“Man who is born of a woman
is few of days and full of trouble.
Job is in a bad spot. He has been experiencing a peculiar trauma brought on by multiple and sequential events. Each even would qualify for years of therapy in our world’s system. A catastrophic loss of property due to a storm would be news worthy in anyone’s life. A loss of staff, employees, etc. due to an attack by an unknown enemy would create significant psychological harm to most souls. The loss of one child by a parent can be devastating, much less ten of them, all in one day. Think of the infliction of pain on a person’s mental health. Being diagnosed with a disease you have no control over has certainly recked havoc on many. Most of those have a medical professional or a group from Hospice to guide them through such final chapters of a life. Job was sitting on the side of the road and the extent of his medical assistance was to use broken pottery to scrap the scabs on his wounds. This man in not in a good place. So when were read the above verse we have to fully appreciate the context. When Job states that a man born of a woman has a life “few” of days that Hebrews word is significant. He is not just stating compared to eternity man doesn’t live long (although he will say that in this chapter). The Hebrew word for “few” here means to be cut short of what something could be. Job is recalling, perhaps, the lives of his ten children. It more than likely is referring to himself, but the children’s lives were certainly cut short. However, the Hebrew word for “full of trouble” means complete, as to “full to the max.” So Job’s complaint he is outlining for God is that you give us an interrupted life that has been devastated, completely, with trouble. At this point in Job’s argument toward God he is completely wrapped up in his circumstances. Who wouldn’t be. Therefore, the philosophy articulated in the above verse is obviously reflecting those circumstances. Later we will read about God’s character as stated by another friend of Job and, finally, by God, Himself. Suffice it to say that Job is voicing his experience in the above verse, not his faith. Like the minor prophet, Habakkuk, Job is simply “telling it like it is” to God. God’s communication to Job will cause Job to put his hand over his mouth and wish he had not expressed the above thoughts. However, not because his thought are not genuine and practically his feelings. Rather God will explain to Job that life is not just about the formula of length of days vs amount of suffering. God has a purpose for us. We each have a different way we experience that purpose. Job is naturally in pain and saying what is in his heart. God will not chastise him for that. God will, later, however, confront Job with truth about His character and purpose that Job can’t see now, in his pain. When we are in pain and suffering we will say and do things that the pain and suffering may warrant. But over time they may not be a weighty as we previously thought. We can’t dismiss Job’s experience and more that we can dismiss our own. But we can learn from Job that our experience must be viewed through the lens of God divine character and His ordained purpose for our lives.
Romans 9:22-23 (ESV)
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
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