"Job...Cursed The Day of His Birth"

"After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.  He said:...'That day-- may it turn to darkness....May gloom and utter darkness claim it once more...." (Job 3, NIV)

Maybe most who are reading this woke up this morning to a bright day, with a song, worship, "feeling groovy," thankful to be alive.  Yet there are many on this Planet who wish they had never been born.  Some of them are closer around you and me than we may be aware.

At the point of our text, Job was not in such a "glory to God," or, "somebody give me an amen," state.  After the tragic news stopped, Job awoke one day and, "After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth....May a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm it....Why did I not perish at birth?...For now I would be lying down in peace....I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil."  Now we must remember that at the end of the Book Job was commended by our Lord.  He said to Job's friends, "I am angry with you.., because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has."  Apparently all that Job said of the Lord was, "truth."  His complaint was not directed toward the Living Triune God.  He was in the depths of despair, "a lonely creature in the universe."  

Job was in deep distress, a distress which many "bebop" Christians cannot/will not understand.  Everything in their life has always gone well, no sickness, no deaths, no loss of job, wonderful church mega church. Shallow religious people outwardly (or if one is really "spiritual," they do so inwardly) judge people who seem to have so much trouble in their lives.  Such self-righteous are just no better than Job's three critical friends; they are no good to anybody.  Then there are those as Job's wife, "Why don't you just, 'curse God and die.'"  Job (and can I add you and me to this?) would have none of it.

"Where" are you today?  Has life seemed to give you more "bad" than "good?"  Or maybe early on in your life things were going quite well, only to have these latter days turn into, "....a cloud settle[d] over it;...blackness overwhelm[ed] it."  Well, my friend, no, "cloud," or, "blackness," can, "overwhelm," anyone rooted, settled, and who has is building their life on Jesus Christ, "who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock," THE Rock, The "Rock of Ages," Jesus.  I am a living testimony to this/Him.  I know some of Job's heartache, inability to do or say anything.  It was as though I were as described in Job 2:8 and, "....took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with is as he sat among the ashes."  But then Jesus "came" to me, viz., I realized He was "there," in front of me, speaking to me, helping me realize that He had never left me, always indwelling me and I in Him.  As the old song says, "Then Jesus came and He spoke my name, He whispered peace to me.  Now I've taken my harp down off the willow tree."  No matter what, never put that harp away.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You, and can never thank You enough for Who You are, Who You are to me, what You have done and are doing for/in me.  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2