Last week, I introduced a new series that will take us through the book of Job. The issue is, we don’t know who to trust among Job’s friends in chapters 3-38. Some of what they say is true, at least in some sense, and some of it is false. But in Job, we do not have a narrator or commentator to evaluate that for us, we need to do the hard work ourselves. For some guidelines on interpreting Job you can check out a list from John Piper that I highlighted in the introductory post last week.

Job’s Existential Crisis

The first major question we will address is the first question Job asks when he opens his mouth after seven days of silence: Is life worth living?

• Job 3:3, “Let the day perish on which I was born.”
• Job 3:11, “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?”
• Job 3:20, “Why is light given to him who is in misery?”

In chapter 3, Job is lamenting his own existence. In a single day all of his children were killed in a windstorm (Job 1:18-19), and this was after all of his flocks and most of his employees were taken or murdered by enemies or fire from the sky (Job 1:13-17). Not too long after that, Job is stricken with painful boils all over his body, he cannot even have the comfort of his own skin in his suffering. I can’t imagine the physical and emotional pain Job was enduring. And his question is, “is life worth it?”

All of us, even if it was just during our more dramatic younger years, have cried at the heavens, “I would rather be dead,” at some point. Suicide is tragically one of the top 10 causes of death in Canada. This is an important question that we all may struggle with in dark seasons. Whether we are young or old, men or women, rich or poor; all of us struggle with what seems to be the futility of life.

God’s Answer

Thankfully, the Bible answers the question of, “Is life worth living?” Yes. The truth is, God made us, He is in control, and life is a gift to be treasured and valued. We have God’s breath of life in our lungs (Gen. 2:7), and are made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27). On top of that, we are cared for and commissioned by God to represent him on the earth (Gen. 1:28). This is essentially what God says when he first answers Job in chapter 38,

“Where were you when I lay the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” 
– Job 38:4.

Not exactly what you might call the most comforting tone, but the message is solid. God is so much greater than I am, and infinitely so. He, in all His wisdom, power, and love decided that I should be born, therefore, it is a good thing to be alive, even when living is unbearably hard. Psalm 139:13-14 says,

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

When our life is built on the firm foundation of God’s design, purpose, and love, there is nothing that can harm our souls or steal our joy. This eternal, God-centered view will often lead to a counterintuitive way of life. As Jesus said in Matthew 16:25,

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

To live on the foundation of Christ mean’s letting go of what comforts us in exchange for infinite comfort.

Not Just Job, Jesus

Some of you don’t have to imagine pain like Job’s. Some of you have lost children or grandchildren to sickness or accidents. Some of you have lost jobs or financial security in this season of economic shut down. Some of you have had your lives changed in an instant with a phone call or as a result of a bad decision of a loved one. Life is hard. Job is not being dramatic; he is being honest.

But Job isn’t all thunderclouds and rainstorms. He also makes a claim in his suffering that we must echo in our own suffering. Look at Job 19:25-27,

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
    My heart faints within me!

Our Redeemer lives. Jesus, in dying on the cross and rising again on the third day, fulfills the prophecy of Job as our living Saviour and God. He lived the life we should have lived, died the death we should have died, so we could know God. Jesus chose to live a human life marked by suffering rather than remain separate from us. Jesus says,

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 
– John 14:6

Is life worth living? Yes. Because each day we live is a chance to know Jesus better and help others know him more fully. Isaiah 38:18 says,