Job 30: Depth Of Lament

​“But now they laugh at me,
men who are younger than I,
       whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
2     What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
men whose vigor is gone?
3     Through want and hard hunger
they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;
4     they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of the broom tree for their food.
5     They are driven out from human company;
they shout after them as after a thief.
6     In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7     Among the bushes they bray;
under the nettles they huddle together.
8     A senseless, a nameless brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9     “And now I have become their song;
I am a byword to them.
10    They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
11    Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12    On my right hand the rabble rise;
they push away my feet;
they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13    They break up my path;
they promote my calamity;
they need no one to help them.
14    As through a wide breach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15    Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
16    “And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17    The night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
18    With great force my garment is disfigured;
it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
19    God has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20    I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you only look at me.
21    You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me.
22    You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23    For I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house appointed for all living.
24    “Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
and in his disaster cry for help?
25    Did not I weep for him whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26    But when I hoped for good, evil came,
and when I waited for light, darkness came.
27    My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
days of affliction come to meet me.
28    I go about darkened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29    I am a brother of jackals
and a companion of ostriches.
30    My skin turns black and falls from me,
and my bones burn with heat.
31    My lyre is turned to mourning,
and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
 
Meditation
God’s sovereign grace is with us in the valley of the shadow of death. Lament takes us down into the depths of difficulty and despair before the eyes of our hearts are lifted to hope in the Lord, trusting He will somehow redeem all He allows.  Lament is brutally honest with the brokenness and pain before looking to the only One who can give change. And the depth of the darkness is difficult.
 
Job sits in the depths of the dark valley of lament. Like steps down into an abyss of agony, the chapter walks us through Job’s weariness:
 
“But now…” (1-8) the useless and foolish folks in Job’s life mock him. Those he used to “smile” upon through his benevolence (29:24) now laugh at him in his suffering (1- this is the same word, turned upside down and highlighting the reversal of Job’s circumstances).
 
“And now…” (9-15) the taunting turns to cursing, singing slander that turns Job’s name into a byword referring to utter worthlessness.
 
“And now…” (16-28) there is no response from God. When Job hoped for good, evil came. When Job waited for light, darkness came (26). The depth of lament is difficult.
 
Job’s lament leads us to Jesus who walks into worse suffering, deeper mockery, and darker distance from God SO THAT all whose trust is in Him can know there will be good and great purposes achieved through suffering. Resurrection follows death. God furthers His story of glory through suffering and He is with us in our depth of despair.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you about Job’s depth of lament?
 
-Do you lament, facing the frustrations of a fallen world with a voice of faith?
 
-How does the work of Jesus give hope in the hardest circumstances, knowing He can and will redeem all He allows?
 
Key Verse
26    But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.