and stormed by warriors. In verses 15-17, he felt the destructive impact brought onto him. He became mournful and felt totally humiliated. Verse 16 talked about how he despaired and cried until his eyes were swollen with redness and his sight had become blur. Even going through all these intense sufferings, he couldn’t identify his misdeeds to warrant them. He insisted that he had exercised integrity and his prayer was pure. The way he framed his speech tells us that he was repudiating the insinuation that he was sinful to be inflicted with such a condition.  

Know that in the midst of our suffering, we are still being held firmly in the hand of God. We need to be reminded that our feelings are never perfect representation of His dealings. We must get used to the fact that in living for Him, we need to deal with the negative representation of God from people we associate with. Be assured that sufferings do not always represent divine punishment but they are always designed to produce our dependency on God. No matter how bleak our storm may be, He has the power to sooth it. Certainly, God will use others as instruments to deal with us but take heart, He will never abandon us.