As if Job’s suffering isn’t enough, he must now endure the scorn of onlookers, men who spit on him and openly despise him, simply for the suffering that’s befallen him. Worse, these onlookers were once far beneath Job on the social, economic, and moral ladder (Job 30:1). Now, they’re mocking him. Job falls into a unique type of despair caused when you are suffering but those around you are not.
No one was literally spitting on me, but I have certainly experienced scorn for my suffering from those around me. I experience it most on social media. Whenever I see a friend post about something she has that I don’t, but wish I did, I feel the scorn. A husband, a child, another book coming out—posts about these things can strike a sensitive nerve in me, a place that quietly suffers from loneliness, longing, and lack. Because of this, a simple engagement announcement, wedding photo, or book-cover reveal can feel like torture to my heart.
Unlike the wicked men in our reading today, this mocking is completely unintentional on the part of my friends, but it still has the power to deepen my despair, not only because comparison is the thief of joy, but because the voice of the mockers convinces me that I am alone in my suffering. Everyone else’s life seems to be moving along according to plan. Mine is not.
I wonder if Satan sent the mockers to Job, and I wonder if he did so knowing how frail we humans are in the face of loneliness. Suffering is difficult. Suffering alone is unbearable.
Perhaps this would be Job’s tipping point. I would have understood if it was, but Job still cries out to God. It is a despairing cry, but a cry nonetheless: “I cry out to you for help, but You do not answer me” (Job 30:20). His words foreshadow the ultimate cry of despair when Christ hangs on a cross and asks, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46).
Christ suffered. Christ was mocked in that suffering. Christ felt forsaken by God. All of Christ’s work and ministry led to those hours of scorn on the cross. And yet, I continue to sit in my suffering, I look at the thriving lives of those around me, and I convince myself I am alone when the exact opposite is true.
This is why the companionship of Christ and the knowledge of His suffering are so important to hold onto in our darkest times. If we do not listen first to these truths, we will only hear the voices of the mockers telling us we are alone.
But you are not. We are not. Not in this. Not ever. Jesus has cried out on our behalf, and because of Him, we are not forsaken, not abandoned, and never forgotten in our suffering.
Comparison is the thief of joy! It’s taken me a very long time to understand that statement. I am better at not getting sucked in to that “grass is greener” mentality, but it’s still there and shows its ugly head at times. But God doesn’t give you stones and snakes when you ask for them. I don’t know his plan for me, and I have to put my trust in him despite my lack of knowledge. I will keep my faith.
Today I struggled. I saw something in someone else life, something I truly desire and I wanted the same for my life rite now. And then I did this devotional and ohh did it knock me off my soap box.
I never knew how much I needed to hear all of this until today. I’ve been trying to tell myself that I am never alone, however, it is so much harder to believe when all I see is other peoples’ successes in life, getting so much further ahead than where I am now. Deep down I know that people experience times of loneliness just like I do, but often times the devil’s voice telling me it’s just me who suffers, is so much louder than the truth that I know to be. Thank You, Jesus, for Your love for us, and for suffering for us, so that we may never be alone.
The idea that we aren’t alone resonates with me at the moment. I recently wrote about my thoughts surrounding Mother’s Day and feeling alone. I’d love it if my rambling thoughts and feelings could be a blessing to some of you so please do go and read it, my friend graciously published it in her blog. https://www.rahabsribbon.com/home/me-too
I have struggled with the concept of feeling alone since suffering a late term miscarriage at the start of December and with mother’s days coming up it struck me that I won’t be the only one feeling alone so I attempted to gather my thoughts into something, I hope; will be a blessing to those who read it.
Suffering is different for every person. Events that cause intense grief for one person may just be a glancing blow for another. But the feeling of isolation in suffering is common to all. Regardless of what causes the suffering we feel alone, isolated, imprisoned by our pain. We can’t relate with those around us because everything else seems so trivial. But, regardless of my feelings, God has not abandoned me. He has not forgotten me. And He has not stopped loving me. My only “job” in suffering is to know God. To believe that His way is best. To follow where He leads. And, when life seems very dark, to cling even harder to the Truth.
Wow. Just wow.
To be known and to be loved and the two greatest things we need as humans. God gives us both and in a reverse because to us when he died on the cross he was not known and he was not loved. But to His Heavenly Father and to the heavenly hosts He was and was able to sacrifice himself so that we would never be alone and we would always be loved. Praise be to God for His bountiful gift of life!
I will not listen to the voices of mockers. I know, that I know that God is with me. He always has. He always will. I am blessed that I have many around me and reminding me that I’m not walking this journey alone.If anyone out there feels alone please re-read this devotion by Andrea and know that you are not alone. You have sisters here at she reads truth that are praying for you.