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Category: Personal Study
Thread: Battling Depression in Scripture
Post Topic: The Most Destitute Man in the Bible – Job
Post in Thread: #2
Previous: The Most Chronically Depressed Man in the Bible – Heman
Next: Coming Soon – Elijah
Scripture: Job 1:13-22; Job 2:7-10; Job 30:16-23
Key Verses:
Job 1:20-21
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
Observations
Context
An entire book of the Bible is dedicated to a devoted servant of God – Job.
Job was virtuous and prosperous, and God protected him from the attacks of Satan. But when the devil claimed that the only reason Job remained faithful was because of this prosperity, God permitted Satan to attack Job.
Destitution (Job 1:13-20)
- Satan leaped right in. A stunning series of disasters fell upon Job.
- Bandits attacked his herds of oxen and donkeys, killing all of that group of servants but one.
- Fire destroyed his flocks of sheep and all his shepherds but one.
- A raiding party stole all his camels and killed all the servants guarding them but one.
- A mighty storm or tornado swept through a home, collapsing it upon his family, and killing his sons and daughters.
Job’s Response (Job 1:21-22)
- Job’s response? Not what Satan expected.
- Job shaved his head in mourning, but fell on his knees and worshipped God.
- He did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Not Destitute Enough? (Job 2:7-10)
- Satan was permitted to take another step, afflicting Job with painful boils from head to toe.
- Advice from Job’s wife? Curse God, and die.
- “No chance, you nutcase,” Job said (paraphrasing). “Shall we accept good from God but not bad?”
Job’s Mourning (Job 30:16-23)
Starting in chapter 3, most of the book of Job contains his prayers following this horrible suffering, as well as a tormentuous back-and forth with his so-called friends, who claim there must be some unconfessed sin behind it all. There is so much more than can be covered in one short blog, so one passage has been chosen to illustrate Job’s depression.
- “My life ebbs away.”
- “Days of suffering grip me.”
- “Night pierces my bones.”
- “God throws me into the mud, reducing me to ashes.”
- “I cry out to you God, but you do not answer. You toss me about on the wind.”
- “I know you will bring me down to death.”
Interpretation
Author
An unknown author, probably an Israelite due to his reverent care not to use the holiest name for God, who likely knew the story of Job handed down via the oral tradition.
Genre
Historical narrative written with a literary flair.
Imagine
It’s almost inconceivable to imaging the suffering Job experienced. What about his friends? If you had been one of Job’s friends, what could you have possibly chosen to say to him?
Their long speeches are recorded in this book. If they intended their companionship to comfort him, they failed miserably. They accused him of sinning and advised repentance. Perhaps they had long been jealous of Job’s wealth and virtuous family, and sought to elevate their own positions? We can’t know for certain. But their assumption that Job’s sin had brought these curses down upon him were completely wrong.
If you had been in their sandals, what would a better approach have been?
Takeaways
- God never explains why he allowed calamity to fall on Job. We are left to ponder why Satan was given so much freedom to harass this faithful servant of God. Like Job, we are left to acknowledge that God’s ways are higher than ours.
- Most of us will never experience the depth of suffering that Job experienced.
- Job’s wife and friends were of little help. If anything, they threatened to drive Job away from God.
- Job’s immediate response in chapter one was twofold: mourning, and worship. He continued to worship God even while mourning and questioning God.
Correlation
- Isaiah 55:8-9 – God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts; his ways are higher than ours. Sometimes, we have to honor God through situations we don’t comprehend.
- Job 42:5 – My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.
- This was Job’s response after God finally answered Job’s questioning.
- Job realized that because of his trials, he now grasped God’s true magnificence in new ways.
- God responds out of a whirlwind in Job 38-41, making it clear to Job and his friends how little they understand of God’s ways
- Job 38:4 – Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
- Job 38:12 – Have you ever in your days commanded the morning light?
- Job 38:32 – Can you lead out a constellation in its season?
- Job 39:26-27 – Do you understand or control how the hawk soars and the eagle builds its nests on the side of cliffs?
Application
Generic Applications
- Somehow, in the midst of immense suffering, Job managed to praise the name of God.
- He questioned whether God might have fallen asleep at the wheel, for which God rebuked him in chapters 38 through 41.
- But Job never cursed God, as Satan expected. Instead, he maintained a state of worship.
- Next time we are facing unexpected life hurdles, let’s praise God even as we ask why.
Personalize it
What suffering am I experiencing right now? Is it physical, emotional, spiritual, or a combination?
- Let me first acknowledge God’s sovereignty and praise his holy name.
- Bowing before him, let me articulate what this pain is doing to me. He knows, but wants us to speak with him, as evidenced by Job and Heman.
- Let me ask for healing, or comfort, or relief, whatever is appropriate.
- Let me again acknowledge that God’s ways are higher than mine. Let me ask him to more clearly see the magnificence of God.
Summary
In this series about Bible characters who experienced depression, we are adding a bonus section that summarizes each person’s affliction.
Cause, false expectation, remedy
Cause – Immense suffering and loss.
False Expectation – God’s hedge of protection around Job would protect him from all harm if he remained faithful. Job saw God as having the same simplified sense of justice as our finite minds can comprehend.
Remedy – Like Heman, Job cast all his confusion and pain toward God, with long-winded prayers of anguish. But despite his deep questioning of God’s ways, he remained worshipful of the God who gives and the God who takes away. Eventually Job came to a better understanding of the higher ways of God, and God restored Job’s health and wealth.
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
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