Week 43:  Pessimism and Assurance

Day 295 – Job 14:1-12

Job’s Pessimism

Depression is a real thing.  If you have experienced being depressed, you understand how difficult it can be sometimes just to get out of bed and do the things that are you supposed to do.  I have found that when depression hits, it is because I realize I have no control over my life.  I can have a plan for my life where everything is scheduled for the day, but then something happens to throw a wrench in the whole day and all the things I had planned for the day may never happen.  Sometimes this wrench can cause a rift in our lives that changes everything. 

In the book of Job, a man named, “Job” has everything – a family, land, food to eat, and his health. Job is devout in his relationship with God and righteous in the eyes of God.  The devil believes that he can get Job to come to his side and leave God.  And so, God challenges the devil to give it a try. The devil does everything to try and wear Job down.  He takes away his family, his land, his wife, his cattle, and his health.  Job begins to suffer greatly.  

In Job 14:1-12, Job is hitting rock-bottom.  He is talking to his friends that try to understand why all of this is happening to Job.  They ask him questions like, “What did you do to deserve all these bad things to happen to you?”  Job continues to argue that he has been righteous before God and has not done anything to deserve what is happening to him.  Job then begins to talk about his mortal life.  He states that mortals (humnas) are born of a woman.  Our days are numbered, and we will endure trouble in our lives.  He claims that “Mortals lie down and do not rise again…they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep” (v.12).   If that is not depressing, then I don’t know what is!  

I believe that Job has realized that his life is out of his control.  He has had it all taken away from him – his family, health, land, and cattle.  But here is the thing…While Job realizes he has been stripped of his life, he never gives up on his love for the Lord.  In the end, Job never sides with the devil.  Through everything that has happened to him, he hangs on tight to God.  Job demonstrates that even when everything is stripped away from him, the devil cannot win his heart and his love for God.  Nor does God leave Job.

I believe that is what we have to remember when we feel down and depressed or when our days and plans do not go as we hoped.  Horrific things happen in our lives that change everything – Covid and sickness, a phone call from our doctor with bad news, unexpected deaths of a loved one, loss of our job, or the hope for a job where we find meaning and purpose for our lives.  But there is one thing that will never change – And that is God’s love for us.  

In fact, God loves us so much that God has made it possible that we will never die.  God made this possible through the death and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  Our days may be numbered, and we will have days of trouble, and suffering is real– Job is definitely right about that.  But on our last day, for all those who believe – we will awaken and rise to the most glorious day in our life – our eternal life!

Let us pray…Jesus…come…I pray for your spirit upon all the world.  I pray for those who are suffering.  I pray for those who mourn for their loved ones.  I pray for the Church and our leaders to show God’s love to all people.  I pray for those who are so depressed and lonely that they wonder how they will get through the day.  Help your people to know You and who You are – a loving and caring God that while could just leave us here in our suffering, made it possible through Your one and only Son, to be with You in Your Kingdom.  Help us to know that whatever happens to us today or the next, that You will never leave us or forsake us, but awaken us and rise us up to be with You.  Amen.