I loathe my life. I would not live forever. Leave me alone for my days are a breath.
– Job 7:16
This is obviously one of many places in the Book of Job where he is at such an extremely low point where he’s loathing his life in a very real sense, not wanting to go on in life.
Job 7:16 reminds us we are not alone in our struggle.
It makes me think of preaching recently from 1 Kings 19, and I asked those who are listening, on a scale of one to five, how often the thoughts cross your mind, similar to what Elijah experienced in 1 Kings 19 about not wanting to go on, and one was, I don’t have those thoughts cross my mind at all. Five was those thoughts cross my mind all the time. And it was sobering to see that a little over 25% of the people who responded put three, four, or five.
So about one out of four people in that gathering was saying, I have those thoughts about not wanting to go on at least to the level of some of the time, if not all the time. And if that’s you, I just want to encourage you, you’re clearly not alone. You’re not the only one with those thoughts, and you’re not the only one with those thoughts of the history of God’s people.
This is Job and Elijah were talking about in many ways, heroes of the faith who struggled with those thoughts and my encouragement to you, well, first and foremost, is not to struggle with those thoughts alone, to share those thoughts with people, friends, family members, pastors, counselors, people you can trust and who will help you process those thoughts and pray with you. I urge you don’t struggle with those thoughts alone and at the same time express those thoughts to God.
Job 7:16 reminds us there is always hope for those who trust in Jesus.
And there’s a sense in which thoughts along these lines can be appropriate in this fallen world. I think about Paul and Philippians 1 saying, I desire to depart and be with Christ. That would be better by far than this world of sin and suffering and deaths. We long for another world, but obviously not to the point that we would take things out of God’s hands or do anything that would be dishonoring to Him or other people who love us, that would dishonor the life that has been given to us.
But that’s the reality of Job 7:16. And God has given us verses like this, like 1 Kings 19 with Elijah to remind us that in those low points, we are not alone. That he is with us, he is for us, and there is hope. There is always, always, always hope for those who trust in Jesus.
Verses like this, just point us forward to the hope we have in Jesus who loves us so much. He’s given us life for us, that we might have life in Him now amidst this fallen world and ultimately beyond this fallen world. So God, I pray for anyone and everyone who is struggling with thoughts, really low moments in life, and even sometimes feeling like don’t want to go on God.
This verse reminds us low moments in this world are not the end of our story.
I pray for every one of us whenever we might find ourself in that situation, oh God, we pray that in that moment you would guard us from the lies of the adversary that would lead us to think there is no hope that would lead us to think that we are completely alone. It would lead us to do anything that would keep us from the life that you have made possible for us through Jesus and the hope that we have in Him.
God, we praise you that low moments in this world will not be the end of our story by your grace. And because of the hope we have in you that we have reason to live even when we’re in low moments. We have supernatural hope, supernatural strength, and supernatural peace that is possible for us. Think of your words to us. Jesus. In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome this world. And God, we pray that you would help us to be good friends to those around us. Even the thought that in a gathering with your people, one out of four people around us might be struggling with these kinds of thoughts.
Prayer for the Baloch People
God help us to always build one another up and Jesus and we pray that you’d help us to share the gospel with people around us who are having these thoughts, who don’t have the hope of Jesus and God, we pray for those who’ve never even heard of the hope of Jesus. Lord, we pray for the Baloch of Iran and Pakistan and Afghanistan. God, we pray for the spread of gospel hope to them that in this fallen world of sin and suffering and all of its effects in Iran and Afghanistan and Pakistan, God, that the hope of Jesus would spread. Specifically, we pray to the Baloch people, we pray all of this in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ in His name, according to Job 7:16. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
