Job expresses ruthless honesty. As a result of his massive losses, life loses all meaning. He therefore desires for God to take his life (chapter 3). He also expresses intense anger with God (7). In a confrontation, like a ravenous lion (10) or a merciless warrior (16), God would overpower him. Our losses may also lead us to some of those same feelings: depression, anger, or fear.
Job’s one hope, however, is his innocence. Also a lot like us, he feels he doesn’t deserve the suffering he experiences. Therefore, in an effort to obtain justice, Job’s one last hope rests in a lawsuit. The idea dawns on him early (9). He explores it further (13), and climaxes it with a legal writ to force God to act (31). God must now declare him innocent, and thereby admit Himself wrong in punishing Job.
While Job’s responses represent understandable human emotions in loss, the one factor they have in common is their focus on the Self. When life periodically hits us between the eyes, maybe at times we also want, like Job, to twist God’s arm to admit he wronged us.
