WHEN HELL HAD A HOLIDAY

Job 3:1-26

Martin Luther told a parable in which the devil was listening to his demons reporting back to him their progress in destroying the souls of men. One evil spirit said “There was a company of Christians crossing the desert, and I loosed the lion upon them. Soon the sands of the desert were scattered with their mangled corpses.”  To which the Devil responded “But what good is that? The lion destroyed their bodies, but their souls were saved. It is their souls I am after.”  Another unclean spirit gave his evil report “There was a company of Christians pilgrims sailing through the sea on a vessel. I sent a great wind which drove the ship on the rocks, and every Christian aboard was drowned.”  But Satan responded “What good is that? Their bodies were drowned in the sea, but their souls were saved. It is their souls I am after.” Then the third fallen angel stepped forward to give his evil report “For ten years I have been trying to cast one particular Christian into a deep despair and depression. At last, I have succeeded.” And it was with that report the corridors of hell rang with a shouts of triumph. The sinister mission had been accomplished. The soul of a believer had been defeated.

Now! This is only a fictitious story that Martin Luther told, but it does ring a little bit of truth about Satan’s evil intent to destroy as many Christians with the time he has left. His greatest desire is to destroy the souls of men. It’s been seven days of silence and for the first time in a week Job opens his mouth in a heartfelt lament of a man who is broken and feeling completely alone despite the three friends present. What we need to understand as we move forward in this letter! Every person has a breaking point! This includes Christians as well from the baby to the most mature spiritually. Believers can become and go through seasons of discouragement and even depression.

This is the Christian life in a nut shell! As one theologian said “Feelings of stress go with being human. The Bible presents life as a process of suffering before glory, just as the Lord Jesus Christ first suffered on the cross and then went to His crown in Heaven. Having the “blues” from time to time is normal.” We know this to be true by what Paul wrote “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Rom 8:22-23. This is a longing and expectation of Heavenly glory. But! Moments of despair and loneliness play on the heart strings of God’s people and sometime this is for our good, to correct our wrong heart attitude.

Where have we seen this in the Scriptures?

David felt this way after committing adultery with Bathsheba and the cover up that followed. David grew more and more depressed as time went on as he pondered the things that happened. Psalm 32:3-4 we read “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.” Without confession David knew his bones where wasting away.

How about Elijah? In 1 Kings 19:9-14 we read “There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He said, "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." And he said, "Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He said, "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away."

What about Jeremiah? He wrote “Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, "A son is born to you," making him very glad. Let that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great. Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?” Jer 20:14-18

What about Jonah? We read this “Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, "It is better for me to die than to live." Jonah 4:6-8

Sometimes our hearts need adjustments and realigning by God to see His goodness and grace ……and sometimes that hurts.

Solomon penned these words “A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.” Eccl 7:1-3

The bible says we should be sorrowful over our sin and sometime were not sorrowful enough. James wrote “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom” James 4:9. So sometimes what we’re feeling needs to be addresses in the heart and sometime we need feel worse over our sinful behaviour and choices. But! What about Job? Job’s lament here is poetic, not a narrative that tells a story descriptively or facts based and to the point. Poetic is the communication of feelings through visual insight to its maximum. One writer put it this way “In other words, poetry, far better than narrative, allows you to choreograph the reader’s eyes across the page by the application of structure and word choice. Poetry is offering you a pallet of colours to paint feelings from.” Poetic style unveils a bigger picture than a narrative because it goes deeper than the surface level. Job’s lament provides powerful metaphor meanings of the emotional pain, despair and loneliness he is feeling at this moment.

In the opening verses we would think that Job broke under the pressure and cursed God, and Satan has finally won. No! Job is about to curse his existence. This is not the same as curing God and saying “I no longer believe in You, God.” What Job is revealing in this moment is the feeling of complete lonesomeness and distance he has with reality, even with his friends present. We are going to see a human biological progression of Job’s lament.

Job regrets even being conceived and he wishes his mother was barren, then this wouldn’t have ever happened to him. (v1-v10)

Have you ever felt or said these words under your breath at any point in your life? Have you ever felt a deep sense of loneliness or isolation? Have you ever had seasons or moments like Job? Job regrets being a gift from God to the woman. As it’s written in Psalm 127:3 “The fruit of the womb is a reward.” We also see… Job longed to reverse the created order from darkness to light, to light to darkness. Job in a sense is begging God for there to be darkness instead of light. Let me ask you! How does a godly man like Job go from “no one like him on the earth” to a man who wished he was never conceived? This should be a wakeup call for all Christians! Job is a prime example that even the super spiritual person, can go through valleys, moments of despair, and depression. So we should not turn a blind eye to one another and assume everything is great, when things may not be great at all! If you are having seasons like this and feel like Job, even right now, you need to reach out to your church family and seek encouragement and support. We need to take this seriously… discouragement and loneliness is real and it affects even the elites. How much can spiritual depression affect a believer’s life?

Job wished he had died at birth (v11-v19)

Job cursed the day of joy when he was born (v7) See in the Ancient World it was customarily for the family and friends to shout with joy and congratulations when a son was born, since he would be an asset to his family and an heir to his parent’s estate. Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of this man who has gone through so much! To Job, days seem to be dark and his suffering is so great he cannot see the light of day. Job’s suffering seems to be so extreme he seems to be demonstrating his lack of hope to find the end to his suffering. Job’s valley experience is so deep he seems to be finding it hard to find relief over his grief. This is what we need to understand and Job will find out later when God comes on the scene. God can and does handle our pain in the same way He allowed it. How? With His sovereign arms of grace, where you rest your weary soul in. Isaiah wrote “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.” Isa 61:1-3

See trusting in God is matter of the will, not something that is driven by feelings. Believers must purposefully look to God otherwise they will be overwhelmed by their feelings and have a clouded view of their suffering. Again the only way to make sense of suffering is to look to the Cross of Christ and the Gospel promise. See! Faith must rise above feelings and not the other way around. Otherwise you will have more of an Elijah, Jeremiah, or Jonah experience than a David or Job.Job’s lament is demonstrating a man who is broken, all alone; clouded by his feelings, as he goes through suffering and the only remedy is death. (v16-v18)

In death the prisoner is released from his master. (v18)

In death the slave is released from his master. (V19)

In death Job could be released from his suffering. (v16)

Job wished that since he was conceived and survived his birth, that God would take his life and spare him from his suffering. (v20-v26)

Now! We need to make something very clear here. Job did not want to take his own life, but he wanted God to do so. Job at this point in life has lost his desire to live. Job had an inward groaning for Heavenly glory as Paul wrote about in the Romans chapter eight. Why do I get to continue to live when peace and prosperity are hidden from me? What is the point on continuing to live when I have nothing left to live for? Job is saying death would bring gladness because the hurting would finally stop. (v22) Job even goes to say he has no appetite to eat because the suffering is too great.  (v24-v26)

What are we to learn from this lament?

1. Remember even the strongest believer can become discouraged.

2. Believers can suffer deeply on many levels at one time.

3. Spiritual depression can cause God’s people to lose perspective. 

4. Our pain and suffering can get the better of us if we are not careful. Especially if we take our eyes of the gospel and the overflowing supply of His grace. 

Here was a spiritual mature man who was filled with….. Gloom, anger, anxiety, bitterness, confusion, fatigue, cynicism, fear, hopelessness, insomnia, depression, sadness and pessimism. When we are at our worst! Is when we are to focus the hardest on His sustaining mercy and grace to see us through our spiritual depression? That is exactly what Job did. Job didn’t run and hide from the issue; he didn’t stuff his emotions in his pocket and isolate himself from the world. Job openly unleashed his deep grief and cried out to God. Job is a great example of a man who wasn’t afraid to wrestle with God in his endeavor to come to terms with the deep suffering that plagued him. Trusting God is a matter of the will as we seek Him for comfort as we go through spiritual depression. May we be mindful to the warning signs in our own lives so that we don’t let it get this far, as we see Job display to us his broken heart.

Charles Spurgeon was a man who claimed to be very depressed in ministry and very open about as well to his church and students. Spurgeon said these warning words “I am the subject of depression so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.” Spurgeon also said on the issue of depression to a group of his students called “The Minster’s Fainting Fits”. He said “Depression comes over me whenever the Lord is preparing a larger blessing for my ministry; the cloud is black before it breaks, and overshadows before it yields its overflow of mercy. Depression has now become to me a prophet in rough clothing.”

We all struggled at times with feelings of painful inadequacy, depression, or utter insufficiency to complete the task or bear a load.

Depression is real and serious and needs to be taken as such….serious! Understand! No one is exempt from low valleys of deep despair, regardless of closely one walks with the LORD. 

The question we need to ask is how are you going to deal with discouragement?

Are you going to throw in the towel, hide and not deal with it?

Or

Are you going to see your suffering and discouragement through the lens of the gospel?

Jesus said “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30. The only way we can make sense of our suffering and the seasons of depression is to look to the Cross of Christ. The One who bore our sin and shame and had it nailed to the Cross. His burden was very heavy, but it made it extremely light for you and me. Remember that as you go through your next suffering or trial.