Light Shine On It
After this Job opened his mouth and
cursed the day of his birth. Job said: “Let the day perish in which I was born,
and the night that said, ‘A man child is conceived.’ Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. Let gloom and deep darkness
claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
That night – let thick darkness seize it! let it not
rejoice among the day of the year; let it not come into the number of months.
Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. Let those
curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to
rouse up Leviathan. Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light,
but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning – because it did not
shut the doors of my mother’s womb, and hide trouble from my eyes. “Why did I
not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Why were there knees to
receive me, or breasts for me to suck? Now I would be lying down and quiet; I
would be asleep; then I would be at rest with kings and counselors of the earth
who rebuild ruins for themselves, or with princes who have gold, who fill their
houses with silver. Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an
infant that never sees the light? There the wicked cease from troubling, and
there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners are at ease together; they do
not hear the voice of the taskmaster. The small and the great are there, and
the slaves are free from their masters.
There are times when we can agree that
the previous year might be one that we might want to forget. Changes in family,
health, financial reasons might want us to take a look and question our lives
on earth.
Job wanted to die and be forgotten,
but instead God made sure his name and story would be remembered forever.
Rather than give Job what he asked for, God gave future generations what they
would need – an inside look at the spiritual battle between God and Satan. The
result is a God-inspired document about suffering that has comforted countless
people.
When what we fear actually happens, we
know, thanks to Job, that God can use it for good. Our highest good may come
from our deepest suffering.
Our Daily
Bread –