*Scripture: Job 3:11-26 (NKJV)* 11 "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? 13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest 14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who built ruins for themselves, 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver; 16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like infants who never saw light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 18 There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor. 19 The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master. 20 Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, 21 who long for death, but it does not come, and search for it more than hidden treasures; 22 Who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in? 24 For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings pour out like water. 25 For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. 26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes."
*Devotion* Why does Job wish he died at birth? Obviously he wants his sorrow and suffering to end. Job seems to be thinking, "I could still have my existence as a human being without suffering the agony of this fallen world." But, of course, we do not get to choose our lives. They are given to us as God sees fit. We do not properly have the right to decide when our lives end because they are not our lives. They belong to God. However, Job would not be human if he did not cry out in agony and wish to be free from his suffering. No one would want to live through these things. The Christian goes through the fire of suffering, following Jesus through the fire. We do not always see where He is leading us, but we trust Him that He will bring us to a good place on the other side. Our life is in Christ, who suffered to redeem us. To cry out in pain is not sinful in itself, but to curse God in our pain is. Christ is greater than our greatest pain, and the life He gives to His faithful people should not be tossed away in favor of self-pity. God's grace is sufficient for us all. May the Lord keep us faithful by the grace of His Spirit, not cursing the day of our birth out of pain, but remembering that we are born into Christ's life as we are baptized into His death and raised to newness of life in Him.
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