Sabbath, April 1, 2006
Job 3:20-26
“Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to the bitter in soul,
who long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
For my sighing comes instead of my bread,
and my groanings are poured out like water.
For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.” (ESV)
by Dale E. Rood
Remember that these are the words of a man who has been through great trauma. We cannot judge him by what we think a Godly man ought to say in such circumstances. In these verses Job becomes real. Most who read this passage have at some time or other felt these same doubts, though we may not have expressed them as Job did. But in this passage we get a hint of a weakness in Job that God may have been working on. In verse 25, Job expresses the fear we find hinted at in Job 1:5. Could it be that these fears had been holding Job back and limiting his enjoyment of his relationship with God?
Copyright Information
Daily Bible Meditations are taken from The Helping Hand,a Sabbath School student quarterly for youth and adults. Copyright © 2008, Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service .
dbm