This morning as my family and I were reading Job 2:11-3:26, today’s scheduled passage in our 2-year chronological Bible reading plan, I was struck by a statement from Job as he lamented the day of his birth. From the beginning of his lament, Job uses the imagery of light and darkness with light representing life and darkness, death. He speaks of “darkness and the shadow of death,” laying claim to the day he was conceived and of the stars being dark and of the failure of the dawn to appear. He wishes that he had died at birth, because then he would have been at peace, or that his affliction had resulted in death, so he wouldn’t experience misery and bitterness in his soul. Then in v.23 he asks, “Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?” I think Job’s question can teach us something important, so let’s take a minute to consider it more closely.
From his use of the image of light as “life,” it is clear that Job considered his own life to be dependent on God. The Lord had given him life. His existence was not the result of mere cosmic forces or random chance but was the product of the will of God. Where Job got this view of his own life we cannot know, but not only did he credit God with giving him life, he obviously believed that God’s power governed life on the earth, because he said that God had “hedged” him in. So he viewed God as the source of life and governor over the affairs of men, and yet his knowledge of the nature of God and of his plan for the world was very limited, as he described himself as “a man whose way is hidden.” So Job was a man who knew that God had given him life and that God exercised authority over him, yet he did not know or understand what God was doing in his life or how he was to respond.
It is interesting that Job used the same word that Satan had used in 1:10 to describe his situation, only with a very different perspective. Satan had complained to God that he had “made a hedge around [Job], around his household, and around all that he has on every side.” For the Accuser this hedge was a sign of God’s protection and blessing, and he believed that if the hedge were removed, Job would turn from faith in God to curse him. When Job speaks of God’s “hedge” in 3:23, he does not see it as a comfort and a blessing, but as a restriction on his freedom. What a difference in perspective! Satan is restricted by the Lord’s hedge around Job, and Job is protected, yet he feels as though this divine protection is a hindrance to his understanding and coping with pain and suffering.
But how do we evaluate Job’s complaint here? He’s saying that the meaning of life and the purpose of suffering are unknowable, therefore it would be better to die than to live in pain. He also believes that God knows the greater purpose for these things, because it is the Lord who has given him life and “hedged” him in, yet apart from revelation from God, death is better than life. In order to judge Job’s perspective, we must remember that Job lived in a time in history before any part of the Bible had been written. The only revelation that mankind had from God prior to the scriptures being recorded was the verbal communications the Lord had with men like Adam and Noah. These instructions and revelations were passed on to further generations, no doubt, but whether Job had any knowledge of the days of Adam or Noah seems doubtful, although it is not impossible. Still, it seems that Job’s longing for death is based on his conviction that God alone knew the meaning behind his suffering, and since it was hidden from him, life was intolerable. Let me put it as plainly as I am able: Job recognized God’s sovereign control over his life, that God had given him life for a purpose which was unknown and unknowable to himself unless God chose to reveal it, and he found that life without divine revelation was not worth living.
Today there are many who struggle to find meaning and purpose in life, especially in pain and suffering. Even many Christians have a hard time enduring suffering without accusing God of wrongdoing, but our case is much different than Job’s. He lived without access to divine revelation; we live with God’s complete and sufficient word at our fingertips. Where Job grew frustrated and despaired of life, we ought to turn to the word of God for wisdom, understanding, and comfort. His way was hidden and he felt hedged in by God, we know Jesus Christ who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and who came to “proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” In other words, we have what Job lacked and longed for: God’s revealed purpose in the lives and trials of his children. Praise God that Job’s longing did not fall on deaf ears, but that the Lord was already in the process of revealing himself to Job and his friends, and to us who read these scriptures so many centuries later. May we not despair of life with its griefs and pain, but instead let us take comfort in the word of God by which we may know his purpose for our lives and for all the world.