“I refuse to touch it…” Job 6:7a

After Eliphaz reprimanded Job for his lament, Job’s knee-jerk reaction was to describe the depth of his anguish. Job compared the weight of his suffering to be greater than all the sand in the seas (vv. 2 – 3)! Job then castes the blame for his suffering to God, stating, “…God’s terrors are marshalled against me.” (v.4)

Just as Eliphaz could not keep from speaking, so Job could not keep from venting his pain. Finding the metaphors for justifying his complaints, Job compares his expressed agony to a donkey’s bray and an ox’s bellow (v.5). At this point in Job’s life, refraining from complaining could be likened to eating tasteless food – the moans provided Job the ‘seasoning’ to endure his pain… a self-soothing mechanism to cope (vv. 6 – 7). Job declared that he refused tasteless food, and in like manner would not be denied the right to refuse any effort to limit the venting of his anguish.

I’m really a picky eater. If the food doesn’t meet certain expectations, I refuse to touch it. Tasteless food certainly requires seasoning, and Job’s description of a boiled egg-white perfectly depicts the need for added flavor. So, we see Job’s refusal to touch the food had nothing to do with some dietary ritual in spiritual disciplines, but everything to do with experiencing life to the fullest… including venting one’s pain. I grew up thinking, ‘big boys don’t cry’. However, now that I’ve entered my seventh decade of living, I believe if I didn’t cry, I would be denying myself the experience of life at the moment my emotions needed to be freed.

Today’s passage emancipates one from the tyranny of social restraints during moments of great suffering, while freeing one to fully experience the painful moments of life and the mechanisms God placed in each of us for expressing the hurt. So, go ahead… have a good cry if you need it. Laugh out loud. Express your anger appropriately – without sinning (read Ephesians 4:26; Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Your emotions are God’s gift to flavor our lives for certain moments… we only need not allow them to rule our lives.

Have a blessed day…