Thurs.’s Devo - Job’s First Response

Read Job 6:1-30 This is Job’s first reply. He is weighed down with grief that is greater than words can express. He feels that the Lord is fighting against him. He talks of animals that are only noisy when they are being denied their substance. People are not like animals. They need more than substance like egg whites need salt. Job has kept himself from anything unclean and now he is covered with boils that make him unclean. If only God would grant him one request - death. Job knows better than to take his own life. He wants God to take it. Why should he live since everything he lived for is gone. He has no wisdom left. Job rebukes Eliphaz for not having compassion on him instead of his accusation that he must have some sin in his life. He compares his friends that think wrong of him to be like a brook that has turned to ice. When the heat is turned on they melt and flow away. Right now Job’s heat is on and all his friends have evaporated. (Remember, Job was one of the most influential men of his time. Where are all the men who were his friend when he was blessed?) These friends disappointed him like the desert disappointed the troops of Tema and of Sheba. They were desert dwellers always looking for water and many times not finding it. He asks them if he has ever asked them to help him with money, protection, or anything. If they can think of anything he might owe them, then they need to show him. If they can point to something he has done wrong, then he will listen. But he tells Eliphaz: your words are not true and are like the wind. They only overwhelm me and put me down even more. But…”How forcible are right words!” I think those last few words are the best thing Job said. Our words can be so powerful when they are God’s words. God will stand behind his words and make sure they accomplish what they are suppose to. Lord, let our words be from you only and powerfully perform their purpose.