David Bahn – Reflections

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These reflections grow out of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Job 3-4; Psalm 14.

Job 3:1-2, 20-26

After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ² And Job said:

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,
    whom God has hedged in?
²⁴ For my sighing comes instead of my bread,
    and my groanings are poured out like water.
²⁵ For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
    and what I dread befalls me.
²⁶ I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
    I have no rest, but trouble comes.”

Job is asking a question that my mother asked for the last 3 years of her life. She was not alone. Nor would she be alone today. As people age and find themselves isolated from family and see the deaths of friend after friend, they wonder, “Why doesn’t the Lord just take me? There is no purpose to my life. I have no reason to go on living.”

Their struggle is not apparently the same as Job’s. He had suffered great loss, and even more: he has been struck with terrible physical torment. He is in agony. He is experiencing great physical suffering. And with that physical suffering come great emotional and spiritual pains.

No wonder he is so despondent. No wonder he wishes he could just die. His wife has already said, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” He has only the comfort of his friends – who for seven day have just sat with him saying nothing. While I have often said that the best things Job’s friends said, they said during the first seven days, I do wonder whether their silence actually comforted Job.

When people are suffering, moralizing, trying to tell them that it isn’t that bad, or dismissing their pain is right out. But we can be with them in their suffering and there may come a time when we can speak a word of comfort to them.

Scripture consistently assures us that God sees the suffering of his people, hears their cries, and remembers their prayers — even when his answers come later than we hope or in ways we do not yet understand.

After we’ve listened to them, sought to understand their plight, we might offer a Bible verse such as Psalm 34:17, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.” These and other Bible verses may speak to the suffering soul. And we can be sure that they need God’s truth more than easy answer we might offer.

Here’s a list of Bible verses for those who are suffering:

1. Psalm 34:18

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

God’s nearness is not abstract — he draws close precisely where hearts are breaking.

2. Exodus 3:7

“Then the Lord said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people… I have heard their cry… I know their sufferings.’”

3. Isaiah 43:2

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you… When you walk through fire you shall not be burned.”

4. Psalm 56:8

“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”

5. Matthew 11:28

Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

6. Romans 8:18

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

7. Revelation 21:4

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more…”