JOB LESSON 3


     We will begin this lesson in Job 3:1 "After this opened Job his
mouth, and cursed his day."

     Job refused to curse God. He was cursing the day he was born. He
had sat there 7 days, not saying a word to anyone. His three friends
had come to be with him. From the statement above, he had realized
that his friends thought that something he had done had caused this
punishment to come to him. I see this so much among church people even
today. If someone has a problem, they are quick to say that it is
judgement from God. It is more likely that they are like Job, here.
Satan does not bother with those he already has in his camp. It is the
true believer he is after. I was complaining about some persecution
levelled against our church one day. A friend said, Praise God they
are attacking you, Satan is not even bothering some churches.

     Job 3:2 "And Job spake, and said,"

     After 7 days of silence, he spoke. Notice, Job spoke first. The
friends could begin to talk to him now.

     Job 3:3 "Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night [in
which] it was said, There is a man child conceived."

     No one could blame Job for such despair as this. His sorrows have
finally overwhelmed him, and he wished he had never lived.

     Job 3:4 "Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from
above, neither let the light shine upon it." Job 3:5 "Let darkness and
the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the
blackness of the day terrify it."

     It is as if he was saying that it was a very dark day, when he
was born. This, again, was speaking of the terribleness of the day he
was born. He was just saying, that it had to be a very dark day and
night when he was born.

     Job 3:6 "As [for] that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it
not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the
number of the months." Job 3:7 "Lo, let that night be solitary, let no
joyful voice come therein."

     All of this was speaking of the amount of gloom that surrounded
Job.  He had forgotten all of the good, and was only remembering the
terrible last bit of time. Job wished that the night of his conception
and the day of his birth had been blotted from the calendar. This was
a sound of hopelessness.

     Job 3:8 "Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to
raise up their mourning." Job 3:9 "Let the stars of the twilight
thereof be dark; let it look for light, but [have] none; neither let
it see the dawning of the day:"
     Strangely enough this is the way that many people feel, when they
are very ill and in great pain. Some people in our society today feel
this way in their spirit, even without problems like Job had here.
Many people cannot face the realities of life, and kill themselves. If
Job had not had such great faith in God, he might have contemplated
something like that. The light was not there for him was what he was
trying to say.

     Job 3:10 "Because it shut not up the doors of my [mother's] womb,
nor hid sorrow from mine eyes." Job 3:11 "Why died I not from the
womb?  [why] did I [not] give up the ghost when I came out of the
belly?"

     He was wishing he had never been conceived. Since he was
conceived, he wishes he had died at birth. All of life was looking
futile to him at the moment.

     Job 3:12 "Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I
should suck?"  Job 3:13 "For now should I have lain still and been
quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,"

     Job was wishing that his mother had not nourished him. He felt if
he had died at birth, he would not have had these great sorrows.

     Job 3:14 "With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built
desolate places for themselves;"

     Job was speaking of the futility of building great kingdoms for
themselves that died anyway.

     Job 3:15 "Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses
with silver:"

     The princes who had stacked up gold, died and left it for someone
else.

     Job 3:16 "Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as
infants [which] never saw light."

     This is speaking of death coming to all. Job was still wishing he
had died at birth. He was saying, he wished his mother had miscarried.

     Job 3:17 "There the wicked cease [from] troubling; and there the
weary be at rest."

     The wicked are never satisfied. The wicked may stop trouble on
this earth, but they have a terrible fate awaiting them. The weary are
not the same as the wicked. Even Christians get weary. There is a
perfect rest awaiting those who die knowing the LORD.

     Job 3:18  "[There] the prisoners rest together; they hear not the
voice of the oppressor."


     The prisoners are oppressed on the earth. In those days,
prisoners were either chained up, or they were forced to do hard
labor. The oppressor, in this instance would be those who were the
taskmasters. When this life is over, all of that stops.

     Job 3:19 "The small and great are there; and the servant [is]
free from his master."

     There will be no separations in heaven. God is no respecter of
persons. All go to the same heaven, or the same hell. The servant is
no longer under the master after death.

     Job 3:20 "Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and
life unto the bitter [in] soul;"

     In this chapter, all the way through, Job was speaking of a
better place awaiting. Those that live in abject poverty on this
earth, will live in splendor in heaven. There are some who have a
miserable plight on this earth. It seems, they live where there is no
light, but in heaven where God dwells, there is continuous light.

     Job 3:21 "Which long for death, but it [cometh] not; and dig for
it more than for hid treasures;"

     Job counts himself among those who seek death. He was miserable
in life, as the people he mentioned were miserable. He knew there was
coming a day, when all pain and suffering would be done away with.

     Job 3:22 "Which rejoice exceedingly, [and] are glad, when they
can find the grave?"

     Even Paul looked forward to the death of the physical body, so
that he could be with the LORD. He knew it was necessary to live on
this earth, until he had completed his mission, however. All believers
in Christ are looking forward to that heavenly home, where all the
sorrows of this life are done away with. Verse 22 is not speaking of
suicide. It is speaking of rejoicing on that day, when we shed this
physical body, and rise to heaven in our spiritual bodies.

     Job 3:23  "[Why is light given] to a man whose way is hid, and
whom God hath hedged in?"

     Job was speaking of himself, here. He had lived in the light. He
felt that God had given the Light of God to him. The Light seems to be
unable to get him out of this time of being hedged in. Job felt
useless to witness of that Light at this point. He fely this was from
God and there was nothing he could do about it.

     Job 3:24 "For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are
poured out like the waters." Job 3:25 "For the thing which I greatly
feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto
me."

     These two Scriptures, in my opinion, have been grossly
misunderstood. We are told in the beginning of these lessons, that Job
feared God. We are not told that he feared anything else. Fear of God
is the beginning of wisdom. His fear of God is what he was speaking
of, here, that had come true. Job wanted to please God in all that he
did.  He was careful to keep the relationship with God open. He
prayed, and sacrificed regularly. We know that God found no fault in
Job's fear, because it was God who told Satan that Job was perfect and
upright.  Job, in a verse above, knew that it was God who allowed him
to be hedged in. I believe that greater than Job's pain from the sores
on his body, was a feeling in his heart that he might have in someway
offended God. There was no error on Job's part. This was an attack of
Satan on a righteous man. His roarings were like a mourning. He
desired that close fellowship with God he had known in the past.

     Job 3:26 "I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I
quiet; yet trouble came."

     Trials and troubles come to everyone. It is not the number or
severity of the trials, that come that make us different. It is the
way we handle those troubles, when they come. Christians are not
exempt from trials. The following is what Jesus said about this very
thing.  John 16:33 "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye
might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of
good cheer; I have overcome the world."  Our peace is not because
there is no tribulation. Our peace is in Christ. In the middle of
terrible tribulation, we can experience His peace. I would rather be
like Job, who wanted to please God in whatever circumstance he was in.
If I were not experiencing any hardships, I would be concerned that
Satan did not find me a threat to him.

























                            Job 3 Questions


1.  When Job finally spoke, he cursed _____ ______.
2.  How long had he sat without saying anything?
3.  What had Job realized about his friends, while they were sitting
    there?
4.  Who is Satan generally after?
5.  What did Job say in verse 3?
6.  He was really wishing he had never ________.
7.  What was he saying about the day he was born, in verse 4?
8.  What was verse 6 telling us about Job?
9.  The statements that Job was making, in verse 9, is the same way
    many people feel who are _______ ______.
10. In verse 10, he was wishing he had never been __________.
11. In verse 14, Job is speaking of the _____________ of building
    great kingdoms for themselves.
12. The princes who stacked up gold, ________ and left it for someone
    else.
13. There is a ________ ______ for those who die knowing the LORD.
14. What was the plight of prisoners in that day?
15. There will be no _________ in heaven.
16. God is not a _________ of persons.
17. In this entire chapter, what was Job speaking of?
18. Why do some people look forward to death?
19. What great apostle looked forward to death?
20. Who was Job speaking of in verse 23?
21. Who did Job believe his great distress was from?
22. Job's roaring was poured out like the __________.
23. What was the only fear that Job had?
24. Fear of God is the beginning of _________.
25. How did Job attempt to keep his relationship with God open?
26. Who told Satan that Job was perfect and upright?
27. What was the greatest pain that Job felt?
28. This was an attack of Satan on a ____________ man.
29. Troubles and trials come to __________.
30. Quote John chapter 16 verse 33.