An end without hope?

Job 7:4-21 (TNIV) -

4 When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’
The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.

5 My body is clothed with worms and scabs,
my skin is broken and festering.

6 “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and they come to an end without hope.

7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath;
my eyes will never see happiness again.

8 The eye that now sees me will see me no longer;
you will look for me, but I will be no more.

9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone,
so those who go down to the grave do not return.

10 They will never come to their homes again;
their places will know them no more.

11 “Therefore I will not keep silent;
I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
that you put me under guard?

13 When I think my bed will comfort me
and my couch will ease my complaint,

14 even then you frighten me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,

15 so that I prefer strangling and death,
rather than this body of mine.

16 I despise my life; I would not live forever.
Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

17 “What are human beings that you make so much of them,
that you give them so much attention,

18 that you examine them every morning
and test them every moment?

19 Will you never look away from me,
or let me alone even for an instant?

20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you,
you who watch over us all?
Why have you made me your target?
Have I become a burden to you?

21 Why do you not pardon my offenses
and forgive my sins?
For I will soon lie down in the dust;
you will search for me, but I will be no more.”

My thoughts -

I've experienced the kind of agony that keeps you up all night. I've closed my eyes and been unable to rest or sleep for fear of the horrible things I see. I've longed for anything and nothing to make it stop. There is nothing you can say to someone who is suffering like this that will make it better. There are no magic words of comfort and healing. What can you say? What can you do?

Job goes so far in his anguish that he wants to be "no more", not to be comforted by God but to get away from God. How do you handle the kind of pain that wants to turn away from God? There is no potential comfort left. Job says his days come to "an end without hope".

There's a lot of suffering everywhere and I have no idea how to "fix it". Really, we can't. We can only work to love those who suffer and to be available. It seems like a pretty powerless, insignificant thing. But that's what we've got.

Love with prayer and presence. Listen without judgement. Hope without reason.