Oh to be Comforted with Truth [Job 6]

  1Then Job answered,
    2"Oh that my grief were actually weighed
         And laid in the balances together with my calamity!
    3"For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
         Therefore my words have been rash.
    4"For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,
         Their poison my spirit drinks;
         The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
  
    8"Oh that my request might come to pass,
         And that God would grant my longing!
    9"Would that God were willing to crush me,
         That He would loose His hand and cut me off!
    10"But it is still my consolation,
         And I rejoice in unsparing pain,
         That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
  
Job responded to Eliphaz in the midst of his grief and great pain, acknowledging that maybe his words were rash.  He knew that the arrows that had pierced him were from the Almighty but he was a little stunned that Eliphaz was so insistent that God was repaying him for evil. He was starting to think that death may be the only thing that would bring him comfort from his unrelenting pain. "Oh that my request might come to pass, and that God would grant my longing! Would that God were willing to crush me, that He would loose His hand and cut me off!” He was not sure he could physically endure much more, so he thought  it would be nice to die while he was still able to get comfort from knowing that He had not given in. "But it is still my consolation, and I rejoice in unsparing pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.”  

He then admonished his friends with these words, "For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; so that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty” (v.14). He couldn't remember anything he had done to wrong them and he wondered why they thought he was lying.  He longed to have friends that would continue to encourage him to not loose faith in a faithful and loving God, but because of what they believed about God they couldn't come to any other conclusion.  It would have missed up there theology to concede that Job was suffering as a righteous man.

Lord, we praise you that You are the Holy One.  You are the Almighty God who loves us.  You are there offering us Your encouragement and comfort even when “friends” are not.  Thank You that Your character is true from generation to generation.

Verna McCrillis, 1/18/2011