Into Job's Anguish the Lord Speaks: Finding Comfort & Restoration in Faith

Hello friend, before we proceed with our journey alongside our Biblical Characters, let's recap who we have traveled with so far.

In the first week, we explored how Jesus entered through locked doors to connect with His disciples in their sacred space.

 During the second week, we examined Moses and how God guided the Israelites by moving ahead of them with a Holy Fire and settled upon the mountain within His Holy Cloud. We called to the Lord with Moses, “Here I am!”

Now with Job we pour our hearts out to the Lord in anguish.

Poor Job is deemed righteous in the eyes of God, making him the target of Satan's malicious scheme to demonstrate that humans are bound to fail. Job loses his livestock, his children, and eventually his health. He spends much of the book sitting with his friends. 

 Marc Chagall Job praying (1960)

Job's life highlights the significance of having Godly friends around us during difficult times. In the initial days of his hardships, Job's friends offered him tremendous comfort.

^“When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. ¹² When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. ¹³ Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (Job 2:11).

As we know Job’s friends eventually fail, as we all eventually do, and Job does just the right thing; he shares His sorrows with the Lord.

After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 

He said, “Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, 

to those who long for death that does not come,    

who search for it more than for hidden treasure, who are filled with gladness 

and rejoice when they reach the grave?

Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.

What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. 

I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” (Job 3:20-26).

Yes, this is hard to read and I am sure it was just as hard for Job to share.

Remember, God already knows our thoughts "...your Father knows what you need before you ask him (Matthew 6:8).

Opening up this dialogue with God, in humility, is also opening up your heart to receive His healing. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you"

(1 Peter 5:6-7).

In the gospels, Jesus often attributes healing to individuals' faith. One such instance involves a woman who was healed from bleeding. Jesus tells her, "^...Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering” (Mark 5:34).

The more we read healing stories with Jesus, the more a beautiful heart equation becomes apparent...

Action + Faith =

Receiving His peace and His freedom from suffering.

God meets each of us right where we are at in our actions driven by our faith:

• For Zacchaeus, the Tax Collector, his action was trying to see Jesus and climbing a tree. His faith freed him from the love of money (Luke 19:1-10).

• For Nicodemus, the Pharisee, his action was seeking Jesus in the middle of the night. His faith freed him from fruitless legalism (John 3:1-21).

• For Job, his action was seeking friend's support and praying. His faith freed him from having worldly wisdom instead of Godly wisdom.

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.

Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).

And for you, my friend, what steps do you need to take?

Whatever your actions, carry them out with the belief that

God listens to you, cares for you, and answers His people.

Pause for a moment now, and share your troubles with the Lord, just as Job did.

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Once you've expressed your sorrow to God, let's complete the book of Job together. Job poses a question to God that resonates with many of us: “why make me suffer, Lord?” And this is where it becomes truly remarkable. Just as in Exodus when God communicates with Moses in the cloud;

“Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm”(Job 38:38).

“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you will answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation Tell me, if you understand…” (Job 38:2-4).

From God's response to Job, we understand that His ways are indeed higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8). Despite the difficulty of God's answer, we trust in His love and that He listens to us. I hope that this assurance will be sufficient for our hearts today.

 Then Job replied to the Lord:

 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’    

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (Job 42: 2-3).

Job’s story ends where it begins… with comfort and restoration,

“The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former” (Job 42:12).

And I too end this blog with praying for you the way Job prays for God to be merciful to His friends (Job 42:9).

Lord Jesus, please give each reader the courage to share their cares, their anguish and sorrow with You. Please Lord help overcome our unbelief!

I pray that we would have eyes that see You and ears that hear You.

I pray each reader will respond the way Job does to Your answers.

I pray that You will restore order to our days with the comfort of friends,

thankfulness for memories, and hope for the purpose and future you have planned for each of us.

I pray Lord for your Restoration of our bodies, minds, spirits and souls.

Amen.