Job 7 – It’s Been A Hard Days Night!

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Life can be fairly tough! Job described it like a workman’s shift. We feel tired, but at least there is our pay at the end of the day! Some people look forward to their retirement because they have worked hard all their lives and they hope to be able to take it easy in their latter years.  In the Bible we are told that God placed a curse upon the earth that would mean that man would have to work and sweat all his life because of original sin (See Gen.3:17-19). That curse will be lifted some day (See Rom.8:18-22). On top of that, because all men sin, the scriptures tell us, ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life’ (Rom.6:23). Do you look forward to these wages, or to the gift of God?

Job also realised how short life is (See Job 7:7); that it is like a breath. These are the same expressions that James used in Jas.4:14. Perhaps James was thinking about Job. After all he was aware of Job and even mentioned Job later on in Jas.5:11.

Again Job”prays” to God, wondering why God seems to want to subdue him like ‘the Sea’ or like ‘a sea monster’ (Job 7:11-12), and wonders why God scares him with dreams and terrifies him with visions. This wouldn’t be the first time that God has worked through visions and dreams in this way. See Abimelech in Gen.20:3, where God appeared to him and basically said, “You are a dead man…!”

Today people talk about “Big Brother” always watching and surveying people. But that’s nothing compared to God watching every move we make and every step we take (the lyrics of a song by The Police)! Job asked, like the Psalmist in Psalm 8:4, ‘What is man…?” Why does God have such an interest in us human beings?

And finally Job asks why God has set or chosen Job as His target? Can’t Job get a break to swallow his own saliva? Has Job sinned? Of course he has, as we all have (See Rom.3:23; 5:12; 1 John 1:8-10). But what Job means is, “Have I committed some particular sin that has caused God to choose me as His target?” If that is the case, then Job reasons, “Then why don’t You then ‘Pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? (See vv.20-21). Of course this is easier said than done! For us, we can look to the Gospel and find that Christ lived a perfect life of righteousness and yet was punished for our sins, whilst at the same time bestowing upon the believers His perfect righteousness. See 1 Cor.15:3; 2 Cor.5:18-21). The best news is that once we are reconciled to God we can go on and die in peace, or until that happens, live one of the happiest lives on earth – the blessed and happy life (See Rom.4:1-8).

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