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death no escape

Job 3:1-26 (JDV)

Job 3:1 After this, Job opened his mouth and declare the day he was born cursed.
Job 3:2 He said:
Job 3:3 May the day I was born be destroyed, and the night that said, “A healthy man is conceived.”
Job 3:4 If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above not care about it, or light shine on it.
Job 3:5 May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it. May what darkens the day terrify it.
Job 3:6 If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year or be listed in the calendar.
Job 3:7 Yes, may that night be barren; may no joyful shout be heard in it.
Job 3:8 Let those who curse days condemn it, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
Job 3:9 May its morning stars grow dark. May it wait for daylight but have none; may it not see the breaking of dawn.
Job 3:10 For that night did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb and hide sorrow from my eyes.
Job 3:11 Why was I not stillborn; why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?
Job 3:12 Why did the knees receive me, and why were there breasts for me to nurse?
Job 3:13 Now I would certainly be lying down in peace; I would be asleep. Then I would be at rest
Job 3:14 with the kings and counselors of the land, who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,
Job 3:15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
Job 3:16 Or why was I not hidden like a miscarried child, like infants who never see daylight?
Job 3:17 There the wicked cease to make trouble, and there the weary find rest.
Job 3:18 The prisoners are completely at rest; they do not hear a taskmaster’s voice.
Job 3:19 Both small and great are there, and the slave is set free from his master.
Job 3:20 Why is light given to one burdened with grief, and life to those whose throat is bitter,
Job 3:21 who wait for death, but it does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasure,
Job 3:22 who are filled with much joy and are glad when they reach the grave?
Job 3:23 Why is life given to a healthy man whose path is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
Job 3:24 I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.
Job 3:25 Because the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.
Job 3:26 I cannot relax or be calm; I have no rest, because turmoil has come.

death no escape

Job had only one thing left. He had his life, and he cursed the day of his birth. Life had been precious to him, and now he saw it as a prison. Seeing how much people suffer, it is no surprise that some philosophers envision death as an escape from that prison. Socrates drank the poison hemlock because he saw it as a means of escape from the trap that his body had become. Job wanted to escape as well, but his view of death was different than that of Socrates and Plato. For Job, death was lying down, being quiet, and resting. It was joining the small and the great (everyone) in a place where there is no light, no consciousness. It is easy to see why someone who has suffered as much as Job did would just want it all to end. Yet, God’s will was not death. God’s will was recovery, restoration, and resurrection.

This life is not always fair. There will be times of suffering, and we may at times get so low that we wish for it all to end. One of the messages that this story gives us is that God is always there, and he will not give up on us. We should not give up on ourselves. Death is a curse upon humanity because of sin. When life seems a trap, the way out is not death. It is eternal life, through Christ.

“It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed” (1 Corinthians 15:52 NLT).

LORD, give us the wisdom to seek for your rescue, not sin’s curse.