“I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You regard me. But You have become cruel to me; With the strength of Your hand You oppose me. Job 30:20, 21
Job was rich and respected, confident and secure. Now he is mocked and detested by others and emotionally shattered. He cries out to God, but receives no answer, and as the days of suffering lengthen, “the churning inside me never stops” (v.27).
9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. 10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. 11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
Affliction (Heb. ‘oni)
The Hebrew word translated affliction here comes from a root meaning “misery” or “poverty.” The image evoked by this word is that of a person bowed down under the weight of a heavy burden. Scripture portrays the Lord as seeing the afflictions that bring pain to His people and hearing the anguished cries of those in distress (as in Gen. 16:11; Ex. 2:23-25). The Lord urges us to place our burdens on Him, for He is strong enough to bear them and loves us so much that He will assist us in our time of need (1 Pet. 5:7). Moreover, since He controls all events, we can be assured that He is accomplishing good out of the temporary difficulties we are now facing (Rom. 8:28). The entire story of Job provides vivid example of this fact (42:10; 2 Cor. 12:7-10).
→ The most terrible thing we can imagine that could happen to a human being happened to Job. Then, God chose to make a worse thing happen to Himself. He has a purpose in all these things happening in the Scripture that we read. It’s for salvation. That is — It is not all about Him but all about Us. I think Job 2:6 is the most important verse in the Book of Job.
And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” Job 2:6
