Daily Scripture Reading Job 16:6 - 17:16
There are many Christians, or so-called Christians, who become disillusioned with Christianity because they feel like their prayers are hitting the ceiling. In other words, they do not believe God is listening to or answering their prayers. As Job was lamenting his lot in life, he expressed his frustration that he could not argue with God the same way a man argues with his neighbor. By articulating that exasperation, Job zeroed in on a fact about the relationship between God and humans which helps explain why people often feel like their prayers are hitting the ceiling. However, instead of resenting this reality, we should look on it as an opportunity to demonstrate faith.
Today, we resume reading section 10, which was Job responding to Eliphaz’s contention that evil men always suffer, the insinuation being that Job was suffering because he was sinful.
Job began his response to Eliphaz by criticizing his friends for their inability to comfort him during his distress. Then he began describing his agony.
Job 16:6 ¶ “If I speak, my pain is not lessened,
And if I cease, what will go forth from me?
Job 16:7 But now He has exhausted me;
You have made desolate all my company.
The pronoun “He” refers to God. The pronoun “You” refers to Job’s friends.
Job 16:8 You have shriveled me up,
It has become a witness;
And my leanness rises up against me,
It answers to my face.
Job 16:9 His anger has torn me and hunted me down;
He has gnashed at me with His teeth;
My adversary sharpens his eyes to look at me.
The pronouns “His” and “He” refers to God.
Job 16:10 They have opened their mouth wide at me;
They have struck me on the cheek in reproach;
They have massed themselves against me.
The pronoun “they” refers to Job’s friends.
Job 16:11 God hands me over to ruffians
And tosses me into the hands of the wicked.
Hebrew poetry is about repetition. It is the art of saying the same thing in many different ways. The following verses, verses 12-14, are Job’s multiple descriptions of the anguish that had befallen him.
Job 16:12 I was at ease, but He shattered me,
And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His target.
Job 16:13 His arrows surround me.
Without mercy He splits my kidneys open;
He pours out my gall on the ground.
Job 16:14 He breaks through me with breach after breach;
He runs at me like a warrior.
Verses 15-16 describe what Job did after God shattered him.
Job 16:15 I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
And thrust my horn in the dust.
Job 16:16 My face is flushed from weeping,
And the shadow of death is on my eyelids,
Job 16:17 Why?—because there is no violence in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.
Look at the question “Why?” Job asked why this calamity had come upon him.
Notice the word “because”. The words that come after the word “because” do not answer the why question, they explain why Job asked the why question. Job knew he had done nothing to deserve all his suffering; therefore, he wanted to know why he was suffering.
Job 16:18 ¶ “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let there be no resting place for my cry.
Job 16:19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
And my advocate is on high.
Don’t miss the significance of the statement in verse 19. Even though Job believed it was God who was afflicting him without cause, Job still considered God to be his witness and advocate.
Job 16:20 My friends are my scoffers;
My eye weeps to God.
His friends, on the other hand, were not his advocates. They were his scoffers and accusers.
Job 16:21 O that a man might argue with God
As a man with his neighbor!
If people want to argue with their neighbor, they can walk to their neighbor’s house, look at their neighbor’s face, and speak. If a man wants to argue with God, he cannot go somewhere and look at God’s face in order to have an argument.
There are many Christians, or so-called Christians, who become disillusioned with Christianity because they feel like their prayers are hitting the ceiling. In other words, they do not believe God is listening. Job identified a feature of our relationship with God that lends itself to feeling that God is not listening. Unlike our ability to look our neighbor in the eye when we want to advocate for ourself, we cannot go somewhere and look God in the eyes while we talk to Him.
The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God (see Hebrews 11:6). Faith is the assurance of things not seen (see Hebrews 11:1). It takes faith to pray to a God Whom we cannot see. Yes, it is frustrating to not be able to look God in the eye, but praying to Him without seeing Him, and believing He is listening, is an opportunity to demonstrate our faith.
Job 16:22 For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way of no return.
Job 17:1 ¶ “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished;
The grave is ready for me.
Job 17:2 Surely mockers are with me,
And my eye gazes on their provocation.
The word “mockers” referred to Job’s friends.
Job 17:3 ¶ “Establish, now, a pledge for me with Yourself;
Who is there that will clap my hand in pledge?
Job 17:4 For You have hidden their heart from insight,
Therefore You will not exalt them.
The pronoun “You” refers to God. The pronoun “their” refers to Job’s friends.
Job 17:5 He who informs against friends for a share of the spoil,
The eyes of his children also will come to an end.
Job claimed that the children of betrayers pay the price of the betrayal. The implication was that the children of Job’s friends would suffer because of how the friends were treating Job.
Job 17:6 ¶ “But He has made me a byword of the people,
And I am one at whom men spit.
Job 17:7 My eye has also grown dim because of grief,
And all my members are as a shadow.
Job 17:8 The upright will be appalled at this,
And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless.
Job 17:9 Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way,
And he who has clean hands will grow mightier and mightier.
Job 17:10 But come again all of you now,
For I do not find a wise man among you.
The pronoun “you” refers to Job’s friends. Job accused his friends of having no wisdom.
Job 17:11 My days are past; my plans are torn apart,
Even the wishes of my heart.
Job 17:12 They make night into day, saying,
‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.
Job 17:13 If I hope for Sheol as my home,
I make my bed in the darkness;
Job 17:14 If I call to the pit, ‘You are my father’;
To the worm, ‘my mother and my sister’;
Job 17:15 Where now is my hope?
And who beholds my hope?
Job had no hope his life would ever get better.
Job 17:16 Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together go down into the dust?”
There are many Christians, or so-called Christians, who become disillusioned with Christianity because they feel like their prayers are hitting the ceiling. Unlike our ability to look our neighbor in the eye when we want to advocate for ourself, we cannot go somewhere and look God in the eyes while we talk to Him. Praying to a God Whom we cannot see should not frustrate us. Instead, we should look on it as an opportunity to demonstrate faith because faith is the assurance of things not seen, and without faith it is impossible to please God.
Do you ever feel like your prayers are hitting the ceiling?
To what extent do you feel that way because you are expecting an emotional experience when you pray?
How can you be confident that God is listening even though you cannot see, hear, or feel Him?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”