Job chapter 30 is a very personal look how physical change affects our whole being. Like many diseases, Job’s mind is keen even though his body is failing, making him acutely aware of how others are reacting. Job begins by accessing the lowliness of his current state. “But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs“. Job’s status has now fallen below the hobos of his day. He seems to see this low-life group from a new perspective, “Haggard from want and hunger… banished from their fellow men… shouted at as if they were thieves… a base and nameless brood“. Job is now looking up at them! “Their sons mock me in song… They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face“. You can’t help but believe this experience will change the way Job perceives both the mighty and the lowly. Loss helps us gain new appreciation for what we have and forces us to rethink our priorities as we rebuild. During difficult times we can cling to one promise, “For I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6).
Next Job turns his attention toward God’s unfairness. Job puts the blame for his situation squarely on God. “Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence“. Job lists all of the results of God’s cruelty. “On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me… they succeed in destroying me…They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in“. It does seem like problems come in bunches. The old expression rings true during difficulty, “When it rains, it pours”. Again Job accurately describes the feeling, “Terrors overwhelm me… my safety vanishes like a cloud… And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me“. Job also describes the special kind of suffering that accompanies chronic illness, “Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest… I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me“. Difficulties can wear us down and cause us to lose hope. In Revelation 3:16 God tells the apathetic believer, “because you are lukewarm neither hot nor cold I am about to spit you out of my mouth“. Have you become lukewarm?
As the chapter ends, we hear Job waver between depression, anger and fear, but in all of it there is a feisty attitude. He sees no escape, but he does not quit. Job begins to direct all of his words toward God. “You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of Your hand You attack me… You toss me about in the storm“. Job pleads his case before God, “Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor? Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness“. Job is enduring real physical pain, “days of suffering confront me… my body burns with fever“. He concludes the chapter with enduring determination, “My harp is tuned to mourning“. Job has blamed God for all his misery. Perhaps this describes where you are now. Here is the nugget of gold for the reader; we know that God has not abandoned Job at all! Romans 5:4-5 reminds us that it is in the tough times that we learn to trust God, “tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit“. God always changes us from the inside first. God will not withhold His Spirit from anyone that asks. It is time to rebuild.