Wishing You Had Never Been Born

Scripture: Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me Job 10:18

Observation: Job has resigned himself to the fact that God is in control. But if all God’s ways are just and good, and Job feels he has gotten a raw deal, what can he do about it? His answer is: nothing. Job feels royally messed over, and with nowhere to turn, he wishes he was dead. He wishes he had died in the womb rather than live a life of suffering.

Application: Many people feel this way. Few verbalize it as desperately and honestly as Job. God is using this verse to remind me that while I may have never wished I died in the womb—many people do. There is a lot of suffering and pain out there that is real and sore. In these moments of pain, God desires to speak.

Prayer: God, help me be sensitive to pain in others. I cannot always “fix” it or explain it (see the failure of Job’s friends). I may not even be able to assuage it one bit. But I can seek You for them and for Your purposes in their pain.