Job chapter 3 reminds me of the old classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Financial disaster and the potential of losing his business and home cause George Bailey to believe everyone would have been better off without him. Believing he had nothing to live for, George wished he had never been born. The point of the movie was to show how many people benefited from having known George Bailey. As today’s chapter begins, Job had been suffering from “painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head” without relief. And that was on top of losing his family and all his possessions. Job sat silently mourning his loss and dealing with the pain. The chapter begins, “After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth“. Remember Satan said that Job would curse God to His face if Job was not so overly blessed. To his great credit, Job didn’t blame God for his affliction, but it is clear that Job is in an unbearable situation. “May the day of my birth perish… That day may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine upon it“. Chronic pain and long-term illness can wear us down to the point of giving up. General George Patton said it this way, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all”. It is important to point out that Job does not entertain suicide. In fact there is not one positive mention of anyone taking their own life in the Bible. Jeremiah 1:5 explains that God has a plan for us even before we were born, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you“. God has a purpose for you!
For the rest of the chapter Job continues to speak from his anguish. “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?” Job reasoned, that is the only way he would have peace, “For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest“. Notice though, Job is talking about physical rest, not peace with God. “There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest“. In his misery, Job viewed the grave as an escape from torment, “Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout… and the slave is freed from his master“. Job describes the desperation that only those in physical pain can understand, “those who long for death that does not come… search for it more than for hidden treasure“. Physical, psychological and emotional pain can delude us into believing the lie of Satan that the grave brings relief. Physical death does not bring spiritual peace. The Bible is clear; Jesus paid the price for our sin so that we might be forgiven. This is where we find peace. Jesus, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
As the chapter ends, we find Job honestly expressing his misery to his three friends. This is something we tend to avoid. We often put on a false front because we don’t want anyone to know we are in need. Galatians 6:2 reminds us to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ“. We are to be united in the body of believers so we do not have to endure our challenges alone. Job tells his friends, “For sighing comes to me instead of 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“. Perhaps you are a Job or George Bailey today. Or perhaps you know someone else in distress. The place to begin to find relief is calling on the God that understands our pain. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15). Don’t confuse rest with Peace.