Job 30 Devotional
by Pastor Lawrence

In comparison with his sweet reminiscences of the past and his earnest longing for restoration in the future presented in the previous chapter, Job now seems to be stuck in his own personal prison in the present.

Previously young men stood up in his presence and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths when he spoke, but now the young men laugh at him, even those who come from sketchy backgrounds themselves.

Job speaks of these men as lazy moochers and vagabonds, absolute fools in the eyes of men and of God who are now mocking him, making him the butt of their jokes, singing songs ridiculing him and even using catchphrases comparing all bitter and cursed events to him, saying something like: “that’s a Job thing.” When they see him, they keep their distance and spit in his direction as one unworthy of them, which is as low as one man could possibly go. If he happens to be in their way, they push him aside like he’s some sort of beast or garbage in the middle of the road.

Then, in addition to this outward indignity, beginning in v.15, Job describes his inner turmoil and the terrors that he suffers under the mighty hand of God’s judgment. His soul is afflicted and embittered, his honor is degraded, his prosperity has taken flight, and now his body is riddled with pain and his bones ache continually with no hope of relief.

In vv.19ff he acknowledge that this is God’s doing, and he cries out to God for help and mercy but God remains silent. It appears that he is purposely persecuting Job, being cruel to him, lifting him up in the air like a tornado merely to toss him about. In the midst of this chaos, Job feels that there is nothing but death that awaits him and that God purposely is not responding to his prayers because it is God’s intention to kill him.

And Job wonders why. Why is it that God does not take pity upon him, when Job himself took pity upon others? Why is it that God does not help him when he has helped others? Why is God determined to do him evil when he has done others good? This is the sad song that he sings and this is the continual complaint upon his lips.

Clearly, Job’s sufferings are meant somehow to point him and us to Christ. There are so many corollaries between Job’s righteous suffering and Christ’s that we must consider that there is more to the story than simply Job’s initial suffering and his ensuing restoration.

Job’s trial is similar to Abraham’s test when the Lord told him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham experienced some aspect of initial turmoil and suffering on behalf of his child, but the potential sacrifice of his son pointed to God’s sacrifice of his own son on our behalf. In a similar way, Job’s sufferings are meant to point us to the one who would suffer the persecution and cruelty of God in our place, and who would undergo the ridicule of the worst of sinners in order that he might save us to the uttermost. The difference is that Job’s sufferings did not lead to death. He tasted something of Christ’s sufferings, but he did not receive the fullness of God’s judgment as Christ did on the cross dying for sin, not his own, but for the sins of others.

We, who are called by the name of Christ as Christians also share somehow in Christ’s sufferings here on earth; it is part of our fellowship with the Son of God, to suffer along with him. However, in our sufferings, the Lord never pours out his wrath upon us, nor curses us, nor leaves and forsakes us as he did with his only Son. No, our sufferings are not punitive in that way, nor are they evil, nor unnecessary, nor profitless. If and when we experience suffering in this world, we who trust in Christ can be sure that God is sovereign over it, that Christ has suffered before us, and that the Holy Spirit is sanctifying us through it working out all of our sufferings for our good and God’s glory.