Sharper Iron — There Is a Redeemer – Job 3:1-26: Life without God Is Worse than Death
After seven days of silence with his friends, Job speaks first. With vivid imagery, he curses the day of his birth and says it would be better if he were now dead. Yet this is not a despairing desire for death. The key to understanding Job’s lament is the reality that Job’s suffering has made him unsure if God remains for him. The thing that Job fears is that God is now his enemy. If that is the case, then Job has no hope at all, for life without God is worse than death.
Rev. Zelwyn Heide, pastor at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Hanover, ND and Zion Lutheran Church in New Salem, ND, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Job 3:1-26.
To learn more about St. Peter and Zion Lutheran Churches, visit stpeterzion.org.
“There Is a Redeemer” is a series on Sharper Iron that studies the book of Job. The suffering of Job raises important questions. Does man fear God for no reason? Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil? Who can be an arbiter for man? As this book of wisdom literature wrestles with such questions, God reveals to us that He is our Living Redeemer whom we are right to fear, love, and trust above all things.
Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen. Pastor Appel serves at Faith Lutheran Church in Godfrey, IL. Learn more at flcgodfrey.org. Submit comments or questions to: listener@kfuo.org
Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund. Together in faith, LCEF helps to start, sustain and strengthen LCMS ministries through financial and strategic partnerships. Visit lcef.org.
Job 3:1-26
Job Laments His Birth
[1] After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. [2] And Job said:
[3] “Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’
[4] Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
[5] Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
[6] That night—let thick 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 cry enter it.
[8] Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
[9] Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see the eyelids of the morning,
[10] because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.
[11] “Why did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
[12] Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
[13] For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
[14] with kings and counselors of the earth
who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
[15] or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
[16] Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
[17] There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at rest.
[18] There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not 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 is in misery,
and life to the bitter in soul,
[21] who long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
[22] who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
[23] Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
Although a mathematics degree may not be incredibly helpful to (proudly born-and-raised Texan) Rev. Timothy Appel while hosting Sharper Iron, his love of CFW Walther and the season of Easter will come in handy. His Call is shepherding the flock at Faith Lutheran Church in Godfrey, Illinois, and he’s also husband to wife Kristin and dad to their growing basketball team of children. When he’s not carrying out pastoral duties, you may find him reading “The Lord of the Rings,” snacking on Reese’s peanut butter cups, playing dominoes with his boys, or studying up on Texas history (including Sam Houston, of course).
