Job 7 - Turn Your Gaze Away

INTRODUCTION

[ILLUS] One night when I was a teenager, I was walking through the house in the dark. Initially, I was navigating the obstacles pretty well, but then I smashed by toe into the corner of the hallway wall.

Pain shot through my body.

Unholy words flooded my mind and struggled to escape my lips.

And as I hobbled down the hallway to my room, I may have even asked God… “Why?”

[CONTEXT] In far more serious circumstances, Job is asking God why. After the loss of his health and wealth and the death of his children, Job has been stumbling around in the darkness of his anguish looking for answers.

His friend, Eliphaz, has tried to shed some light. In Job 4-5, he said that the innocent do not suffer, so Job must be guilty of sin.

But Job responded in Job 6 that his complaint was just. He had examined himself, and he invited his friends to do the same. If they could name the sin he was actually guilty of, Job would repent, but there was none. Job was a righteous man, and in the end even God would say that Job had done nothing wrong.

Why then was Job suffering?

With no enlightenment immediately forthcoming, Job is left stumbling in the dark.

In Job 6, we hear some of Job’s dark thoughts as stumbles along looking for answers.

As we hear his words, it’s important for us to remember that although Job has done nothing wrong, it doesn’t mean that he is right about everything.

[TS] Let’s divide this passage into three SEGMENTS…

MAJOR IDEAS

SEGMENT #1: Job Describes His Life (Job 7:1-10)

Job 7:1–10 NASB95

1 “Is not man forced to labor on earth, And are not his days like the days of a hired man? 2 “As a slave who pants for the shade, And as a hired man who eagerly waits for his wages, 3 So am I allotted months of vanity, And nights of trouble are appointed me. 4 “When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night continues, And I am continually tossing until dawn. 5 “My flesh is clothed with worms and a crust of dirt, My skin hardens and runs. 6 “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And come to an end without hope. 7 “Remember that my life is but breath; My eye will not again see good. 8 “The eye of him who sees me will behold me no longer; Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be. 9 “When a cloud vanishes, it is gone, So he who goes down to Sheol does not come up. 10 “He will not return again to his house, Nor will his place know him anymore.

[EXP] Despairing of Life

vv. 1-3a - laments his DAYS (filled with hard work)

It’s forced (1a)

It’s for someone else (1b)

It’s like slavery (2a)

It doesn’t pay off (2b)

It seems meaningless (3a)

And his night are no better

vv. 3b-4 - laments his NIGHTS (filled with restlessness)

Describes them as nights of trouble (3b)

When he lays down, he can’t rest and hopes for an early dawn, but the night just stretches out (4a)

He tosses and turns until dawn finally arrives (4b)

“Insomnia aggravated Job’s anxiety and pain.” — Robert Alden

vv. 5 - laments his BODY (racked with illness)

It’s clothed with worms (5a)

It’s clothed with a crust of dirt (5b)

It’s skin is hardened (i.e., scabby) and runs (i.e., oozes) (5c)

v. 6 - continues to lament his DAYS (not only filled with meaningless labor, restlessness, and illness, but are also brief and, therefore, hopeless)

Swifter than a weaver’s shuttle (6a)

The shuttle on a weaver’s loom flies back and forth at a high rate of speed, and the thread is cut when the cloth is finished. Job thinks his life is nearly finished and he will be cut off.

The brevity indicates no time for turn around (cf. v. 8).

It will come to an end without hope (6b)

This is the destiny of Job’s days, or so he feels.

[EXP] Dreaming of Death (Job 7:7-10)

Job 7:7–10 NASB95

7 “Remember that my life is but breath; My eye will not again see good. 8 “The eye of him who sees me will behold me no longer; Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be. 9 “When a cloud vanishes, it is gone, So he who goes down to Sheol does not come up. 10 “He will not return again to his house, Nor will his place know him anymore.

Job asks God to remember the brevity of his life (7a).

This sounds like Job is asking for mercy, but he is more likely setting the stage for the loosening of his tongue in v. 11ff—because of the brevity of his life, he will not restrain his tongue. While he has the opportunity, he has some things that he wants to say to God.

Because of the brevity of his life, Job’s eyes won’t see good again (7b).

The past of joy of Job’s life—his wealth, his health, his children—these things won’t return again or so Job thinks.

Because of the brevity of his life, the eyes of Job’s neighbors will no longer see him (8a).

Because of the brevity of his life, the eyes of the Lord will see Job, but Job will not be (i.e., he will not be alive) (8b).

Job compares the brevity of his life to a cloud that vanishes and is gone (9a)

The one who dies and goes to Sheol (the place of the dead) does not come back (9b).

He won’t return home (10a).

The place where he lived—the place that once esteemed him—will not know him any longer (10b).

Job felt like his life was full of hard, meaningless labor, restlessness and illness, hurtling toward death.

[APP] How would you describe your life? Would you say it is filled with happiness or sorrow? Does it depend on the day?

Learn this lesson: We can experience a hurt so deep that it seems to erase the joy we’ve experienced.

Job had experienced great joy in the past, but here his hurt is so deep that he cannot remember those joys; he can only despair of life and look forward to death.

Learn this lesson: We can experience a hurt so deep that it seems irreversible.

When Job mentions the brevity of his life, he is saying that time is running out, and he doesn’t think things will change.

He is miserable, and he expects to remain miserable until he dies.

But learn this lesson: Even when we are hurt so deeply that we struggled to believe it, there is a resurrection.

Job said in v. 9 that the man who goes down to the grave doesn’t come up.

Job expects to go down to the grave soon.

He feels as if he’s joy and hope have already gone down to the grave.

He doesn’t expect that he, his joy, or his hope will ever be resurrected.

But we know there is a resurrection!

There is a resurrection of joy, hope, and life in Jesus Christ who rose from the dead!

Perhaps we’ve felt like Job—like life is hard and meaningless, filled with restless suffering; like joy is in the past and hope for the future is nonexistent; like the hurtling toward death is your only solace.

But death is only a solace for those who have faith in Jesus who died and rose again!

Because He lives, we who trust in Him shall live in the fullness of joy in the resurrection!

Because He lives, we who follow Him shall live in the realization of all our hopes in the resurrection!

If we have joy and hope in this life only, we most to be pitied.

But thanks to Jesus, the living One, we have joy and hope to the full in the resurrection!

[TS]…

SEGMENT #2: Job Utters His Complaint (Job 7:11-16)

Job 7:11–16 NASB95

11 “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 “Am I the sea, or the sea monster, That You set a guard over me? 13 “If I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, My couch will ease my complaint,’ 14 Then You frighten me with dreams And terrify me by visions; 15 So that my soul would choose suffocation, Death rather than my pains. 16 “I waste away; I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

[EXP] Job cannot resist the urge to speak. He will speak his anguish. He will give voice to his bitterness (v. 11).

He believes that God is treating him like the sea or the sea monster, both symbols of unruly, chaotic evil; both of which have a guard set over them to govern them (12).

Job believes he is being treated like one of them; he believes that God is mistreating him.

Job also believers that God is robbing him of earthly comfort (vv. 13-14).

In pain, many seek the comfort of the bed or the couch, but there’s no comfort or ease for Job in those places because he thinks God terrifies his sleep with nightmares.

Job would rather suffocate and die than continue on like this (v. 15).

He wastes away.

He will not live forever.

He feels his life is spent, and his request is for God to leave him alone, for his days are brief like breath (16).

[ILLUS] Have you ever been wrongly accused?

When I was a boy, I found a broken egg behind our refrigerator. Our refrigerator was against a wall, so my discovery of the broken egg smashed on the floor behind it seemed suspicious to my mother. Her reasoning concluded that I threw it back there because I found it. I got in all sorts of trouble.

Decades later when I’m asking my sister if she remembers that incident, she finally admits with a sly, proud smile, “Yep. That was me!”

[APP] No one likes to be falsely accused, and here in his complaint Job at least comes close to falsely accusing God.

He says that God has mistreated him, but has God mistreated Him?

Job’s friend, Eliphaz, has argued that Job is suffering because Job has sinned, but Job seems to think that he should be exempt from suffering because he has been so good.

Both perspectives are wrong.

We sometimes suffer the consequences of our sins, but not all our suffering is the result of our personal sin.

And walking closely with God does not exempt us from suffering.

If that were true, then Jesus wouldn’t have suffered.

But Job doesn’t see that—although God is sovereign over his suffering—He isn’t the cause of it.

Satan is the direct cause of Job’s suffering.

Satan intends to destroy Job to discredit God.

Satan mistreats Job, but God will use Job’s mistreatment for His glory and Job’s good.

All creation will witness the power and worth of God as He brings Job through the anguish into resurrection.

And Job will say, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore, I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes,” (Job 42:5-6).

Oh, isn’t is good that God doesn’t leave Job alone!?

If He had, He would’ve been robbed of glory, and Job would’ve been robbed of a greater vision of God.

Let us learn this lesson: Sometimes in the trials that we are most tempted to complain about, God is trying to give us a greater vision of Him.

Do we have eyes to see?

Learn another lesson from Job’s complaint: Keep taking your complaint to God.

Job may falsely accuse God, but when Job responds to the accusations of his friends, Job usually addresses God because he knows that only God can heal his hurt.

He knows that only God can answer his questions.

[TS]…

SEGMENT #3: Job Asks His Questions (Job 7:17-21)

Job 7:17–21 NASB95

17 “What is man that You magnify him, And that You are concerned about him, 18 That You examine him every morning And try him every moment? 19 “Will You never turn Your gaze away from me, Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle? 20 “Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself? 21 “Why then do You not pardon my transgression And take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust; And You will seek me, but I will not be.”

[EXP] Job begins with a general question, “Why man?” (17-18)

Job argues that God should leave man alone because man is insignificant; man is unworthy to be examined under God’s mighty magnifying glass; man is unworthy of God’s concern or daily examination.

Surely Almighty God has more important things to do than be concerned about mortal man.

[EXP] Then Job switches to the more specific question, “Why me?” (19-21)

Job asks if God will keep him under his magnifying glass until he swallows his spittle (19).

“Swallows his spittle” is a saying that may refer to catching one’s breath or breathing one’s last.

Either way, Job feels as if God is relentless in pouring out suffering on Job—not allowing him a moment to catch his breath, pouring out the suffering until he dies.

In v. 20, Job asks God if the suffering has been brought on by his sin.

Job’s friends surely thought so.

If it is so, Job asks God to reveal it.

He’s the ‘watcher of men,’ so God should be able to show Job the sin that has warranted this suffering (20a).

But Job has examined himself thoroughly and doesn’t believe he has sinned, so he asks God why He has selected Job as his target (20b).

Job feels the gaze of God as if it were looking down the scope of a rifle aimed at Job.

The end of v. 20 is difficult. Some translations have “So that I am a burden to myself” and others have “So that I am burden to You”.

Either way, Job feels that he has become a burden—perhaps to himself and to God.

Then Job asks, if it is sin that has caused all this suffering, then why won’t God just forgive him (21a).

God could take away his iniquity, so why doesn’t He?

As it is, Job feels like he is about lie down in the dust (i.e., in his grave).

The Lord will seek him among the living, but Job thinks that he will not be found among the living.

[APP] This is a lesson for us: In all our suffering, we think but God knows.

Every time Job speaks, he speaks from what he thinks. Sometimes he thinks well and sometimes he doesn’t.

But in all of our suffering, we should rely not on what we think, but on what God knows.

The difficulty, of course, is that we don’t know what God knows, which requires us to trust God, which is easy when things are going well but not so easy when you’re suffering like Job.

Job thinks he hasn’t sinned in a way deserving of this suffering, and he is right, but he doesn’t know that for sure, so he ask, “Why then do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?”

Perhaps we’ve asked a similar question as we’ve suffered, “Lord, what have I done to deserve this? Whatever it is, Lord, will you forgive it?”

But, if there is anything, we must trust that He has forgiven it in Jesus who died for to pay the price for our sins and rose from the dead to make us right with God.

If you are trusting in Jesus Christ, then you are right with God, and God is using all all the suffering and pain you’re experiencing for His glory and your good.

You may not feel it now, but you will feel it to the full in the resurrection.

You may complain now, but keep taking your complaints to God.

You may wonder, what have I done? But whatever it could be, it was paid for by Jesus on the cross.

In all your trials, God is winning glory for Himself and He is working good for you.

[TS]…

CONCLUSION

[PRAYER]