By Feelings Of Abandonment
Read Job chapter 9 as a family
I have a bit of a hard time reading the words of Job and believing he is not deluded when he makes claims about himself as blameless and innocent. I know in the upcoming chapters he begins to think he would win a court case against God and thus falls prey to pride. But at the moment, it is true that he is blameless; even God himself declared Job to be so in chapter 1.
In this chapter however, Job begins to sink to the level of not caring whether he lives or dies. He also, I think, begins to mis-represent God. Job declares in verse 23:
When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
Maybe I am jumping to conclusions about the words of Job here. In the commentaries I own not many folks have addressed this verse. But it appears to me he believes that he is suffering unjustly. And Job reasons he is innocent and suffering, therefore God must not care and is rather in heaven mocking him. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Job did not get to see the Lord interact with Satan in the throne room of heaven. After Satan’s attempt to get Job to curse God by destroying his livelihood and his family; God is much closer to mocking the Devil then he is to mocking Job.
What I know about human nature is that we can begin to feel that God does not care about us while we are suffering. We think that if God truly cared about us, he would deliver us out of our pain. Yet it is exactly in our pain that God is treating us not as orphans, but rather as his sons and daughters. (Hebrews 12:7)
Questions for the kids:
- Have you ever felt like you were abandoned by God when you were in a season of suffering?
- Have you ever been tempted to think God was mocking you while you suffered?
- Have you ever been at a point where you did not care whether you lived or died?
Leading Family Devotions 