Day 1,053: Job 7- Grappling With God

​“Has not man a hard service on earth,
    and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?

2 Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
    and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,
3 so I am allotted months of emptiness,
    and nights of misery are apportioned to me.

4 When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’
    But the night is long,
    and I am full of tossing till the dawn.

5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;
    my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle
    and come to their end without hope.
 
7 “Remember that my life is a breath;
    my eye will never again see good.

8 The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
    while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.

9 As the cloud fades and vanishes,
    so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up;
10 he returns no more to his house,
    nor does his place know him anymore.
 
11 “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.

12 Am I the sea, or a sea monster,
    that you set a guard over me?

13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
    my couch will ease my complaint,’
14 then you scare me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would choose strangling
    and death rather than my bones.

16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever.
    Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

17 What is man, that you make so much of him,
    and that you set your heart on him,
18 visit him every morning
    and test him every moment?

19 How long will you not look away from me,
    nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?

20 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?

21 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.”
 
Meditation
God welcomes us to wrestle with Him, giving us the ground of His sovereign grace on which we can scuffle. Jacob wrestled with God (Genesis 32). Jesus wrestled with the Father (Matthew 26:36-46). David, Naomi, Habakkuk, Jonah… and many others wrestled with God in some capacity. Job invites us to wrestle with God in our suffering and struggles.
 
Job turns to address God directly, beginning with his insignificance. With language similar to Psalm 8, Job inquires, “Why am I significant enough for You to keep your eye on me!?” Job’s “months of emptiness” (3) are marked with sleepless nights and daily suffering. Job agrees his life is a vapor, a cloud, a breath of life destined to die.
 
Job asks God why (20-21) as he demands to be left alone (11-21). God’s seeming silence summons protests from Job as he paints his perceptions of God. God must be a hostile watcher he cannot escape, or a judge enacting punishment on Job. Job feels like God’s punching bag, his Maker making a mark by enacting suffering. And Job punches back with his words, wrestling with God in his suffering.
 
The pain Job endures is nothing compared to the cross Jesus bore for our sin. Jesus suffering presents us with a wider space to wrestle with God in our suffering. Grappling with God is an opportunity to learn more about who He is, a tool for life in a fallen world. Biblical language of lament empowers us, and God’s grace welcomes our questions during seasons of suffering and struggle.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What is your response to seeing God giving space to wrestle with Him in our words, even giving us an example in Job?
 
-Why is it easier to be angry at God and turn from Him than it is to turn TO Him with our questions, fears, pains, and problems?
 
-How does the cross of Christ give us a wider space to wrestle? Jesus took the penalty of sin on the cross! So we can wrestle with God in our suffering and struggles.
 
Key Verse
16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.