“Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?”
– Job 3:11
Hi James and Ellen,
How do you feel when nothing seems to go right for you? What was the worst day in your life like? Have you ever wished that you were never born? Job had a time when nothing seemed to go right for him. Job’s worst time of his life was when he lost all his possessions, when his kids were all killed and when painful sores broke out over all his body. What would you do if you are robbed of everything that you own, if everyone in your family is killed and if very painful sores break out all over your body? Job 3 recounts Job’s raw reaction to what happened to him. Job says in verse 11, ““Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?” Would you blame God if you are robbed of everything that you have, if everyone else in your family is killed and if very painful sores break out all over your body? Job never blamed God for what happened to him when he lost all his possessions, when all his kids were killed and when very painful sores broke out all over his body. Job had internalized that God had uniquely planned out his life from before he was born. Job knew that he would never be able to understand God’s ways. Job knew that God had a hedge around his life which was protecting him from even worse things happening to him. Job knew that his planet Earth tenure was a temporary assignment; that when the moment arrives when he is standing at death’s door, that that will be the instant when he will never again have to go through the kinds of dire trials that he was presently suffering. Job was fine with having been formed by God; Job just wished that God had him be born as a stillborn baby. Job was feeling so downhearted about losing all possessions, having all his kids killed and being covered with very painful sores that he cursed the day that he was born. If Job could get his wish about the day that he was born, the day would be a pitch black day with darkness so thick that it would overwhelm the day’s light. If Job could get his wish about the day that he was born, the day would be forgotten as if the day never existed. If Job could get his wish about the day that he was born, the day would never hear carefree shouts of joy.
What would you like your lives to be like? Would you like to have peaceful, tranquil lives that are completely free from turmoil? Would you like to have happy, carefree lives that are totally free from the fear or from the dread that shows up when a guy or gal is thinking about what a worst case scenario might be like? Would you like to have nourished, affirmed lives that are absolutely free from the signs and groans that occur when the life of a guy or gal is beaten down by life circumstances that are totally out of his or her control? Job’s story starts out with a life that has possessions, family and good health – everything that a guy would want to have. Job quite possibly was the richest guy in the territory where he lived. Job had been led by God to have a personal relationship with Him. What kind of faith testimony do you think that Job had with his neighbors of God’s grace and mercy? How effective do you think that the testimony of a guy or gal is if the guy or gal has never gone through a time of having zilch or having lost a family member or having a very painful or even a life threatening ailment? Your grandpaa is reading right now a book that is made up of compiled orations that Charles Spurgeon gave to a meeting of preachers. Charles Spurgeon had been a preacher for a long time when he presented the exhortative messages that make up this paperback book called An All-Round Ministry. Your grandpaa is reading ten pages a day from this book. Your grandpaa is right now about halfway through the book. Being strong through being weak is the essential theme what your grandpaa read about this morning. One of the things that your grandpaa encourages each guy, gal and kid to do while he or she is on a short term ministry team that he is leading is to live life with his or her country hosts as a student of his or her hosts’ norms and mores. Something else that your grandpaa encourages a guy, gal or kid to do who your grandpaa has the opportunity to animate is to offer up his or her life as a living sacrifice to God that will not be conformed to anything perceived as being wrongful when he or she is communicating the life experiences that he or she believes that God has led him or her through. Job knew that he could in no way compare himself to God. Job possibly though never experienced what other guys, gals and kids – who were his neighbors, ever experienced in their daily lives. Job very probably never had the experience before of having everything stolen from him. Job very probably never had the experience before of knowing what it was like to have even one of his kids killed. Job very probably never had the experience before of suffering bodily pain from very painful sores covering his entire body. What kind of God fearing guy do you think that Job was after going through all the dreadful life experiences that God took him through compared to the kind of God fearing guy Job was before all his horrific sufferings? You will need to read to the end of the Job Book to find out.
John Piper – as an author, has helped your grandpaa appreciate why he is doing planet Earth time. God expects His specially elected guys, gals and kids – while they are on planet Earth, to glorify Him as each guy, gal and kid is led by God – as God the Spirit, to accept that all of God’s ongoing planned doings are from, through and for Him. If you were asked today what has God been doing in your lives to glorify Himself through you, what would you say?
Job 3 (1129