For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage:  Job 7:1-10

1 ‘Do not mortals have hard service on earth?
    Are not their days like those of hired labourers?
2 Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,
    or a hired labourer waiting to be paid,
3 so I have been allotted months of futility,
    and nights of misery have been assigned to me.
4 When I lie down I think, “How long before I get up?”
    The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
5 My body is clothed with worms and scabs,
    my skin is broken and festering.

6 ‘My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
    and they come to an end without hope.
7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;
    my eyes will never see happiness again.
8 The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;
    you will look for me, but I will be no more.
9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone,
    so one who goes down to the grave does not return.
10 He will never come to his house again;
    his place will know him no more.

A. Find Out

1. Of whom does Job think, assessing life as hard? v.1,2
2. What does he conclude about himself? v.3
3. How does he describe his nights? v.4,5
4. Yet what does he feel about the pace of life? v.6,7
5. So what will happen to him? v.8
6. So what will be his future? v.9,10

B. Think:

1. What does Job consider about the nature of life?
2. What does he conclude about the pace and end of life?
3. What does he conclude about his destiny?

C. Comment:

We must remember that Job speaks out of anguish and pain and when that happens to us our vision is clouded and our perspective distorted. So let’s see what he says about life.

First, it is hard. But it’s not just ‘life’, it is the fact that we are called to ‘service’ (v.1a); it seems like hard work, and he compares his life to that of a hired man (v.1b), working for others (implied) and like a slave longing for the end of the day or the hired person longing for the time to be paid (v.2), so he feels that he has been put into a place where he has to suffer and put up with it (v.3) every day – and every night.

The thoughts of sleepless nights were equally painful (v.4) with him wondering how long this night would drag on as he tossed and turned in discomfort with his body aching and itching (v.5)

But then he considers his days which seem to rush by (v.6) as he looks and looks for change, as he hopes for change – but none comes! He calls to the Lord to remind Himself that as a mere human his life is like a breath (v.7a) and what is gone has gone and the happiness cannot be repeated (v.7b). His time on earth is strictly limited and he will soon be gone (v.8) and just like a cloud his life will soon pass and all that is left is death (v.9) from which he cannot return (v.9b,10). It all seems rather pointless from this painful perspective.

D. Application:

1. In pain and suffering our perspective is partial and distorted.
2. In pain and suffering we only see partial truth.

Passage: Job 7:11-16

11 ‘Therefore I will not keep silent;
    I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,
    I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
    that you put me under guard?
13 When I think my bed will comfort me
    and my couch will ease my complaint,
14 even then you frighten me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I prefer strangling and death,
    rather than this body of mine.
16 I despise my life; I would not live for ever.
    Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

A. Find Out

1. What does Job say he will do? v.11
2. What is his complaint? v.12
3. What did he hope in sleep but what came instead? v.13,14
4. What did that leave him wanting? v.15
5. What does he want to happen, and why? v.16

B. Think:

1. How are these verses an expression of Job’s anguish?
2. What point is he making in verse 12?
3. What is he left feeling about his life?

C. Comment:

The “Therefore” of verse 11 links this passage with what had gone before. He had spoken about how he feels locked into a life of misery that will just pass away like a cloud, and it is out of this sense of hopelessness that he cries out. It is like he says, “I’m past caring, I’m going to speak out anyway!” (v.11).

The sea in verse 12 has been given boundaries (see Prov 8:28). The sea is dangerous and needs curtailing. Am I dangerous that I need reigning in by suffering, is what he implies here.

His life is a total misery. He had hoped that sleep might alleviate his state (v.13) but all that happens is that he has nightmares (v.14) and so anguish continues even in sleep.

The result is that this life just seems to have no meaning and so he wishes he was dead (v.15) and he despises his life (v.16) for his days have no meaning and he wonders why the Lord allows his life to continue.

We have commented previously about the need to understand the suffering of others. These early speeches of Job are little about the reason for suffering and all about the fact of suffering. In them we catch something of the awful reality of the anguish that Job feels. This is not some imaginary test; this is a test that tears him apart outside and inside, a physical test that also racks his emotions and his spirit.

D. Application:

1. Do we ever think and pray about the suffering millions in the world?
2. Are we moved by compassion when we meet someone in anguish?

Passage: Job 7:17-21

17 ‘What is mankind that you make so much of them,
    that you give them so much attention,
18 that you examine them every morning
    and test them every moment?
19 Will you never look away from me,
    or let me alone even for an instant?
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
    you who see everything we do?
Why have you made me your target?
    Have I become a burden to you?
21 Why do you not pardon my offences
    and forgive my sins?
For I shall soon lie down in the dust;
    you will search for me, but I shall be no more.’

A. Find Out

1. What does Job now ask of God? v.17,18
2. What does he further ask of Him? v.19
3. What does this lead him to wonder? v.20
4. What does he then ask God to do? v.21a
5. For what reason? v.21b,c

B. Think:

1. To whom does Job now address these words?
2. What does he make the basis of his questioning?
3. What does he wonder about the Lord

C. Comment:

Job has just said that he will speak out (v.11) and so now he addresses the Lord directly. He is in such anguish, and he feels that he is the focus of God’s attention and wonders why (v.17). Why, Lord, do you bother to watch us and examine us every day, he asks (v.18). It seems your eye is on me constantly, why won’t you look away, even for a moment (v.19)? When we are in need of guidance and of encouragement and help and support, we are glad that the Lord is there watching over us, but when everything goes wrong, we wonder why we are the focus of God’s discipline.

He then ponders a further question: even if I have sinned, how can my minor activities (implied) affect Almighty God (v.20)? Why should these things attract your attention? Of course, from the New Testament revelation we know the answer – because He loves us!  He continues to cry out – why don’t you just forgive me (you can do that!) because if you don’t it’s soon going to be too late because I’m about to die (v.21). This is the question in his mind: if I’m about to die, why bother to pursue me? You know we are but dust and soon gone, so what is the point of chasing us for our petty failings? The answer given in the rest of the Bible is, of course, that God is holy and righteous, and it does matter to Him what we do. His objective is to make us His children who enjoy the world and live in the way He designed us to live.

D. Application:

1. God does care about our ‘petty failings’. You are His child!
2. He loves you so much He won’t just leave you like that.