Job 6 has Job’s response to the words from Eliphaz his friend. He acknowledges that things are tough and he is feeling the pain: “the arrows of the Almighty are in me”. Job feels alone and betrayed by God. He questions why he is going through this pain. And he justifies his complaints. “Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder”? He is communicating that if life wasn’t so difficult, he wouldn’t be feeling the way he does. While that is very true for all of us – the reality is that we are responsible for our attitude and actions. We choose to let things overwhelm us, not that they truly aren’t significant and overwhelming in size.
Job is fed up with his plight. “Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope, that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off”. Job has had enough. He doesn’t understand his situation. He doesn’t like what he is experiencing. The pain is causing him to want to die. That is when we need to reach out to God. That is when we need to let Him be our source of comfort.
Job hangs on to this position: “I have not denied the words of the Holy One”. He believes he is upright and blameless, which is how God describes him multiple times in His discussion with Satan. That confirms that Job was a good man – but it doesn’t mean he is perfect. And it certainly does not mean there will not be trials and struggle in life. Job calls out to God the way we all need to when we are trying to understand. “Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray”. We need to seek God’s face. We need to ask Him to help us understand. God wants us to seek His face. He desires us to come to Him with the desires of our heart. Are you seeking God’s clarity and direction? He wants to lead us and help us know His heart.
