Job’s Wife – The Lord understands depression

1. Job’s Wife – Introduction

2. Job’s Wife – Balaam’s Wise Utterance

The Lord our God created us. There is nothing in us that would surprise the Omniscient God. In His infinite wisdom, the Lord knows everything about us. We cannot hide anything from our Creator. Everything is naked before His eyes. Even from far off, He understands our thoughts. Even before we speak a word, even as it is formed in our tongue, the Lord knows. That’s why David says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me” (Psalm 139:6, NKJV).

In His mercies, our Father in Heaven also understands depression. Whether it was Moses, the great prophet or David, the man after God’s own heart, they had suffered depression. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, declares Solomon (Proverbs 13:12, NKJV). Even the great heroes of faith suffered from depression, as things did not turn out as they expected. As time ran out, they had to endure their hearts losing their confidence.

In his utter depression, a broken-hearted Elijah pleaded with God to take his life as he was not better than his ancestors (1 Kings 19:4). And there is something we need to notice here. Though Elijah said that prayer in depression, the Lord never reprimanded him for that. More importantly, He did answer Elijah’s prayer: the Lord did take away Elijah, except not in the way the prophet wanted. This is our God. This is our Father in Heaven.

The Lord understands depression. When we utter certain things because we are depressed, He knows the broken heart behind those utterances. When we say few things that we would not normally say, our Father in Heaven knows that we are saying such things because we are downcast. What the Lord does not like, what He hates is murmuring against Him. But a broken-heart, the Lord does not despise. In face, the Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). Our Great Physician binds those who are heart-broken, and heals them.

Of course, the greatest depression we see is in the Garden of Gethsemane. Our Savior Jesus Christ came for one purpose – to die on the Cross, so that we are saved. Yet the night before, He suffered so much in his anguish, he sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Our Teacher’s soul was so deeply grieved to the point of death, in His depression, He asked the Father “to remove that cup from Him.” But regaining His composure, He added, “Yet not what I will, but what You will” (Mark 14:36). Again God our Father did not reproach His Son for that prayer. Since we know that our Lord Jesus is without sin, His utterance “to remove that cup from Him” was not a sin.

It is in this light, we need to look at the utterance of Job’s wife. By the Spirit of God, hopefully, before we finish this series, we will be able to see that her ‘irate’ directive to Job was actually very similar to the prayer of Elijah, and to an extent, and I am saying this with utmost humility and trepidation, is similar to our Lord’s prayer asking that the cup be removed from Him.

But to reach that point, we need to understand one of the well-known words in the Bible; a word we all know well for nearly a decade now, thanks to the American politics.

Early will I seek You – in life too…

Recently I was talking to a teenager. She is a believer, but she said something like this: “But I can’t dedicate my life to Jesus right now. I will wait for few more years. I mean, I am not going to sin or something like that. But, I want to let my hair loose. So, few more years, then I will dedicate my life completely to Jesus.”

I can’t talk about your experiences; but, I have seen some people in wilderness in their late ages, because they let their hair loose when they were in their teens.

Now, please don’t misunderstand me. I am not cursing anyone. If the LORD has called you, then whether you like it or not, you need to spend sometime in the wilderness. It is the training ground, whether you need to do the LORD’s ministry like Apostle Paul, or rule a country like David or lead others unto the LORD like Moses – a training period in wilderness is a must.

And, there is nothing wrong in letting your hair loose. But who said you can’t do that with your life dedicated to Jesus? However, if your letting your hair loose says to avoid Jesus, then there is a problem somewhere there, something even your own heart is not happy about that.

David realized this. That is why he told the LORD,

“O God, You are my God; early will I seek You.” – Psalm 63:1.

Yes, dear friend, it is best to seek our LORD when we are young. If probably you did not seek the LORD in your youth, it is better late than never. Seek the LORD today. And, if you have done that already, make sure you teach your children to do the same.

For all his greatness, David did not do that very well as a father. After his own sons killing each other, trying to kill David himself at a point, planning to take the throne from him… finally he got a son as a promise from the LORD – king Solomon. Though he taught the Law of God to Solomon, David did not teach his son the valuable lessons he had learned by the grace of God.

And what happened? When he was young and rich, Solomon wrote Song of Solomon. When he was in middle ages, after spending his youth in trying to find the meaning of happiness, he wrote the Book of Proverbs. Then as he was getting older, he had realized that he had wandered off from the LORD. He was beset with many problems and troubles, and finally coming to sense, he wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes. And he concluded that book by something that his great father had known and done when David was in the wilderness in his youth:

Remember NOW your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days do not come, nor the years draw near when you shall say, “I have no pleasure in them.” – Ecclesiastes 12:1 (MKJV)

1 Peter 2:9“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) . All Rights Reserved.