Job 17:1-16 - Where is my Hope?

Job 17:1-16

Job Prays for Relief

1 “My spirit is broken,
My days are extinguished,
The grave is ready for me.
2 Are not mockers with me?
And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?

3 “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself.
Who is he who will shake hands with me?
4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He who speaks flattery to his friends,
Even the eyes of his children will fail.

6 “But He has made me a byword of the people,
And I have become one in whose face men spit.
7 My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow,
And all my members are like shadows.
8 Upright men are astonished at this,
And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.
9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way,
And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

10 “But please, come back again, all of you,
For I shall not find one wise man among you.
11 My days are past,
My purposes are broken off,
Even the thoughts of my heart.

12 They change the night into day;
‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.
13 If I wait for the grave as my house,
If I make my bed in the darkness,
14 If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’

15 Where then is my hope?
As for my hope, who can see it?
16 Will they go down to the gates of Sheol?
Shall we have rest together in the dust?”

As Job continued to suffer seemingly endlessly, he was broken and ready to die to send the constant physical and mental anguish and the reproaches of others.  He realized that these mockers who blamed his ill condition on sins they imagined, that these mockers who would not even shake his hand in friendship, they had their hearts hidden from understanding by God to whom Job continued speaking as he poured out his frustrations and grief and they were not to be commended by God for their efforts.  Job also realized all too well that he was seen as detestable and a subject of derision (Psalm 42:10, Isaiah 51:7) as we do (1 Timothy 4:10) now in Christ by the unbelieving who offer similar foolish advice, not knowing we suffer for the sake of Christ and the sake of righteousness in our faith in Him.  When we do suffer for Him or because we are His (Philippians 1:29, 1 Peter 2:20, 3:17, Revelation 12:17), we can be assured that as we hold to our righteous obedience that we can be stronger with clean hands than dirty ones as those who judge us have as Job confessed here (Job 17:9) for our encouragement.  Job told his companions that they were free to visit again even if no wisdom would be found in their advice since even their presence in his impending death was some com to him.  Where was Job’s hope then?  He tells God and us that his hope was as yet unseen and he might only find it past death in the grave with his friends as his suffering ends.  We have a more certain hope in Christ (Romans 5:5, Hebrews 6:19, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, 1 Peter 1:3, 13, Titus 1:2) as we know Him now and are at peace with God (Romans 5:1) in union with Him and enveloped in His righteousness.  We know after the resurrection to life that we (1 Corinthians 15:19-20, 21-22, 25, 56), we will no longer face suffering (Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 5:2) from sin and the enemy nor even death itself.  Our hope then is that we will face no more tears of suffering (Isaiah 25:8, Revelation 21:3, 4) as we will stand perfected in Christ before His presence forevermore.  Where is my hope?  In Christ alone and forever!