Job 6 on Sufferings & Judgmental Friends


Job writes about pain and suffering from a first-person view and experience. This 2-day devotional looks at chapter 6, where Job bares his feelings, especially his despair, as well as his disappointment over how judgmental his close friends were towards him.

Day 1
Reading: Job 6:1-13
Impressions:
  • Job explains his complaints. The severity of his sufferings has brought him to the point of despair and he feels it is pointless to continue living. These are not suicidal thoughts. His sufferings just weighed down too much on him, and he declares his readiness to die. I believe these thoughts are more of a result of his physical sufferings. 
  • How many of us have been to that point of despair? Not necessarily desiring death but more of a feeling that everything has just crushed down on you, and you are at the point of hopelessness and helplessness.
  • Despite being there, and as he declares his innocence (v.10), he continues to affirm his faith and his obedience to God. A point wherein many would have instead taken the advice of Job’s wife (2:9).   
Principles: 
  • Sufferings may drive us to the point of despair but we should never let despair keep us there and lead us to faithlessness.  
  • In sufferings, our strength of character is displayed and our faith in God is demonstrated.
  • Sufferings come to remind us of our need for God, of our need for Him to mold us, and of our need to depend more on Him. 



Day 2
Reading: Job 6:14-30
Impressions:
  • As Job continues his defence, he now here expresses his disappointment with his three friends. He was asking them to show him where he sinned. He was willing to listen as long as they point out to him specifically where he went wrong. He believes they quickly judged without examining his whole situation.
Principles:
  • There are circumstances in life that baffle us because they go against our preconceived perception of how things work. 
  • We shouldn’t be quick to judge situations if we don’t have the concrete basis to do so.
  • We need to understand that God’s ways are sometimes not meant to be understood right away; that answers may come much, much later.
For a devotional study on Job 5, go here.

photo credit to Geralt

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