We Mourn in Our Pain

Scripture: Job 1:20a

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head,

Insights: As we are chronologically reading through the Bible, we now come to the book of Job.  Job is a hard book for many people through which to read.  For many people it is because they identify with Job so well.  There are a lot of people who believe, act or even tell others that Christians are not supposed to suffer or experience pain and grief.  These kinds of thoughts are straight from our enemy Satan who is the villain of chapter one and two.  Beloved, let’s look at four areas in Job’s life in which he experienced pain.  As a result of such pain he tore his robe and shaved his head.  This external act of mourning shows us that it is okay and appropriate for us to mourn and grieve in the midst of difficult situations.  The first area in which Job experienced pain was in his relationships with his neighbors.  This relational strife was with the Sabeans and the Chaldeans who robbed job and murdered his work force.  The second area in which Job experienced pain was in his finances.  These economic struggles can be seen with his loss of manufacturing capabilities.  In other words, his assembly line of oxen and donkeys were stolen.  He lost his raw materials when his sheep, which produced his wool and reproduction lines, were burned up.  He lost his distribution system when his camels were stolen, and finally, he lost his labor force because they were all killed except for four men.  When you break it down like this, Job went from being the wealthiest man to the most unemployed and poor man in the region in a matter of minutes.  The third area in which Job experienced pain was in his family.  This domestic sorrow was a result of all his children dying in a storm that blew the walls in on the house they were all in during a birthday party.  If all of these situations were not bad enough, when we get to the second chapter we are introduced to a fourth area in which Job experienced pain and that is in his physical well-being.  This health situation was boils that afflicted him from the crown of his head to his feet.  Beloved, Job had reason and cause to mourn his pain and so do we when we experience sorrow.

Questions:

1. Are you able to identify with Job in anyway in regards to mourning pain?
2. Do you ever allow Satan to lie to you and tell you it is not okay for a Christian to grieve through pain?

Prayer: Father, thank You for the grief process.  When I experience the pains of this world, teach me the proper way to grieve and mourn.  May my crises be a tool in which You are brought glory because I display before the world the proper way to deal with pain.  Amen.