Page 20 - Reading Job to Know God

thought that the message of Job was to reveal that hidden root of self-
righteousness we all have. I thought that, was the message of the book. I
have self-righteousness in me and God will pull the rug out from under me
so that it will be revealed.

That is not the point at all, and that is not the message of Job. The fact is,
stripping a man externally of all his pleasures will often lead to despair.
Taking his prosperity, his family, his friends, his reputation and his health do
not lead to righteousness and to God. It most often leads to hopelessness and
bitterness. It is utter despair that makes Job write chapter 3. If you are ever
going to a birthday party, read chapter 3. Now there’s the worst Happy
Birthday song you will ever hear! The whole chapter is a lament.
Verse 3,
“Let the day perish on which I was to be born, And let the night which
said, ‘A boy is conceived.’ May that day be darkness; Let not God
above care for it, nor light shine on it. Let darkness and black gloom
claim it; Let a cloud settle on it; Let the blackness of the day terrify it.”
He had a high regard for his birthday, didn’t he?
“As for that night, let darkness seize it; Let it not rejoice among the
days of the year; Let it not come into the number of the months.
Behold, let that night be barren; Let no joyful shout enter it. Let those
curse it who curse the day, who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. Let
the stars of its twilight be darkened; Let it wait for light but have none,
and let it not see the breaking dawn.”
Why?

“Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb, or hide
trouble from my eyes. Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the
womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me, and why the breasts,
that I should suck? For now I would have lain down and been quiet.”
He said, cursed be my birthday. I just hate the day I was born. You see;
bitterness, desolation and despair. Someone says, well, the message of Job is
patience. Everybody knows Job is “the patient man”. Consider the patience
of Job. Look at chapter 1, verse 21. After he was stripped, he said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return
there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the
name of the LORD. Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame
God.”

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