Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the wickedly foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept calamity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job 2:9–10, LSB
Job is a difficult book for many, and one can think unkindly of the words of Job’s wife because it is easy to forget the grief that she, too, is bearing. Job’s response is not unkind, but, in this account, the grief of the wife and mother who just lost all of her children and is now watching her husband’s health being attacked, we could hear in her words a part of our heart’s cries in the midst of despair. We may not relate to the wife, but her words are in line with the words and thoughts of Job’s friends. They all see the suffering as a punishment being sent by God. She responds in anger, and his friends respond in judgment. How often do we find this in struggles? In our suffering, God desires for us to draw nearer to Him, but often, we back away or withdraw completely and become engrossed in our self-pity. The issue of suffering often centers on the desire to point blame, but the reality of suffering is that it sometimes just is a part of our fallen creation. The joy comes fully in the knowledge that in Christ, we are guaranteed that there will be an end to all suffering when we are called home with Him in eternity.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.