The Source of a never ending Hope

Read Job 6-7.

Bewildered, trying to understand what God was doing, and frustrated by his three visitors, Job struggled to maintain any hope of things getting better.

1. He asked for justice.

"Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!" (6:2)

2. His friends were of no help.

"For you have now become nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid." (6:21)

3. He maintained his innocence.

"How forceful are upright words!  But what does reproof from you reprove?" (6:25)

4. He could not sleep.

"When I lie down I say, 'When shall I arise?'  But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn." (7:4)

5. He would not be quiet about his pain.

"Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul." (7:11)

6. He repeatedly spoke of the brevity of life.

7. Three times he asked why. ((7:20-21)

Someone once commented that the human body may survive weeks without food, a week without water, but not a single day without hope.  Everyone needs a basis for hope that transcends this life.  Paul wrote, "If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied." (1 Corinthians 15:19)  Any source of hope on earth will eventually become a disappointment.

When Jeremiah's world was crashing down around him and he faced losing everything, he wrote:

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.'" (Lamentations 3:22-24)