Job 30:16-31 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Job 30:16-19 (NIV)
16 “And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me.
17 Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.
18 In his great power [God] becomes like clothing to me; he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
On verses 16-31: Here Job complains about the significant physical pain he is in due to a disease he has contracted. Some scholars believe this disease may have been a skin condition like pemphigus foliaceus. According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary:
“[t]his disease, as attested by physicians today, matches the symptoms of Job’s afflictions—inflamed, ulcerous sores (Job 2:7), itching (v. 8), degenerative changes in facial skin (vv. 7, 12), loss of appetite (3:24), depression (3:24-25), loss of strength (6:11), worms in the boils (7:5), running sores (7:5), difficulty in breathing (9:18), darkness under the eyes (16:16), foul breath (19:17), loss of weight (19:20; 33:21), continual pain (30:17), restlessness (30:27), blackened skin (30:30), peeling skin (30:30), and fever (30:30). (The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty.)
Whatever exact ailment Job had, Job believes that God is behind his sickness. Job believes that God is actively trying to cause him physical pain. He describes God like a silent assassin who beats him up the way Agent 007 would beat up his enemies: “He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes. I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me. You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me. You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm” (v19-22). For Job it’s not just the physical pain of the disease, but the stress and fear of not knowing when or if it will get better. Thus he says, “my harp is tuned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of wailing” (v31).
Is this how God treats His children? Is God actively trying to cause Job, or any person, physical pain through sickness? I don’t believe so. Remember that most people in the Old Testament believed that everything, both good and bad, came from God. To them, God was the bringer of life and death, health and sickness. But then Jesus appears on the scene and comes to show us a more defined picture of what God is really like. Jesus shows us that God is our Heavenly Father who loves us, whose agenda is not to kill, steal and destroy our lives, but to give us life. Jesus came to show us a God who heals people of their diseases, restores their bodies to health, and who even raises the dead. Whenever Jesus did any miracle in relation to a person’s health, it was always about restoring and healing a person’s body, not destroying it. From Jesus we see that the hand of God does not bring disease but healing, not destruction but restoration, not death but life. That’s also why we as God’s children, made to be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus, are encouraged to pray for people’s healing, never for their destruction (James 5:14-16). It’s because God Himself is a Healer, not a destroyer.
So whenever you encounter sickness, either in your own body or in someone else’s, do not attribute the sickness to God as if God were the one making the person sick. God may allow sickness in your life – and always for the greater purpose of displaying His power and glory through it (John 9:3) – but God is not the author of sickness.
Heavenly Father, thank You for showing us who You really are through Your Son Jesus Christ. Thank You that You are not the author of any sickness I or my loved ones experience. Any time You allow sickness it is for the greater purpose of showing Your glory and power through it. Holy Spirit come and fill me today. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
