Interestingly, satan is referred to by name fourteen times in the Book of Job, all in the first two chapters! He is mentioned in eleven verses, five in the first chapter (Job 1: 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12) and six in the second (Job 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7). Nevertheless, he is never mentioned or referred to again in the rest of the book! Why? Well, perhaps it’s because he was wrong on all counts. He observed Job, and, as is usually the case for the unrighteous who observe the righteous, he thought he knew what made Job tick, but he really didn’t, and the unrighteous never admit error, because that would be the righteous thing to do!
Satan told God that Job was loyal to him, only because he had been blessed so much. Take away those blessings and Job would curse God to his face. Well, when the blessings were removed, we discovered God was correct in his estimation of Job, and satan was left trying to offer a disclaimer to save face. He then told God, that Job would curse him to his face, if the Lord touched his person and removed his good health. Outward blessings are one thing, but, if you touch the man’s soul, you touch him at his very core. Do that, and he’ll yield his hold on his integrity, and express his hypocrisy and disloyalty by cursing you to your face!
Well, God did remove Job’s good health, and Job was not only in constant pain, but also in obvious humiliation, in that he, once the greatest man in the East, was cast out of the city to dwell with the rest of the city’s castaways in the town dump! Nevertheless, satan proved to be a false prophet once again. Job didn’t curse God, but rather cursed the day of his birth! And, this is where we are in our study. Job cried out: “Why does God give the light of life to those who suffer and are bitter in soul?” (Job 3:20). Why would a good God allow folks to suffer in bitter pain, which would obviously end in death? Why doesn’t he take them sooner, and save them the misery of enduring it all, hopelessly, until they are finally placed in the grave? Why do they linger, when they obviously hope for death, seek it as hidden treasure and rejoice in the event, when it finally comes? Why, God, why (Job 3:21-22)?
Finally, Job wonders why God would want to give life to a man he has fenced in (cp. Job 19:8). He feels hedged in as a prisoner to the darkness, he is forced to endure, a darkness that hides his way. Job sees no purpose in living; he doesn’t know how to make things better or how to find a logical course, wherein he could make use of the principles of life, which he had formerly used in his service to the Lord (Job 3:23). Obviously, Job doesn’t believe there are answers to his questions. Yet, he wonders, searching in vain for reasons, for a logical explanation for his present state, even for a logical, and fitting place for God in it all! How does the God he knows fit into such trauma? Does Job want an answer in his present condition? Has he been truly brought to the end of himself, or is there more that needs to be said? We’ll see, when Job’s three friends begin to speak, that there is more to Job than what we have seen thus far, and God will uncover it all.
One may wonder if Job contemplated suicide. It was even suggested by his wife. However, such a thing doesn’t seem to appeal to Job’s integrity. He sighs at the sight of food, knowing by eating he extends his life. Perhaps the sight of food even disgusts him, but he eats anyway, while he pours out his groaning, as though it were water (Job 3:24). He has no ease, no rest, and there is no silence in his life, because his turmoil pours forth from him with the groaning of each breath (Job 3:26). And, herein he admits what the Lord had sought to uncover, and which is part of the reason for his suffering, and the part God had played in it! Job tells us, that what he had long feared had finally come upon him! What he secretly dreaded had finally occurred (Job 3:25)! Job, it seems, had been keenly aware that God had touched his life by blessing him with a large family and great wealth and social position. Although he rejoiced in it all, he also waited for the other shoe to drop! So, here we have Job admitting that he served the Lord as best he could, but still wondered, if the blessings would suddenly end. Why is that? What was Job’s fundamental understanding of God? It becomes exposed here, but not in an accusing way. Rather, God uncovers Job’s foundation in a manner that causes him to grow in his understanding. Cursing the darkness avails little, but rejoicing in the light, once given, is to be sought after and treasured, once found. So, we might say that this is the story of Job’s journey from the darkest chaos to the brilliant light of day.
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