Job

Job 30: God remains Lord over Job’s grief

Begin in prayer

Before we read Job’s bitter grief, please ask God for compassion and for truthful words about Him.

You count my wanderings. You put my tears into your bottle. Aren’t they in your book?

Psalm 56:8

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Help us listen to suffering without approving false accusations against You. Let us see the sinless Savior who suffered and bore His people’s sins. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Job contrasts his former honor with mockery from people whose families he describes with contempt. They spit at him and attack like a crowd breaking through a wall. Terror takes his honor away, and bodily pain gives him no rest. He cries to God, says he receives no answer and accuses God of cruelty. He expects death, remembers caring for the needy and describes good hopes giving way to darkness. His harp and pipe have become the music of mourning.

As you read Job 30, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God appoints the end of every life, and Job brings his anguish to Him.

Job’s account turns from former honor to the bitter experience of being mocked and spat upon. His harsh description of the mockers’ families belongs to his speech, not God’s verdict that poor people lack worth. The attackers seem like an army breaking through a ruined wall, while his welfare disappears like a cloud. His body gives him no rest, and he cries to God without receiving an answer. He expects God to bring him to the end appointed for all living. He goes further and accuses God of cruelty and persecution. We must hear the accusation’s full force without accepting it as a true account of God’s character. God later rebukes Job for condemning Him to defend himself, in Job 40 verse 8. The closing instruments of mourning leave this chapter in grief, not in the former happiness Job remembers.

How does Job 30 show us that God appoints the end of every life, and Job brings his anguish to Him?

Job’s humiliation deepens the loss of former honor.

Those who now mock him do not hesitate to spit in his face. He describes their attack with the picture of a breach in a wall. Public respect has given way to terror and shame.

Job brings bitter words to God.

He cries that God does not answer and then calls His treatment cruel. These are accusations from a sufferer in anguish, not God’s explanation of Himself. The later rebuke in chapter 40 corrects Job without endorsing the friends’ invented charges.

His remembered kindness does not remove present grief.

Job recalls weeping for troubled and needy people. When he expected good and light, evil and darkness came instead. His harp and pipe now express mourning rather than joy.

Memorise

For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.

Job 30:23

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what grief and sinful thoughts do I need to bring to Jesus for mercy?

Job’s humiliation includes mockery and spit, while his pain drives him to accuse God. The chapter records those bitter words without making them right. Jesus also endured humiliation and spitting, as Matthew 27 verses 27 to 31 records.

Unlike Job, Jesus never spoke falsely about God. First Peter 2 verses 21 to 24 shows Him entrusting Himself to the righteous Judge. He died on the cross in His people’s place and carried their sins. He suffered the judgment His people deserved. He also gives His people an example of patient suffering. His completed redemption requires nothing more to be added to His offering. He rose bodily from the grave.

Turn from your sins and trust Jesus for mercy. He forgives those who seek refuge in Him. You may bring Him grief that has not lifted and confess bitter accusations, asking the sinless Savior for help.

Parent's note

Tell your children to bring grief honestly to God and confess sinful accusations, rather than treating every anguished word as true. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for hearing grief and giving mercy through the sinless Savior, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

Romans 8:18

Father, thank You that we can bring grief to You and seek mercy through Jesus. Forgive our cruel words and our false accusations against You. Please bring us to repentance and faith in the Savior who suffered without sin. Help us show patient compassion and speak truthfully about You this week. In Jesus' name, Amen.