“…my days have no meaning.” Job 7:16b

Job 7 may very well be a prayer to God instead of a response to his critical friends. At the very least, verse thirteen evidences a change in who Job is addressing:

“When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then You (capital ‘Y’ was my choice) frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning.” (vv. 13 – 16)

If you aren’t thinking, “Poor Job…” by now, you may want to work on developing some empathy skills. It was bad enough that Job lost his business assets, his workers, and his children. Then on top of all that tragedy, he developed a severe case of shingles (or something like it), suffering terrible pain and discomfort, only to be stricken by terrifying nightmares, seizing him with such fear of living that he preferred death to bring a cessation to his physical-emotional-psychological and spiritual suffering. He felt detached from his family, friends, work contacts, and even God.

To Job, his life lacked any meaning because he could no longer make an impact. It’s no wonder he despised his life when his friends accused him of some secret sin at a time when what he needed most was their compassion.

How should this cue our becoming more like Christ? Offering hope to those who suffer may be the only Jesus those desperate souls may ever see. Being present in their lives is the first step… which Job’s friends accomplished; understanding the need and necessity of suffering people to express their pain is the next step. Those who carry the gospel of Christ cannot allow their efforts to stop there, and offer their comfort, prayers, hope and purpose for living to the one bent on perishing.

If you know someone who may be thinking, “my days have no meaning”, perhaps being exposed to Job’s life may offer all of us a better understanding of the dynamics in their suffering and the efforts we can make to lessen another’s pain.

Have a blessed day…