Job 7:20–21: “Have I [Job] sinned? / What have I done to You [God], O watcher of men? / Why have You set me as Your target, / So that I am a burden to myself? / Why then do You not pardon my transgression, / And take away my iniquity? / For now I will lie down in the dust, / And You will seek me diligently, / But I will no longer be.”

December 2nd, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Job was a godly man. He wasn’t walking in any willful sin, and God wasn’t angry with him. But he was struggling through an extremely difficult season of suffering. His friends offered him little to no comfort, insisting that no one could suffer like he was and it not be because God was punishing him for sin. In chapter 7 Job seemed to be folding. He didn’t necessarily agree with Eliphaz’s reasoning, but at the moment, he couldn’t see any other explanation for his afflictions. That is often the way it is in the middle of a storm isn’t it? The waves of life crash over the sides of our little ship and anything seems possible. Job was struggling to find a purpose, some kind of meaning for his pain.

When God called the apostle Paul in Acts 9:16, He told Paul that he would suffer for Jesus’ name. As we read through the Book of Acts, we see that he did indeed suffer. He was stoned, jailed, flogged, and shipwrecked. So when Paul says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28), we know he knew what he was talking about. In His providence, God filters and orchestrates every event in our lives to accomplish good in us, both for our immediate and eternal benefit. Not just most things or a majority of things, not 99% of things, but ALL things will work to our good. Paul was able to rejoice in suffering because he knew what suffering produced in his life: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).

There’s a story of a man who was flying his plane above a mountain road. As he flew, he noticed a car trying to pass a semi truck. However, the man in the car couldn’t see around the truck due to the dips and curves in the road and so he was stuck. The pilot could see that there were no other vehicles in the area, and that the car could safely pass the truck. However, all he could do was sit up there and reflect on how from his vantage point he could see what the man in the car could not see. It is the same with our heavenly Father in our lives. He sees the big picture, so it only makes sense to trust Him in the present and look forward to the future.

“LORD, we trust You to direct our path this day in Jesus’ name.”

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Job 7 KJV

¹ Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?  ² As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:  ³ So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. ⁴ When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.  ⁵ My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome. ⁶ My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope. ⁷ O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.   ⁸ The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I amnot.  ⁹ As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more . ¹⁰ He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. ¹¹ Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. ¹² Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? ¹³ When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; ¹⁴ Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions: ¹⁵ So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.  ¹⁶ I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity. ¹⁷ What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? ¹⁸ And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? ¹⁹ How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? ²⁰ I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? ²¹ And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.