JOB SERIES: CHAPTER 3 – CONCEPTION WISH

In life, we often credit Satan for any problems that we may be experiencing, but as I examined the Word, I have come to realize that many of our problems are not orchestrated by Satan but by us human beings with our sinful natures. In chapters, one and two of Job God gives Satan permission to afflict Job with various calamities and suffering, and if you read my blog for those chapters, you will understand how Satan meant to destroy Job through the spirit of oppression, for he piled the problems on deliberately and methodically.

For the remainder of the book of Job, Satan is no longer in the picture, and Job is now in the hands of his dear friends. Following the customs of the time, Job’s three friends sat with him for seven days without uttering a word and waited for Job to speak before they engaged him in conversation. It is in chapter three that Job starts speaking with cursing the day he was conceived, and seven times in this chapter he asks the question that most of us ask when there is upheaval in our lives, “why.”

As he laments and voices the sentiments of his heart,  there appears to be a downward progression of his thoughts, starting with a conception wish. All who greatly suffered can attest to the fact, experiencing painful events is often unbearable and leads many to suicidal ideations and wishing they were never born. This is the point Job is at; he wishes he was never conceived nor born and that his day of birth was taken out of the calendar. However, since he was born, why didn’t he die during the delivery due to complications or mishandling? Also, Job felt any happiness about his conception or birth by God or parents should be discarded for these were in essence times of gloominess, darkness, and void of light. Plus, to take it a step further, he wished the world was not created, and then for sure he would not exist.

In his present excruciating painful experiences Job, wonders, why he hasn’t died for life in pain is not worth living, and he believed there was a degree of rest for the deceased; therefore, we welcomed death. Job concludes his lamenting with this revealing statement, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came (Job 3:25-26). Apparently, Job feared something disastrous was going to happen in his life despite his efforts to live a godly life, and now his fears had come to fruition.

I conclude this chapter with these reflections:

1. Create an environment in which people feel safe to express themselves.
2. Allow grieving and hurting people to voice their pain without criticism or judgment.
3. Sometimes all you must do is sit and listen.
4. Guard your heart and mind for the enemy wants to create chaos in them.
5. When you speak, your speech should always respect God.
6. Pain and loss can lead you to despair and a death wish.
7. Some prefer death to release them from their anguish.
8. Sometimes we wish we were never born.
9. Death comes to all; there is no escape from it.
10. Some believe after death; there is no pain.
11. Fear must be rejected, or it will control your life.
12. Every living person will experience trouble in their life.