Bible in a Year… Day 25 (Job 7-8)

It’s Wednesday, our weekly day to focus on Biblical poetry, so we’re back in Job.

Today’s notes:

Job 7:11-16 (NIV)
¹¹Therefore I will not keep silent;
    I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,
    I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
    that you put me under guard?

¹³When I think my bed will comfort me
    and my couch will ease my complaint,

¹⁴even then you frighten me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,

¹⁵so that I prefer strangling and death,
    rather than this body of mine.

¹⁶I despise my life; I would not live forever.
    Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

I love Job’s honesty here. He’s hurting big-time due to the testing God has allowed, so he cries out with this brutally honest expression of his pain.

Ever been there? It’s good to let this kind of thing out before God. After all, He’s the source of all healing, and he does still answer prayers.

Job 8:2-3 (NIV)
²How long will you say such things?
Your words are a blustering wind.

³Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

You’ve gotta love the response of Job’s friend, Bildad. Had to have been a bit of a wake-up call to Job.

Everyone needs a friend that’s not afraid to speak truth.

Job 8:11-15 (NIV)
¹¹Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?
    Can reeds thrive without water?

¹²While still growing and uncut,
    they wither more quickly than grass.

¹³Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
    so perishes the hope of the godless.

¹⁴What he trusts in is fragile;
    what he relies on is a spider’s web.

¹⁵He leans on his web, but it gives way;
    he clings to it, but it does not hold.