Job 6-7
These two chapters go really into depth about how Job was truly feeling about everything that was going on in his life.
Something I think is cool about chapters 6 and 7 in the book of Job is that those chapters focus solely on Job’s thoughts about things. It doesn’t put focus on what he was going through nor how others were viewing things. These chapters simply give us a strong insight as to what things were like mentally on Job’s end.
Neither of these chapters show any signs that Job enjoyed what he was going through. For example, in Chapter 6 verse 3, Job says, “Oh, that my grief were fully weighed, and my calamity laid with it on the scales! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea—Therefore my words have been rash.”. Who in the world would say something like that if they were feeling optimistic about things to any extent? It’s hard to visualize someone secretly being optimistic if their grief was so strong that they chose to describe it like that.
In chapter 6 verse 9, Job also says, “That it would please God to crush me, That He would loose His hand and cut me off!”. That definitely doesn’t make Job sound optimistic. Job was so overwhelmed with his life that he not only felt like he couldn’t withstand life anymore; he also felt like God was hating him to the point of total utter destruction.
In chapter 6 verse 11, Job says, “What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?” Oof. Personally, that almost sounds suicidal. Job has fully lost hope by this point and feels like there is no point in continuing on in life.
If you look into all of the verses of chapter 6 individually, you’ll realize that they all point to the fact that Job wasn’t in a good state of mind. He felt like there was no hope. He felt like life was not worth living. He felt like God was against him. To make things even worse, his friends and family were not helping him in the least. You can especially tell that fact in chapter 6 vs. 14 which says, “To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty”. All they were trying to do was either prove that Job was a terrible person who needed to repent or that God was being so terrible to Job that the right thing to do would be to complain to God about everything.
Job’s family and friends definitely didn’t have the right kind of mindset throughout this. They thought that they were trying to be helpful when, in reality, they were only adding more stress to Job’s life.
One of the things I find interesting with chapter 7 is that, in verses 6-9, Job is speaking utter nonsense, yet in verse 17, Job chooses to turn to God.
In verses 6-9, Job says, “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is a breath! My eye will never again see good. The eye of him who sees me will see me no more; while you eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be. As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the grave does not come up.”
Job clearly isn’t thinking straight in these verses. He is feeling so overwhelmed to the point where he’s just letting his feelings take over at this point. Once Job says, “What is man, that You should exalt him, that you should set your heart on him” is when he starts turning to God during this little speech.
What do you know? This little speech of his started off with him feeling like God was against him and was not there for him, and yet this speech finishes off with Job choosing to turn to God and he asks Him to help him discover what he’s done against God rather than the other way around. Job decided to turn to God and ask for his help rather than to turn away from God and complain to him.
Everyone has moments in life that can feel too hard to move forward with. Everyone might steer their minds in the wrong direction every now and then. Either way, if you want hope in life, you will always have the option of turning to God. Are you going to take that option or simply go down man’s way of doing things? The option is up to you. No matter how hard life is though, it’s always possible to choose God in the end.