Job’s primal scream
Job desperately triesd to solve the mystery behind his suffering. He struggles on his own, looking for clues. None appeared. We know the story ...
Job prays expectantly. God will surely speedily intervene in his life — heal him of his disease explain to him what in the world is going on. But nothing happens. The horribly painful disease saps Job’s strength. He grows weaker and weaker. He becomes more confused.
Job’s language sometimes borders on the irrational and incoherent. At times he appears almost delirious. Opposing attitudes clash in his speeches. Job appeals to God to act before it is too late. At times he even challenges God. Please help me, he cries. Come to me quickly. "I will soon lie down in the dust," Job cries out, "you will search for me, but I will be no more" (
Job 7:21).
Through his agony Job becomes increasingly confused, perplexed, discouraged, without hope. In his worst nightmare, Job sees death careening around the corner of his life, ready to run him down.
Job knows he is finished — through. He sees himself doomed to die a broken, lonely, hated and despised person. Job’s hopelessness is painted with poignant strokes throughout the book. In one place he moans, "My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me" (
Job 17:1).
Even though Job has done nothing wrong and pleads desperately for help, God still chooses to stay hidden. "I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer," Job wails (
Job 30:20).
Job’s tragic circumstances challenge and contradict everything he has always believed about God as a rewarder of the good. Life has gone crazy for Job, and he has been locked up in the padded cell of his own mind.
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