Our Daily Scripture – 11/15/23 (Wednesday)

SCRIPTURE:  JOB 30

Job described how the descendants of those who were poor, hungry, homeless and desperate before had treated him now:

  1.  Their sons mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. (v. 9)
  2.  They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. (v. 10)
  3.  They throw off restraint in my presence. (v. 11)
  4.  They attack me and lay snares for my feet; they build their siege ramps against me. (v. 12)
  5.  They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. (v. 13)
  6.  They advance as through a gaping breach amid the ruins they come rolling in. (v. 14)

JOB’S CRIED OUT HIS ANGUISH:

  1.  Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind; my safety vanishes like a cloud. (v. 15)
  2.  My life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me. (v. 16)
  3.  Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest. (v. 17)
  4.  God becomes like clothing to me; he binds me like the neck of my garment. (v.08)
  5.  He throws me into the mud; and I am reduced to dust and ashes. (v. 19)
  6.  I cry out to the Lord, but he does not answer; I stand up, but he merely look at me. (v. 20)
  7.  God has turn on me ruthlessly and attacked me with the might of his hand. (v. 21)
  8.  God has snatched me up and driven me before the wind;  he tossed me about in the storm. (v. 24)
  9.  The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me. (v. 27)
  10.  I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. (v. 28)
  11.  I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls. (v. 29)
  12.  My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever. (v. 30)
  13.  My harp is tuned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of wailing. (v.31)

JOB COULD NOT UNDERSTAND THIS:

Have I not wept for those in trouble?  Has not my soul grieved for the poor?  Yet when I hope for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.

THOUGHTS:

Job launched his complaints about his suffering.  His friends mocked him, his body hurts him, his God has deserted him and his hope had fled from him.  He could not return to the past, endure the present or face the future.  When you face similar situation like Job, remember that Jesus Christ was once there himself and he knows how you feel.  He is the best person to confide everything.  Remember God’s past mercies and trust him for the future.

It was very humiliating for Job to suffer extreme loss.  Adding insult to injury was the abuse of the younger generation.  Young people should not mock and take advantage of older people.  They should show respect and realize that their own physical abilities and attributes are also short-live.