Why is light given to him who is in misery and life to the bitter in soul who long for death, but it comes not and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? For my sighing comes instead of my bread and my groanings are poured out like water for the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I’m not at ease, nor am I quiet. I have no rest, but trouble comes.
– Job 3:20–26
Wow. I read these verses and I hear the despair in Job’s, heart and mind and his life. He is depressed, despairing, overwhelmed, and even longing for death to use the language from verse 21.
Job 3:20–26 reminds us that we should look to God to find light, hope, and life.
As I read these verses, I think about all kinds of people for whom these thoughts are a reality regularly, for maybe people who struggle specifically with mental health or are walking through circumstances that lead to these kinds of thoughts of despair, lead to thoughts of depression, lead to thoughts even of not wanting to go on.
I just want to pray for anyone and everyone who finds themselves there now or will find themselves there in the future. And oh, I want to be even in this moment, a reminder to you from God in his Word, that in Him there is light, in Him there is hope, in Him there is life. And I just want to encourage you… For anyone who is in despair or depressed in this kind of way, just at a very low point… Know that you are loved. I don’t even know you, but I love you and I know God loves you, and I know there are people who love you. I hear God saying that to you even now, and I want to pray over you.
God, I pray for those who are in the darkness like Job was in. Those whose soul is bitter… Or those who long for death or who are filled with sighing and groaning and fear or dread. Lord, I don’t presume to know all the circumstances, the reasons why that might be so. But God, I pray that right now your Spirit would speak to their hearts. Remind them that they are loved by you, their Creator. Remind them that there is light and hope and joy and peace and comfort that can be found in you.
Job 3:20–26 reminds us that we can look to God who has conquered sin, suffering, and death.
God, I pray that you would provide all those things as they look to you. I pray that you would help them to reach out to people that you provide around them to receive comfort, help, hope, light, all these things that come from you through others. God, I pray that they would know that you are with them and for them. Jesus, that by the power that raised you from the dead, you would help them to experience life and light in dark and despairing moments.
Jesus, we praise you for your resurrection from the dead. We praise you that you have conquered sin and suffering and death… And all who trust in you and keep their eyes fixed on you, find, in you, a deep supernatural, never-ending well of peace and comfort and joy and help and hope.
Prayer for the Chhipa People
And God, even as I pray this over those who are in darkness right now… Just praying the gospel over them… God, we pray for people who are living in darkness and don’t have the gospel to lean on. Lord for the Chhipa people of India, this Punjabi-speaking people group of 150,000.
God, we pray for the spread of your hope and light and life to them… That they might have eternal life in you, Jesus. Oh God, in this fallen world with all the hurt, pain, and despair that it involves… We need your grace and your mercy, and we praise you for providing it in Jesus. And we pray, oh God, that you would help us all to be sensitive to the people around us today who are going through all kinds of things, including circumstances like Job was going through, emotions like Job was going through. God, help us to love one another and build one another up… To encourage one another and edify one another in every way possible. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
