After Job lost his children and his house and his livestock and many of his servants and finally his health, “Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.”1 Wait. What? I thought Job was a man who held “fast his integrity.” A man who was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.”2 He was. Then why was he cursing the day he was born? He was lamenting—which God approves of. How is this different from grumbling (like the Israelites) or complaining (like the crowds following Jesus who were never satisfied)? Here are some helpful ideas found on Bing*—of all places!
- Grumbling speaks about God to other people; lament addresses God directly in prayer.
- Complaint disputes God’s previously revealed character; lament seeks to reconcile God’s character with circumstances that seem to contradict it.
- Lament is done in the context of worship.
- Lament is crying out to God in a posture of humility, while grumbling is crying out in a posture of sinful arrogance.
- Lament is done with trust, praising the God who seems to have failed to fulfil his promises.
Job felt comfortable enough with God to express his deepest and honest cries. But after lamenting about that for 19 verses, he asked a very good question: “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul?”3 Why does God allow us to live a life that brings us misery and bitterness? And here is the answer. He doesn’t. That is, he does not make us miserable and bitter. We do that to ourselves.
Being miserable is feeling depressed and hopeless and inconsolable, which is not at all how we are to live our lives! For Christ tells us that even though we will go through tribulations, we are to “Take heart!”4 which is also translated, Be courageous! Be of good cheer! Be encouraged! Be brave! And cheer up! The writer of Hebrews says, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble.”6 Guess what the subject of this passage is about? Suffering under the discipline of the Lord! Choosing to “run with endurance the race that is set before us”7 rather than becoming weary from it and quitting. That’s what bitterness will do—make us want to quit. Make no mistake: being miserable and bitter are not the proper response to any circumstance, even suffering.
But if anyone had a right to lament about his circumstances, it would be Job. Note, however, that although Job’s wife encouraged him to “curse God and die,”8 he does not. Instead, he “cursed the day of his birth.”1 And we cannot blame him for feeling this way. His lamenting does not bring him any relief though. At the end of his speech he says, “I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.”9
There will be times in our lives where there is no rest. This is precisely why we need to settle the big question of who God is before that time comes. Job’s sorrows are the testing of his faith. It is where he will discover if he believes what he says he believes, that he should fear God and turn away from evil. The testing of our faith is not to teach us something but to make us something. More than anything else the test builds character. And character makes us strong. We look at something hard and say, I cannot do that. And then when we are forced into it, we discover that our strength indeed is not enough. But if we ask for the strength of God’s Spirit that is in us, we find ourselves doing what we were sure we could never do! And we are hopeful in the midst of the struggle. To be hopeful, after all, requires suffering. It is its prerequisite.
Suffering actually produces hope. If we are able, here is how we should approach suffering: “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”10 Therefore, “suffering . . . produces hope.” But only so for believers for our hope is rooted in our faith. And even so, some suffering is so great that it leaves even believers bitter. But if the believer has already decided that God is sovereign and loving, then bitterness will not linger long.
1Job 3:1 2Job 1:1 3Job 3:20 4John 16:33 5Ephesians 4:31 6Hebrews 12:15 7Hebrews 12:1 8Job 2:9 9Job 3:26 10Romans 5:3-4 *Lamenting
