Happy Birthday?

Pray

Mighty God, You are Alpha and Omega, before the beginning and after the ending. I bow before You.

Read

Job 3:1-26

^[1] After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. ^[2] And Job spake, and said,^[3] Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. ^[4] Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. ^[5] Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. ^[6] As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months. ^[7] Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein. ^[8] Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning. ^[9] Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day: ^[10] Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. ^[11] Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? ^[12] Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck? ^[13] For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, ^[14] With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves; ^[15] Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: ^[16] Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. ^[17] There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. ^[18] There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. ^[19] The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. ^[20] Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; ^[21] Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; ^[22] Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave? ^[23] Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? ^[24] For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters. ^[25] For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. ^[26] I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came. 

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version, Public Domain

Meditate

Consider: Think back to some good, lovely things that have happened in your life, that cause you to thank God that you were born.

Think Further:

Having no children myself, I derived huge joy from the birth of my first great-niece, and I am of course as biased as any fond mother or grandmother. She is beautiful, clever, full of charm and utterly gorgeous! No doubt Job felt the same--but now with the death of his precious children he can see deep darkness about his existence as he curses the day of his conception and that of his safe arrival in the world.

Note that it is Job who breaks the week's silence, not his friends. He is not cursing God. He is merely giving vent to his pent-up feelings--an activity of which God approves (Job 42:7). This is wonderful poetry; indeed the whole book is poetry except for the introductory chapters and the final few verses. As with the psalms, the way this book has been preserved for us allows us to identify deeply with real human feelings in a way that factual prose could not express so well. It is OK to vent one's feelings before God, as Job did.

It is likely that some readers have at some point in their lives longed for death (21) because their undeserved suffering is so great. Sometimes it is hard to understand why a sufferer cannot just die in their sleep but has to awaken to yet another long day of pain. Job felt that God was hedging him in (23), preventing any escape from his dreadful circumstances, or any help from reaching him. This is ironic, in view of the satan's comment in 1:10 (unheard by Job), where such hedging was seen as keeping Job safe! "To Job it appears that God has locked him into turmoil and thrown away the key" (John E. Hartley). Can you enter into those feelings?

Apply

Be honest before God. If you need to vent your feelings to him, do so [Remember to fear Him tho, don't be disrespectful. That is NOT ok, ever] . That's OK with God!

Pray

Patient One, I can identify with the psalmists and with Job. Thank You for handling my questions and distress.