Rejoicing in Unsparing Pain

“Would that God were willing to crush me,

That He would loose His hand and cut me off!

But it is still my consolation,

And I rejoice in unsparing pain,

That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.”

(Job 6:9-10)

We know Job had a rough time of it. He was feeling misused, to say the least. Misused and misunderstood. There was to be no help from his friends apparently. He was so miserable that he wanted God to go ahead and cut him off.

 Even in Job’s trials, he has joy in one thing. He rejoiced while experiencing unsparing pain that he had not denied the words of the Holy One. This is really is no mean feat. His wife had advised him earlier on, ‘Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!’ And his answer is also well known: ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?’

 But in this passage (6:10) Job is not just passively accepting his afflictions, he is rejoicing that he had not denied God’s words in them. He is not rejoicing because of his unsparing pain, but in it, while experiencing that awful pain, he knows he has still not sinned against the Holy One.

 We can rejoice when we have victory over the temptation to sin. Job had ample reasons for disregarding God’s word if afflictions were a good cause to deny God. We line up our excuses ahead of time. When angry we are ready with excuses such as not enough sleep; hard day at work; lots of things going wrong at work or in the home. There are no excuses for sin, although there are reasons. But obedience is always a possibility and we can rejoice when that is the choice we make. Actually, Job’s rejoicing in his adversity is not because everything will turn out rosy; as far as he knows no such outcome is on the horizon. Job rejoiced in obedience, as can we.

Heather Jean Wilson Torosyan