God Has Worn Me out; God has Given up on Me

After such a devastating attack, it is amazing that Job can even lift his head for a response, can even open his mouth to defend himself.

But often the best defence is to go on the attack. So, yes, Eliphaz, you are a miserable comforter, a bag of wind yourself. And if I were in your shoes, I too would find it just as easy to mount the attack, to gather the insults, to punch and pound an opponent.

But that’s as far as Job can go on the attack. We can read the exhaustion in Job’s words, the painful and resigned despair: “Surely, God, you have worn me out” (v 7). It is God who has torn his body, hated him, and set him up for public humiliation. It is God who has given up on him.

The vividness of Job’s language shocks us: “All was well with me, but he shattered me; . . . without pity, he pierces my kidneys . . . again and again he bursts upon me” (vv 12-14). This is visceral despair.

Death is so close now and in a strange way, attractive. “My spirit is broken...the grave awaits me” (17:1). Did Job ever think of suicide, of taking his own life, because the hand of God was against him? We don’t know, but Job is certainly ready to die (see 7:21 and 10:21-33).

But that nagging thought about advocacy, justice, and redemption will not die. Even in catastrophic lament, through clenched teeth, Job can find an affirmation about the righteous (vv 8-9). They do exist still, and surely I am one of them!

If Job ultimately and conclusively gives up, then all that tomorrow can bring is the sureness of death, Sheol and the Pit. “Where then is my hope - who can see any hope for me?” (17:15).

Is it simply futile for Job to keep on hoping? Is he the victim of his own self-delusion?

Respond in Prayer

Father God, there are times in our lives when we, like Job, are just about ready to die. Times when failures and treacheries, when sins and their consequences, when sickness and pain, make us almost want to die. Please help us to hang on to the hope that we have in Jesus Christ, hope for today and hope for tomorrow and hope for eternity.

Mark Buchanan

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®).