Le Misérable (The Miserable One)

Subtitle – Why Am I So Depressed?

The last verse of “I Dreamed A Dream” (from “Les Miserable [The Miserable Ones]) hauntingly reflects the mood of Job chapter 3:

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seems
Now life has killed the dream…I dreamed

(I love Susan Boyle’s rendition of this song; because of her remarkable “rags-to-riches” or “unknown-to-worldwide-known” story she should have been Time’s “Person of the Year” for 2009 instead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. What was Time thinking?)

Life had promised so much for Job. FIA writes, “Job himself, the best of all and God’s own pride (Job does not know this), industrious, noble, devout, the paragon of the world, now sitting in the dirt, his past lost, his future empty, his present pain.

The question before us is, “Where did the man of God go?” What happened to the tranquil Job of chapters one and two? Frankly, this is one of the most depressing chapters in the entire Bible. You’ve probably NEVER heard a sermon from this chapter. Job erupts with volcanic statements that shock his friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar (and the gathered audience). JFB writes, “His outburst is singularly wild and bold.” Adam Clarke says, “He gave vent to the agonies of his soul.” Hartley notes, “These are the harshest words Job utters against himself in the entire book. They startle us. The friends too are shocked…The words that gush forth from his agitated soul surprise everyone. His words are bold and caustic.” FIA says, “Some of Job’s prayers are wild and must have seemed dangerous to his dignified friends. His audacious attempts to reach the mind of God leave us breathless, and must have worried his cautious friends. He is passionate; they are cold. Job is dreadfully in earnest, and transparently honest. He tells God exactly how he feels and just what he thinks. There could hardly be better prayers that that.”

So much is packed into this chapter (and the entire book) that we will only touch the surface or we will be here until 2050 :>). I won’t comment on each verse – we will just give an overview this week and next week.

In his commentary, Chuck Swindoll gives a simple outline to the chapter: In verses 1-10 Job regrets his birth; in verses 11-19 Job wishes he’d died at birth; in verse 20-26 Job now longs to die.

Job 3:1-11: Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his {birth.} 2 And Job said, 3 “Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night {which} said, 'A boy is conceived.' 4 “May that day be darkness; let not God above care for it, nor light shine on it. 5 “Let darkness and black gloom claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. 6 "{As for} that night, let darkness seize it; let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. 7 “Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful shout enter it. 8 “Let those curse it who curse the day, who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. 9 "Let the stars of its twilight be darkened; let it wait for light but have none, neither let it see the breaking dawn; 10 Because it did not shut the opening of my {mother's} womb, or hide trouble from my eyes. 11 "Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? (The rest of the chapter is at the end of this week’s devotional).

Job never curses God in the entire book; he does come pretty close (he curses his birthday and wants it obliterated from the calendar), but he never crosses the line to cursing God. And suicide (or euthanasia) is something that is never contemplated by Job, even though he is in such extreme agony.

Here are some brief (and perhaps a little random) notes and thoughts from the chapter:

3:4 “May that day be darkness” – this word appears about 80+ times in the OT, but almost 25 of those are in Job (Genesis 1:2 and Exodus 10:22 and Job 3:5 are three verses this word also appears).

3:5 “…and black gloom...” (or the shadow of death)” -- this word appears 18 times in the OT – 10 of them are in Job! The word also refers to deep darkness or deep distress; it appears in Psalm 23, “Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…”

3:6 “darkness” – this word (different from verse 4) appears 10 times in the OT – six of them are in Job.

3:7 “barren” – appears 4 times in the OT – three of those are in Job.

As you read through the chapter notice these groups of words. (Highlighting in your Bible and reading from various versions gives you great insight into the mind of the writer):

In verses 3-9 notice the words “let” or “may.” In these 7 verses they appear about 16 times. In the Hebrew they are known as “jussives” – they are words that express mild commands. In other words Job is saying, “I want this to happen…” or “I want that to happen…”

Also in verses 3-9 highlight such words or phrases as night, darkness, gloom, blackeners of the day, don’t let light shine, gloom, no joyful sound, cloud, etc. If you do, you’ll begin to notice one thing: Job was depressed – big-time!

Circle or underline any words related to rest or quiet or peace or sleep. Particularly note that verse 13 contains four such words: "For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest…” In his misery Job is not able to rest and he desperately longs for a good night’s sleep.

Beginning with verse 11 note the number of times the word “why” appears and note the questions that follow.

From verse 14 through the end of the chapter note the diverse groups of people mentioned: kings, counselors, princes, the wicked, prisoners, the weary, the small, the great, servants, masters, etc.

In verse 9 three phases of the morning light are given (Let the stars of its twilight be darkened; let it wait for light but have none, neither let it see the breaking dawn). First the stars begin to fade, secondly the horizon begins to lighten, and thirdly the first glimpses of the sun’s rays are seen (the word “dawn” is literally “the eyelashes of the morning”); as beautiful as sunrises can be with the many brilliant hues, for Job the splendor of the sunrise only makes visible the ugliness of his horrific disease.

In this chapter Job’s volcanic eruption does not reveal any sort of lack of spirituality. On the contrary, it shows that JOB IS HUMAN! Job is not a sinner because he is so emotional, he is a man with emotions and feelings like you and I. FIA states, “A man of stone or bronze…might remain unmoved, but a real man is all turbulence. The Lord’s testing is not to find out if Job can sit unmoved like a piece of wood!” To say that we should always maintain a stiff upper lip is not always the best course of action. Sometimes we need to vent – and pour out everything (the good, the bad, and the ugly) to God.

We will finish this chapter next week (I want to focus on verses 23 and 25 and also on how to get out of the pit of depression).

A number of years ago Buck Owens & Roy Clark sang this little song on the television series “Hee-Haw”:

Gloom, despair, and agony on me
Deep, dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all
Gloom, despair, and agony on me

Hee-Haw made light of this thing called “depression.” But for those that suffer from it, it is anything but humorous. It can be life crippling. And sometimes it seems that there are days too dark and valleys too deep and hurts too painful to even go on.

BUT THERE IS HOPE! Swindoll writes on page 69 of his commentary, “I want to write to you who are reading these lines who may be in the pit, struggling to find your way out…” And as I write this devotional I feel that I may be writing to someone who is feeling like Job and thinking like Job (verse 11: “Why did I not die at birth?”). You may have even entertained thoughts of suicide.

Don’t give up! Even though it may be so difficult to see right now and it may seem like a black cloud of gloom has enveloped your life – Jesus Christ loves you! And God’s grace is sufficient for you! He can restore your joy. Remember that chapter 42 is coming…

(The rest of chapter 3):
Job 12- 26: "Why did the knees receive me, and why the breasts, that I should suck? 13 "For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest, 14 With kings and {with} counselors of the earth, who rebuilt ruins for themselves; 15 Or with princes who had gold, who were filling their houses {with} silver. 16 “Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, as infants that never saw light. 17 "There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary are at rest. 18 "The prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. 19 "The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 "Why is light given to him who suffers, and life to the bitter of soul; 21 Who long for death, but there is none, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; 22 Who rejoice greatly, they exult when they find the grave? 23 "{Why is light given} to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in? 24 "For my groaning comes at the sight of my food, and my cries pour out like water. 25 "For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. 26 "I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, and I am not at rest, but turmoil comes." (NAS)

(Please feel free to copy/print/email these devotionals)

NASV = New American Standard Version
OT = Old Testament
K&D = Commentary by Keil and Delitzsch (from PC Bible Study)
JFB = Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown (from PC Bible Study)
Adam Clarke = Adam Clarke Commentary (from PC Bible Study)
Barnes = Barnes Notes (from PC Bible Study)
Hartley = The New International Commentary on the Old Testament:
The Book of Job by John E. Hartley
Swindoll = Job, Profiles in Character from Charles R. Swindoll
FIA = Tyndale OT Commentaries: Job by Francis I. Anderson