"After this Job cursed the day of his birth..."

Reading Job 3

"After this , Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth...Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, to those who long for death that does not come..." (3:1, 20-21ff).

There have been many days in my life where I felt like this. The conclusions of these days are as real to me as any conclusions I have reached about my life on my best days. These conclusions are not more valid or more telling than those I draw on days when everything is going my way and I feel at peace. It is easy to allow the bad days to overrule the good. It is important to remember a few important truths around this story:

1. On either the good days or the bad days I am not in possession of all the facts.

2. My situation is never as simple as to be interpreted on the basis of a few principles and the deductions that can be drawn from them. This is the mistake Eliphaz makes in examining his friend's life when he says: "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it" (4:7-8). The principle is that trouble comes to us when we do evil. The deduction is, trouble has come to Job therefore Job must have done evil. The story and its ending bear out that this simple reasoning was well off the mark.

3. It is important to remind myself and others that I may be having "one of those days" or "periods" but this is not the only kind of day I have had or will have again. I may have to sit down in the ashes for a while but I will rise again.

4. I am continually coming across people who are feeling this way. Remember Job, be compassionate and don't judge!