Job 6

**I couldn’t fall asleep the night I wrote the following in my journal. I was awake, worried about my son, who was recently diagnosed with a very difficult and rare auto-immune disease. He can live with this disease, but it will be a daily challenge, no let-ups, no breaks from it. I was grieving for the changes and losses and feeling guilty for the grief – he can LIVE with this – it’s hard, but not impossible. I prayed, cried, started to panic, then pulled myself out of bed, grabbing my Bible and notebook on my way downstairs to a comfy spot on the couch. I had some questions for God, and the book of Job was on my mind. I opened to the next chapter in my daily reading and found strength and solace there…**

“Then Job answered and said: ‘Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash. For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.'”

Job 6:1-4

What is it like to have the arrows of the Almighty lodged in you? To know that God Himself chose the arrow from His own quiver, set it to the string, pulled back, took precise aim, and let His arrow fly? Not just sharp arrows, but poisoned arrows – they strike; the poison sinks in; “my spirit drinks their poison.” And then to be overwhelmed by the paralyzing fear and confusion: God Himself has sunk His arrows deeply into you. “The terrors of God are arrayed against me.” Jeremiah (the weeping prophet) also knew the arrows of God. He says…

“He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrows. He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver…”

Lamentations 3:10-13

What if I am already carrying the weight of the sands of the whole world in my heart, and now, I am fearful and wounded before my Maker? Is there any who could understand this kind of suffering and sorrow? Is there any who can sympathize with Job in this suffering? Is there any who can have compassion on us in our sorrows? There is One.

“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

“Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”

Isaiah 53:3-5, 10-11

Job wishes to be crushed by God, to be demolished by the Almighty. It is his hope.

“Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope, that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.”

Job 6:8-10

Job is done. Well, he thinks he’s done. He has no strength; he can offer no help; his hope is gone. It is all too heavy and too hard and too sharply painful. I’m drawn back to Lamentations, where Jeremiah finds hope after bearing the arrows of God.

“Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

Because of the steadfast love of the LORD, we are not cut off; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore, I will hope in him.'”

Lamentations 3:19-24

Job turns his attention back to his friends – these are not the kind of friends you really want to share your heart with. They come close to you in your disaster so they can be in the limelight as comforters and confidants. Secretly, these friends are afraid of the same calamity happening to them. Good for them for showing up with the casserole dish; shame on them for withholding kindness and compassion for their dear friend.

“He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away, which are dark with ice, and where the snow hides itself.”

“…you see my calamity and are afraid.”

Job 6:14-16, 21

Job longs to be heard and seen, truly known by his friends. If they knew him they would know he isn’t speaking evil against God with his lips. They would know he isn’t harboring some secret sin. They would know he is speaking the truth from his own heart. But they don’t hear, or see, or know. And Job is left, alone in his misery, with miserable reproof from miserable people.

“But now, be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face. Please turn; let no injustice be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake. Is there any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?”

Job 6:28-30

Job 7

Isn’t life hard enough. Just normal, everyday life – the daily struggle. Isn’t it enough of a challenge? Especially now, in 2022, in these times of pandemic, chronic illness, political uncertainty, global unrest, wars, earthquakes, famines, and every other imaginable calamity. Isn’t it hard enough, dear God? All we do is work to live, live to work, paycheck to paycheck for most, meal to meal for many.

“Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.”

Job 7:1-4

Job laments his situation – really the human situation: I can’t even get a good night’s rest! I look forward to rest at the end of each day, but at night – fear, panic, terror, nightmares, tossing. My life is really only a breath, a vapor, or a mist, anyway – does it have to be so hard?

“…you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

James 4:14

“I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are a breath. What is man that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him, visit him every morning and test him every moment?”

“Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?”

Job 7:16-18, 20-21

Job bookends his speech with more archery symbolism: why am I your target, God. What is so special about me that you have set your attention on me, trained your arrows at me, and hit your mark?

It isn’t wrong to ask why. God doesn’t have to tell us. The arrows can strike deeper than we expect. His aim is perfect; He hits just what He aims at, and He never misses. Let that sink in.