Read Job 17
17 1 My spirit is broken,
my days are cut short,
the grave awaits me.
2 Surely mockers surround me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
3 “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
Who else will put up security for me?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward,
the eyes of their children will fail.
6 “God has made me a byword to everyone,
a man in whose face people spit.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this;
the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
9 Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
and those with clean hands will grow stronger.
10 “But come on, all of you, try again!
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered.
Yet the desires of my heart
12 turn night into day;
in the face of the darkness light is near.
13 If the only home I hope for is the grave,
if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,
14 if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope—
who can see any hope for me?
16 Will it go down to the gates of death?
Will we descend together into the dust?”
Go Deeper
Have you ever found yourself feeling like Job? Depressed, humiliated, alone, innocent, suffering, and longing for the grave. Many of us will find ourselves in circumstances that leave us relating to Job. God in His infinite kindness gives us His word to see ourselves within the pages but doesn’t leave us there without hope.
In this chapter, we find Job in the middle of a response to his friend Eliphaz. He is broken in spirit (v. 1), friends who once sat with him now mock him (v. 2), he’s humiliated (v. 6) and his eyes are dim with grief (v. 7). We aren’t alone when we feel like this. Jesus relates to us. Mark 15:29 reminds us that Jesus experienced those hurling insults at Him, despite His innocence. The humility Jesus endured was death on a cross on our behalf, Philippians 2:5-8. In John 11, we see Jesus deeply moved with grief.
Job doesn’t have the benefit of the perspective Christ gives, but in verse 9 he gives us a glimpse into his faith and teaches us. In our suffering the righteous can “hold to their ways”, in endurance and perseverance, and in time we will “grow stronger”. James 1 refers to the benefits of persevering in trials, it leads ultimately to our maturity. As with Job, God doesn’t bring us through suffering or trials in an instant, but often it is a process that grows, shapes, and sanctifies us.
We close this chapter with a familiar question as we walk through hardship, “where then is my hope?” (v. 15) In our grief and suffering we can feel hopeless. Romans 15:13 reminds us that we have a God of Hope. Jesus is a perfect reflection of that character quality. God sent Christ to die on our behalf to be a source of hope and light in a dark world. 1 Peter 1:3 says that through Christ’s resurrection we have a living hope. “This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.” (Hebrews 6:19, NLT)
We can be thankful today for a God that doesn’t leave us alone in our sufferings, trials, and humiliation. He understands, He sees us, He helps us endure, and ultimately has provided a source of hope in Christ to anchor us.
Questions
- Do you relate to Job? How do you respond when faced with trials and suffering?
- What verses serve as a source of hope to you?
- Verse 2 tells us that Job’s friends who once sat with him (Job 2), now are mocking him. What kind of a friend are you when others are suffering? Who could you sit with or encourage with hope today?
Listen Here
Use the song “Living Hope” by Phil Wickham as a prayer of worship to God today for the living hope He has provided in Christ.
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4 responses to “Job 17”
My thoughts keep coming back to the place where Jesus, had followers but truly no friends. They believed Him, in some semblance that He was the Messiah, but when push came to shove they left Him all alone, and denied they knew Him. Job is expressing what Jesus felt. BUT GOD. The red thread is so intertwined throughout. The suffering is real but the glory of the eternity coming next should give us hope.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:16–18)
” Hope is not conjured up through willpower. Hope exists by believing that there is more beyond the suffering. It always looks beyond the losses. Hope fuels itself by claiming promises from God, who never leaves you though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed. Hope is found by weeping in the compassionate presence of a Savior and knowing a God who catches your tears in His bottle of remembrance .Suffering may endure for the moment, but joy will last for eternity. That is hope!” Lori Engel
God thank You for hope. Thank You that I can know in my knower that You are for me and not against me. God thank You for my inner self being renewed day by day. God thank You that I can hold fast to Your word in hard, dark or difficult days. God thank You that I dont lose sight of You and I hold fast to Your promises. God I know You are always working and I pray for me to have clean hands. God help me to grow in Your holiness. I pray for strength that comes through You and Your Holy Spirit. God You are so amazing in what I see in Your word. Thank You for showing me so many details. God today, in these minutes of this day, help me to glorify and honor You, in my thoughts first and foremost, but also in what I say and do. God thank You for loving me, today, right now, in these minutes. God thank You for me loving You back, worthily. God I give You glory and honor with joy in Jesus name amen.
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11 – 12 “Yet the desires of my heart turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near.”
Reminds me of Romans 13 . . .
“the night is nearly over. The day is almost here.”
“So, let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
Lord, let me live in this hope
In Job’s anguish he longs for the hope we know because of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. On this side of the cross we know something Job desired that would shatter the darkness engulfing him. Yet what do we do with that hope? Let’s lean in, share it, celebrate it and honor Christ who is our living hope!
Up until now we know that Job’s suffering is catastrophic and complete. We’ve seen him examined, accused and unfairly judged.
But now we witness yet another dimension of suffering, the kind that is as exposed as it is unjustified:
PUBLIC HUMILIATION.
Job’s pain is put on display so that EVERYONE can point, accuse, judge and scorn.
What I read today is a call to the Crucifixion.
Pastor David Guzik puts it this way:
“There is a sense in which Job is a prophetic picture of Jesus — Christ, the Righteous One on the cross, who nevertheless became a target of God’s righteous wrath. Not because he deserved it — and listen — Job isn’t undergoing this because he ‘deserves’ it. But Job was undergoing this because it was in the good and greater plan of God to do so. And so was it for the Son of God on the cross.
Here Job, thousands of years before the work of Jesus on the cross… is sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings.”
Job’s lament points to everything we have in common with Christ — and everything Christ has in common with us in terms of suffering.
Job insists on innocence while being treated as guilty. He longs for a witness in heaven. He asks for a guarantor. He cannot see the point — so all he knows is the pain. And oh my word, how agonizing all that pain has been!
HOWEVER.
Christ’s crucifixion, death and resurrection were anything BUT pointless.
In fact — apart from Creation — it was the most Divinely purposeful act that ever was!
When suffering is viewed and understood in light of the cross — suffering that is aligned with Christ’s suffering — the shape of it is completely transformed:
Christ endured this.
Christ understands this.
Christ accepted this on my behalf.
AND:
Christ overcame this.
Christ defeated this.
Christ redeemed this.
Job experiences devastation without interpretation. But we do not have to.
The example of Christ’s suffering gives purpose to ours.
And every time we get glimpses of meaning that assure us of “the point,” we receive renewed strength to bear up under the pain.