Job 6:1-30 - When Grief Feels Heavier Than Sand (Session 10)

In this episode of Reasoning Through the Bible, Job chapter 6 is examined verse by verse as Job responds to Eliphaz from the depths of grief, pain, and emotional despair. This study highlights Job’s raw honesty, his mistaken belief that God is directly attacking him, and his continued refusal to abandon the Lord even while suffering intensely. The passage also shows how deeply hurtful it can be when friends respond to tragedy with vague accusations, weak comfort, or gossip instead of compassion.

This Bible study is especially helpful for listeners searching for teaching on Job 6, Christian suffering, how to comfort the hurting, grief and despair in the Bible, false accusations, gossip in the church, and God’s sovereignty in suffering. Job 6 provides practical wisdom for enduring pain, caring for suffering people, and trusting God when life makes no sense.

Transcript

A Veil Of Tears Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:16

As we live our lives as humans, we often go through series of pain and trouble and tribulation. So much so that this life has sometimes been called a veil of tears. Well, today, on reasoning through the Bible, we're going to be in the depths of the Old Testament figure of Job who has a veil of tears of his own. It's so bad that his friends have even come along and seemed to make it worse by some of their accusations. So we're going to see a man today who is in the very depths of pain and depression, and we're going to be able to take some comfort from that because the word of God will comfort Job and it will comfort us today. Hi, my name's Glenn. I'm here with Steve. We're the hosts of Reasoning Through the Bible, where we go verse by verse through the Word of God. We trust that you'll follow along with us. If you have your copy of the Word of God, open it to the Old Testament book of Job. We're going to start in chapter six. But just to review where we've been so far, the first two chapters told us that God is in complete control. Everything in heaven is very orderly, and God is in charge. God introduces to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? Chapter three, we saw Job curse the day he was born, but he never cursed God. Then in chapters four and five, we saw Job's friend Eliphaz tell him that God punishes those who deserve punishment, suggesting that Job's problems were his own fault. Now we see Job's response to Eliphaz in Job chapter six. Steve, can you read the first four verses of Job chapter six?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Then Job responded, Oh, if only my grief were actually weighed and laid in the balances together with my disaster, for then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, for the reasons my words have been rash, for the arrows of the Almighty are within me, my spirit drinks their poison, the terrors of God line up against me.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Here we see Job very low. He is as low as a man can go, he is quite depressed, his emotions are down, and his spirit is down. He's expressing his grief. He says that his grief outweigh the sand of the sea. And he says in verse 4, the arrows of the Almighty are within me. So Steve, Job thinks God is against him.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Is he correct or not? No, he's not correct. But of course, we know that because we're seeing the whole narrative of the story. We know the backstory, so to speak, of what's going on. So a real question would be: would we be able to tell that if we didn't know the rest of the story? If we're one of Job's friends, would we be able to look at the situation and then evaluate it correctly and give Job the correct advice? Job is not guilty. What he's receiving from his friends of advice so far is one that's condemning him and basically saying, you're guilty, that's why you're getting punished. But Job is sticking to belief in God and staying with that, even though he's at the depths of his despair, and he's questioning God on some of the things, such as why he was born and things like that. He's still sticking with God and he hasn't cursed God yet.

When Job Thinks God Attacks

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Again, verse 4 for the arrows of the Almighty are within me, my spirit drinks their poison, the terrors of God line up against me. Job is imagining him sitting out in a field and God shooting poison arrows at him. And that's that part is just not true. It is true. We're told in the New Testament that those that God loves, he prunes. And pruning is sometimes a painful process. God doesn't always do what feels good to us, but he does always do what is needed for us and what is good for us. So God did not cause Job's tragedy. Satan caused Job's tragedy. Job just doesn't know that. God may send correction and discipline, but he is always loving in that, and there's always a good purpose behind it. God is not punishing Job. Job just can't see it because of all the emotional pain. And in the next section, Job implies that God should just go ahead and destroy him instead of leaving him suffering. He is quite low. I'm going to start reading in verse five. Does the wild donkey bray over his grass, or does the ox low over his feed? Can something tasteless be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the juice of an alconet plant? My soul refuses to touch them. They are like loathsome food to me. Oh, that my request might come to pass, and that God would grant my hope. Oh, that God would decide to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off. But it is still my comfort, and I rejoice in unsparing pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. What is my strength that I should wait? And what is my end that I should endure? So, Steve, what do you see in those verses?

SPEAKER_00 5:58

I see Job in a way, Glenn, communicating with God. He is voicing the despair that he's going through and the suffering that he's going through. So I see a little bit of a communication between him and God.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

I see that. Remember, he's responding to his friend's Eliphaz's accusations. In verse five of what we just read, Job is comparing himself to farm animals in the field. He's saying, even the donkey doesn't just stand out there and bray for no reason. He does so because he's hurting. He's telling his friend, look, I'm in pain here. I'm going through a lot of emotional pain and physical pain, spiritual disaster has come upon me. I'm complaining here because I have good reason. He's saying that this isn't for nothing. Job is telling his friend, you don't understand how bad I'm hurting. Then in verse 9, Job wants God to crush him. He says, loose his hand and cut me off. Job is saying there that God should just go ahead and stop his suffering and finish him off. Job is indeed hurting, but Steve, does he have the right to look at God and say, God, you made a mistake by making me suffer? Or he could be saying, God, you need to go ahead and just take my life. Does Job have the right and the authority to look at God and say, God, you need to just finish me off?

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Well, when you put it that way, the right and the authority, no, he certainly doesn't have the authority to do it. And I don't think he has the right to do it if you take the view that we're made in the image of God and that he has created us. And that's part and parcel with becoming a believer in God and following him, is that you're a servant of his, and a servant does whatever the master wants him to do. But I think that part of your answer is there in verse 10 when he says, It's still my comfort, though, he says he rejoices in this unsparing pain. Why is that? Because he still hasn't denied the words of the Holy One of God Himself. So in the midst of this pain that he's going through, he's still clinging to God and he hasn't given up on God.

The Why Question And Perseverance

SPEAKER_01 8:25

I think the real issue is him suggesting here that God is somehow not doing what he should be doing. God just finish me off here. I'm in so much pain and struggle. God just take my life. I think that what we see here is what is common to some people. They get into a bad emotional state. Again, this life does have a lot of tears. And there are people that walk away from the faith. There are people who think about walking away from the faith. I submit that if we do, then we're really in a worse spot than if we stay with God, simply because in the midst of tragedy, God is all that we have to cling to. God is the only thing that might lead us to believe that there really is some hope out there. If we say, well, God doesn't exist or God's powerless, and that's why I'm see all this pain and suffering around me, then that means life is really just meaningless, or that God is somehow some sort of a cruel tyrant that likes to, as Job suggested, shoot poison arrows at me. But if we know from the book of Job that God is in control and he has a purpose in this, and yes, it hurts now, but there will come a time when blessing will come. He may have me in a very difficult task, a difficult path that I have to walk. But God is someone I can still trust, then that gives us hope. If we walk away from God, then we are of all people most to be pitied because we then have no hope. Like Job, the only thing that we can cling to in a great tragedy is the belief that God is still in control. In spite of our pain, we can trust God to have a transcendent reason for what he allows. In verse 11, Job asks, quote, What is my end that I may endure? There he's asking, why? Why should I keep enduring through this? The question that always arises in a tragedy is, why? Why am I having to walk this path? Job's reacting in a way that many people would react, don't you think?

SPEAKER_00 10:39

As we continue to go through Job's reaction here and his outpouring of what he's going through, suffering can threaten sometimes our faith itself. The greatest fear of a believer sometimes when he's going through these crises is not death, because we know where we're going and we know where we're heading. But as we go through that physical pain and suffering, the greatest fear might be falling away from God, losing one's relationship with God. Now, I'm not talking about losing salvation. What I'm talking about is the mindset that comes with somebody that's going through great suffering. Because the question of what you were just saying of why, that's really the question of the relationship, Lord, we had a good relationship. I'm I'm loving you, I'm serving you. What is going on? Why is this happening? And I think that is a natural reaction. And I think sometimes, much like Job, the wish for death is because you don't want to get to a point where you turn away from God and you want to maintain that relationship. But as your previous question was, do we have the authority or right to ask for that? No, I don't think so. I think that we see perseverance through these types of situations many times bring blessing on the other side of it.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

And I think that's one of the grand messages of Job is persevere through these things because we can trust God. The next section, Job continues his response to Eliphaz, and he describes his friends as being like a dry creek when a flash flood comes. I'm starting in verse 14. For the despairing man, there should be kindness from his friend, so that he does not abandon the fear of the Almighty. My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi, like the torrents of wadis which drain away, which are darkened because of ice, and into which the snow melts. When they dry up, they vanish. When it is hot, they disappear from their place. What I see in here, Steve, is that Job is saying that his friends surprise him with this unexpected flood of hurtful words. The wadi, he talks about, is like a dry creek. It's dry, suddenly there's this flash flood, this torrent of things that can just wash things away. Likewise, his friends, they sat there for seven days, and then now they say this torrent of hurtful words. When it rains, the wadi will flood, and then when it gets hot, they vanish. Job was saying to them that when he needed the friends, they were gone like a dried-up stream. They were fair weather friends.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah, at this time that Job is going through, he needs sympathy and understanding. That's what he needs the most. He doesn't need to be theologically reprimanded with the reasons why he's going through the suffering that they're giving him, which is basically you are suffering because there's something that you have done wrong against God. True friendship in suffering is measured many times by the presence and compassion that you give to somebody, not by necessarily trying to answer the question why. We're not going to be able to answer the question why, because we don't know why with many of these situations. Just being there and comforting them and letting them know that you're there as a friend, while it's the most simple one, it's the one that's most needed many times. And it's also the one that is us just showing up with love.

Friends Who Vanish Like A Wadi

SPEAKER_01 14:27

What are some practical ways that a Christian can not be guilty of avoiding people like in their church, say, when the person's hurting and needs a friend? What are what are some things we can do so that we could be a good friend to someone who's in pain?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

I think that just letting them know that you're there and thinking about them, letting them know that you're praying for them as they go through that, that they do need something that you're there willing to help with them. I think going to other friends and helping to rally other friends to be with them during that time of suffering, I think that is another way that someone might be able to help. I'm not very good at that. I don't have a pastoral gift. On my personal note, I'm not very good with knowing what to say or what to do. So that's a little bit of a drawback that I have. But I can tell you of times of going through suffering, that just knowing the people are present and just knowing that the people are praying for you and that they understand what you're going through and acknowledging that is all you need. Many times that's just something that's encouraging to them.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

One practical thing that always comes to my mind is whenever someone has a close loved one that dies that passes on, oftentimes right around the death, they get a lot of attention. But then after a month or two or six months, the attention from the family and friends goes away. And the person is just left there alone with this emotional hole in their life. So oftentimes, yes, right when someone dies, it's good to go over and and be present and give some comfort. But sometimes it's good to just await a month or two or or four or five months and then call them and say, How are you doing? Let's get together and just uh have a meal. Maybe we could comfort each other. So oftentimes just being aware and noticing someone's not around, hey, call them up, hadn't seen you in a while. Just small things like that are very practical things. You can always look at Job's friends and look for things not to do. In the next section, Steve, if you could start at verse 18 and read down through verse 23.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

The paths of their course wind along. They go up into wasteland and perish. The caravans of Tima looked, the travelers of Sheba hoped for them. They were put to shame, for they had trusted. They came there and were humiliated. Indeed, you have now become such. You see terrors and are afraid. Have I said, give me something, or offer a bribe for me from your wealth, or save me from the hand of the enemy, or redeem me from the hand of the tyrants?

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Job is again speaking about what his friend Eliphaz has said. Job's friends have basically abandoned him right when he needed them the most, right when he needed the most comfort. They're not only just abandoning him, they're almost putting a knife in and turning it. So, Steve, what else do you see from this passage?

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Well, that's one of the things that he's asking them. Have I asked you to do anything for me? He just got through saying, you're like a wadi. You're there whenever a rainstorm comes and you help channel the water, but then whenever the water's all gone, what use is the wadi? It's not really used for anything. You're all dried up. So he's asking some rhetorical questions to him. I haven't actually asked you for anything in the past. So now here you come. You're being a friend of convenience. Whenever it's something that is good for you, you're my friend. But now, whenever it's some the time whenever I actually need you, you're in essence abandoning me. You're saying by accusing me of being guilty, therefore, that's why God is punishing me. You are, in essence, you're abandoning me. He's telling them this isn't how it should be. You should have sympathy and understanding.

Showing Up For The Suffering

Demanding Proof And Warning Against Gossip

SPEAKER_01 18:33

In the next section, Job pushes back against his friends. You can almost feel some of the emotion come out where he's a little bit offended, where he's demanding that they give him specifics of what he did. I'm starting to read in verse 24, he's speaking directly against Eliphaz. Teach me, and I will be silent, and show me how I have done wrong. How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove? Do you intend to rebuke my words when the words of one in despair belong to the wind? You would even cast lots for the orphans and barter over your friend. Now please look at me and see if I am lying to your face. Please turn away if there be no injustice. Turn away, my righteousness is still in it. Is there injustice on my tongue? Does my palate not discern disasters? So Eliphaz was suggesting that Job had sinned, but he didn't give any specifics. He was just making these general accusations. Job is saying to his friends, teach me how I'm at fault and I'll stop talking. But unless you're going to do that, then just turn away and be quiet. Job tells his friends, turn away or relent in verse 29. He's saying to his friends, teach me how I'm at fault and I'll listen to you. But until then, you're just participating in gossip. They're actually inventing gossip, actually, out of their own imaginations. They had no evidence that Job had done anything wrong, but yet they're making these accusations. Steve, do Christians sometimes do that? Are there people in churches that basically invent gossip?

SPEAKER_00 20:19

What is a primary characteristic of gossip? It's talking behind someone's back, it's whispering to someone else, it's getting other people together and making accusations against them, or it's putting things together based upon what they see and not know what is actually happening. Putting those things together to come up with what's going on isn't always the case. So gossiping is not the way to help anyone. Vague accusations don't have any type of defense or resolution as to what's going on. To have integrity with somebody demands that the criticism that you're going to bring about to someone should be concrete and verifiable, not shrouded in innuendos. And that's what happens whenever you're gossiping about someone or coming up with ideas that don't have really anything with what's going on. So once again, we see their friends here placing the blame on Job whenever they really don't know what's going on is not helping the situation. If anything else, it's exasperating Job because that's what he's saying. Teach me, tell me, if you're going to accuse me of doing stuff, let's be specific. Tell me exactly what it is that I'm doing. In other words, how can I correct it and make amends for it or repent from it, change my mind from it, and get back a proper relationship with God if you don't have specific things to tell me what it is I'm doing wrong? You just coming through and telling me, well, Job, you know, God only punishes the people that are guilty of doing something. You have to have been sinned somewhere, or else you wouldn't be in this condition. That doesn't bring any type of resolution. And as I said, it exasperates the situation, if nothing else, because it's an argument that makes the person that knows that they're innocent, it frustrates them because they're not given anything concrete to go on.

Next Passage And Farewell

SPEAKER_01 22:28

You use the phrase shrouded in innuendo. And I think that's a good phrase, a good way of putting it. There's some cults that do this. They'll go to some of their members and say, you must have sinned, tell us what it is. And they don't have any specifics. Well, that's what Job's friends are doing here to say, Job, you must have done something, but they have no evidence. They've basically invented gossip out of thin air. If we ask the question, what does the Bible teach about gossip specifically? There's several places in the Bible where it specifically tells us not to gossip. Gossip is in the same list of sins in Romans 1, the same list that includes murder, wickedness, greed, and he mentions gossip in Romans 1.29. Paul listed gossip in a list of horrible sins in 2 Corinthians 12.20. One of the last things Paul wrote when he was writing to Timothy, he wrote Timothy about gossip in the churches in 2 Timothy 3.3. And we're told in James that the tongue is a small thing, but it can move a great ship, just like a ship's rudder. So the tongue can move a life. Therefore, we need to be very careful with our tongues. The poison of asps is often under our tongue. The Christian needs to beware that we are not participating in gossip. The old joke is unfortunately true. We don't repeat gossip, so you better listen carefully the first time. That's the way it unfortunately is in too many churches. We're at the end of chapter six, but we're not at the end of Job's response to Eliphaz. Chapter seven will be next time. He's going to continue to respond to his friends, continue to express his pain, and we'll be reasoning through that next time.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Thank you so much for watching and listening. And as always, may God bless you.