Job 10-13: Suicide is a huge challenge for people from children up to seniors. Life seems to get so overwhelming and death looks like a place to rest. I don’t think Job was suicidal, but he raises questions many considering suicide think about. “Why was I born. I hate my life. Why won’t it all go away? When will I wake up and it all be over? What have I done? How can I go on?”

I know for many of you suicide seems a foreign concept, but I have talked to people from all walks of life that admit to thinking about it once. Here are some things that these people had in common.
They were physically tired
They were emotionally tired
They were overwhelmed by their current situation seeing no way of escape
They thought no one would miss them or that their absence would make it better or easier for someone else
Some could be reasoned out of it
Some just needed a listening ear and truth spoken
Some had need of a doctor to help them

As I read our passage today it reminded me that Job had all of these things going on in his life yet he found his purpose and meaning in something much deeper. He lived to please God. He longed to be in right standing with him. When his friends were not enough, God was. When he felt he had to defend himself, he knew he was standing before God humble and willing. He did not have all of the right answers. I am not sure he was even asking all of the right questions. He did express his frustration and hurts. That is not forbidden. He did acknowledge his own physical pains and question what he was to do.

Hurt and pain are part of life and we are all subject to that. Just because we are a child of God doesn’t mean life will be easy. Far from it. That is also why his friends’ theology was wrong. Christians do hurt. Christians do suffer. Life is not easy just because you are obedient. We live in a fallen world. Sickness, pain, loss are all a real part of this world. BUT we don’t suffer as those without hope. We know that God is still in control and our present suffering is nothing compared to the glory that is to come. God chooses our time to come to this earth and our time to depart. We can’t take that into our own hands, and what seems to be falling apart today may indeed just be falling into place. Trust Him. You are going to make it through whatever you are facing. Now rest, eat right, allow God the time and space to work it out.