Job 3

At the beginning of this chapter, Job wished for something that many people have wished for at some point: that he had never been born. "May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, 'A boy is conceived!' That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it." (vs 3-4)

Job wanted to die. He wanted the memory of his life to be erased forever from the earth. He wanted to cut out the day of his birth from the yearly calendar. But God didn’t give Job what he wanted in that moment. Instead of letting his memory be blotted from existence, God worked in and through his life to memorialize his experience for all eternity. And in his experience, we see one of the very first glimpses of the spiritual battle between God and Satan.

Among other things, the book of Job helps us to put suffering into perspective. It’s a story that has enlightened and comforted countless people throughout history—and I imagine that when Job understands what the testimony of his life was able to accomplish, he will praise God for not giving him "what he wanted" in the moments of his darkest despair.

We live with such a limited perspective, but God wants to help us see the big picture. He wants to help us see things as He does so we will know that we have nothing to fear from this life. Job said, "What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me." (vs 25) Because of Job’s story and because of God’s desire to help us see the big picture, we can know that even when the things we fear come to us in life, God can and will use them for our good.