Job 3:23–25: “Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, / And whom God has hedged in? / For my sighing comes before I eat, / And my groanings pour out like water. / For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, / And what I dreaded has happened to me.”

November 28th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The very worst fears Job could have imagined were coming to pass in his life. He was struggling in his storm of loss and pain. Many of us have been there and understand that helpless feeling that tries to wash over us like crushing, winter, Pacific Ocean waves. Where do we go? Who do we go to when everything is crashing down around our heads? The apostle Peter said it well when Jesus asked His disciples if they were going to leave Him: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Sometimes we hear people say, “I tried Jesus, but it didn’t work for me.” There are many today who have left Jesus because they were disgruntled, but we shouldn’t be surprised by this since some of Jesus’ early followers turned away from Him, even after seeing Him raise people from the dead! Which is in fact the reason Jesus asked His closest disciples if they were also going to leave. Peter realized that Jesus was the only source of real hope. There was nowhere and no one else they could go to for eternal hope. The Holy Spirit had opened Peter’s eyes to see just a little of who Jesus really was, and it changed Peter’s outlook on life.

In Job 3, Job was not seeing with eyes of faith, and who could blame him? Job 2 tells us Job “didn’t sin with his lips,” but that doesn’t mean he never complained. Just the opposite actually, he complains bitterly through the rest of the book. He doubted God, told his friends to shut up because they didn’t know what he was going through, and even concluded that he should never have been born. But in all this, Scripture affirms that Job “did not sin with his lips.” This is good news for those of us who in our times of suffering, cry out in doubt and despair and have even foolishly screamed at God. In fact, some saints of old have argued that the Book of Job is an encouragement to us to express, rather than repress, the pain of our suffering.

“LORD, please forgive us for complaining and help us to say with Peter that there is nowhere else to go.”