Job’s Expressions of Suffering

Having written my book, “Hyperbole of Suffering”, I have many verse notes. I would like to share some of them as found in Job chapter 6:

(Job 6:1-4 RSV) “O that my vexation were weighed,

and all my calamity laid in the balances!

3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;

therefore my words have been rash.

4 For the arrows of the Almighty are in me;

my spirit drinks their poison;

the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

Job so eloquently describes suffering here.

Any suffering is intolerable when you are in it.

Any suffering is indescribable when you are in it.

Any suffering is unquantifiable when it touches the soul.

There is only one way out of suffering and that is going through it.

If one elects to end their life prematurely, the suffering does not end, it is only spread around in the spirit of those you love. It does not end.

It just lives on in those left behind until they can resolve it in their time.

(Job 6:8-10 RSV) O that I might have my request,

and that God would grant my desire;

9 that it would please God to crush me,

that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

10 This would be my consolation;

I would even exult in pain unsparing;

for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

It is amazing that one could have joy in pain.

Only if God is with us.

Only if God’s hand does not crush our spirit.

Only if God’s presence could be felt.

In Christ, all these ‘ifs’ are answered.

God is with us.

God’s hand does not crush our spirit, but enlivens it.

God’s presence abides in us through His Holy Spirit.

When we incorporate these truths deep within our souls, then we can have what Job longed for - joy in the midst of unrelenting pain.

Thanks be to God.

(Job 6:13 RSV) In truth I have no help in me,

and any resource is driven from me.

I have no help in me..... What a statement of truth for our generation.

The self help books are flying off the shelves of our book stores.

People look, not to the Scriptures, not to meditation to God, but to the self help offered by psychologists, social workers, and gurus.

But when it comes to deep suffering, the emptiness of one’s inner being, the lack of resources or resolve in one’s self, are insufficient.

Yes, a mature person does find strength and is resilient from within themselves, but they also readily admit when they are no longer able to handle it on their own and that they need help.

Self help can be just another way of saying self reliant, or independent. It can come across as self centredness when taken to the extreme.

May we admit, like Job, that we cannot do it on our own.

We need each other.

We need God’s life giving help.

(Job 6: 14 RSV) He who withholds kindness from a friend

forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

Withholding kindness is detrimental to relieving suffering.

Sometimes we withhold kindness and love because we have been hurt by them… That is revenge.

Sometimes we withhold kindness and love because we are afraid of suffering… That is cowardice.

Sometimes we withhold kindness and love because we don’t know what to do or are afraid we will make the suffering worse… That is timidity.

Sometimes we think we are being kind by doing or saying nothing… But love unsaid is love unknown. It is not doing something for someone suffering as much as it is the kindness that comes with it. The spirit of a suffering one is very attune to the spirit in which something is said or given.

Also, offering someone your phone number or saying the sufferer should just call if they need anything, is not usually acted upon.

Instead, “love walks quietly through the door” with a visit, a note, a gift.

That is kindness.

(Job 6:15-17 RSV) My brethren are treacherous as a torrent-bed,

as freshets that pass away,

16 which are dark with ice,

and where the snow hides itself.

17 In time of heat they disappear;

when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

Undependable as intermittent streams....in suffering,

constancy of presence,

patience in waiting,

listening without acting or reacting is what is needed.

Not “intermittent” solutions,

not determining the “cause”,

not defining an escape

... these things are like intermittent streams because they do not engage in the ever changing thoughts & decisions made during suffering.

They do not engage with the moments of sorrow followed so closely by joy that there is no sequence, no rational reasoned connection.

(Job 6:21 RSV) Such you have now become to me;

you see my calamity, and are afraid.

You see something dreadful & are afraid...

this can make you useless to those in suffering.

It makes them feel unworthy.

It makes you or them say, “Get me out of this, kill me” or the observer say, “I will not let this happen to me”.

.....As companions in suffering, we become useless.

Lord, may that not be our lot. May we not be Job’s friends who with good intentions dispensed the wrong dialogue and spirit.

(Job 6:22-23 RSV) Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?

Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?

23 Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’?

Or, ‘Ransom me from the hand of oppressors’?

Here is Job stated that he is not asking his friends to intervene by taking his life or his suffering. He states anguish through four questions.

1) The first one is, “Make me a gift?”

When we think of a gift, we mostly think of something good, pleasant, and joyful.

But a gift can be a sacrifice as well.

Job could be stating he is not asking that someone or something be sacrificed on his behalf.

If this is true, he is stating he does not want the life or the conscience or the health of another be sacrificed on his account.

This concept seems foreign to those with a western worldview but in other parts of the world, it is common. In Africa, there is one branch of traditional medicine called sangoma. The sangoma assesses the psychological and spiritual well being of another. If it is troubled, he/she consults the spirits and offers the solution where someone has to sacrifice something of themselves so this issue can be resolved.

One instance was when the body of a young, virile man was found by the roadside. His genitalia had been cut off. The people of the community shared the story of how one of the community leaders consulted a sangoma because of his impotency. The sangoma consulted the spirits, asked for the genitalia of this particular young man and then offered them as a gift to the impotent man.

In this context, Job saying, he did not ask that his friends should make him a gift is most likely.

In our present western society, it would be like asking a friend to get you a “gift” of hemlock, or an overdose of street drugs, or a physician who would lethally inject you. It may sound like Job was asking for this through his discourse, but he made it plain that that was not his intent.

He was just trying to express the inexpressible.

2) The second question is like the first where Job states he is not asking for a bribe or a favor.

He is not asking for something that is “illegal” or against the will of God, or contravenes the principles of God.

It may sound like it, but that is not his intent.

This question sounds so must like when we say, “God if you will only do this for me, then I will do such for You.” That is the essence of bribery.

Job wishes God would ease his suffering. He longs for an audience to plead his case. But he does not want to take the place of equality with God as a bribe implies God is my “puppet”.

3) The third question is Job stating he does not ask for his friends to deliver him from the adversary’s hand.

This is quite the statement.

I am humbled by Job’s statement. Why?

I readily go to the physician asking him/her to deliver me from the pain and suffering. I am always looking for someone to delivery me from my suffering.

Is this wrong? Did not Job search for a physician?

The Scripture does not tell us.

It is a question I find hard to comprehend. I do not sense that God does not want us to consult physicians. His only Son healed when people asked for deliverance. His Son did not reject physicians but has physicians as friends and followers (think of Luke).

But one thing I do know from Job’s statement is he did not ask to escape his suffering but to be delivered from it.

There is a difference.

The Scripture is full of references to God being with us as we traverse suffering, but it does not say we will never suffer.

4) Question four is like question two. Instead of bribery, it is placed in the context of a court of law where ransom is asked for.

(Job 6: 25-26 RSV) How forceful are honest words!

But what does reproof from you reprove?

26 Do you think that you can reprove words,

when the speech of a despairing man is wind?

How painful are honest words....

Our medical profession builds it’s reputation on honesty in sharing bad news....

We can induce pain by doing so.

Is this bad?

Is inducing pain to be shunned?

Or is pain necessary to overcome?