February 13 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

How do you react when adversity, trouble or death suddenly strikes a family or an individual that is very dear to you? Most people are afraid to speak to those who are grieving. That’s what happened to Job. For weeks on end he is left alone in his misery. He does not have the support of church or friends. The only one who comes to visit him is his wife. But she offers no comfort at all.

Finally, three of Job’s friends show up. They express their sympathy to their afflicted friend but have nothing to say. They rip their clothes, put ashes on their heads and for seven days say nothing. Grieving persons can appreciate quiet company more than someone coming with a long discourse. But to sit around for seven days without uttering a word is highly unusual. Job’s friends remain silent because of the conclusions they have drawn. They believe Job must have committed some secret sin. Obviously the Lord is angry with him. Does God not bless you and grant you prosperity as long as everything is right between you and Him? Job had better examine his life.

The three friends are convinced Job’s own sins have caught up with him. The empty and eerie silence of the three men cuts to the depth of Job’s soul. His friends do not make him feel better in the least. Job's agony deepens in intensity with each passing day. Finally he blurts out a curse! He curses the day of his birth and the night of his conception. Job is at his wit’s end. He curses the day of his creation with language that directly opposes God’s words when He created the world. The Lord said, “Let there be light,” but in stark contrast Job says about the day of his creation (translated literally), “that day—let there be darkness.”

Throughout the ages, children of the Lord have voiced similar words. Such statements, however, cannot be justified or approved. Later on Job acknowledges he was wrong and he repents. Today, we know more than Job did. We have no right to say, “I hate life! I wish I was never born!” We know Jesus as our anchor and life. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary so that He might take away our curse and fill us with His blessing. Being connected to Christ by faith we can be sure life is never senseless and we never have a reason to curse the moment of our conception and birth.