Reflections on Job 7

 Job 07 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Why is life so hard? Why do we suffer?
2. We are slaves in search of shade; we are laborers longing for our wages.
3. God has made my days drag on and my nights miserable.
4. I pray for night to end, but it stretches out while I toss and turn.
5. My parched skin is covered with worms, dirt, and sores,
6. and my days are running out quicker than the thread of a fast-moving needle.
7. I beg you, God, don't forget! My life is just a breath, and trouble lies ahead.
8. I will vanish from sight, and no one, including you, will ever see me again.
9. I will disappear in the grave or vanish from sight like a passing cloud.
10. Never will I return home; soon I will be forgotten.
11. And so, I cry out to you in agony and distress.
12. Am I the sea or a sea monster? Is that why you imprison me?
13. I go to bed, hoping for rest,
14. but you torture me with terrible dreams.
15. I'd rather choke to death than live in this body.
16. Leave me alone and let me die; my life has no meaning.
17. What makes you so concerned about us humans?
18. Why do you test us from sunrise to sunset?
19. Won't you look away just long enough for me to swallow?
20. Why do you watch us so closely? What's it to you, if I sin? Why am I your target and such a heavy burden?
21. Why do you refuse to forgive? Soon you won't find me, because I'll be dead.

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Job now turned his comments to God. His life was rapidly coming to an end, so it seemed, with no hope in sight, so he was going to complain to God without restraint. His life was miserable. He felt like a slave who longs for the day to end so he can rest, but in Job's case there was no rest at night. He tossed and turned until dawn without sleep to give him escape from his misery. His skin formed scabs and oozed while maggots ate the dead flesh.

Job's life would soon be over. He would go to the grave never to return and any memory of him would soon fade away. He saw no reason to keep struggling with life and wanted to just give up and be finished with it. He wished God would just leave him alone. Why, anyway, did God think so highly of man that He paid so much attention to him, watching him every moment of the day and putting him to the test? Why didn't God look away from him long enough to allow him to swallow without being scrutinized?

He now asked God what he had asked of his friends, "If I have sinned, what have I done?" Rather than continue his suffering, why didn't God show him his sin and pardon him before he died? Soon he would be gone with no opportunity left for forgiveness.

Though Job was ready to give up and have his life end, he did not curse God. He had no doubt his suffering came from God, and though he complained that God was bringing this suffering on him, he did not question God's sovereignty in doing with him as He wished. Job just wanted it to be over.