Processing Our Pain

By Pastor Dan Hickling

“After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.” Job 3:1 (NKJV) 

One of the main lessons of the Book of Job is that his story is also our story. His experiences are an “in” for our own life experiences, particularly when it comes to suffering. If we look closely, we can see our reflection in Job’s tearful eyes.

This connection is important and one of the main reasons God saw fit to give and preserve Job’s story for us. At some point in time, all of us will need to process pain. And in Job, we’re given an example that we would do well to follow. 

But we won’t follow an example that we don’t relate to. God knows this, so He opens a window into Job’s being by which we can read and relate to him. See if you can relate to the pain flowing from his stricken soul: “And Job spoke, and said: ‘May the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which it was said, “A male child is conceived.” May that day be darkness; may God above not seek it, nor the light shine upon it. May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; may a cloud settle on it; may the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, may darkness seize it; may it not rejoice among the days of the year, may it not come into the number of the months. Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it! May those curse it who curse the day, those who are ready to arouse Leviathan. May the stars of its morning be dark; may it look for light, but have none, and not see the dawning of the day; because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hide sorrow from my eyes. ‘Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?’” (Job 3:2–11 NKJV).

We’ve all been there. All of us can resonate with what Job’s expressing here. It’s the same song, by a different band. And this relatability is the divinely appointed bridge by which we can connect to the example we should follow in our own suffering. Job wasn’t perfect, and neither are we. But he does show us that in our weakness and affliction, we need to keep our eyes of faith trained on the faithful One.