Day 29 – Chapter 30

“Fools, even those without a name, they were scourged from the land. And now I have become their taunt, I have even become a byword to them. They abhor me and stand aloof from me, and they do not refrain from spitting at my face. Because He has loosed His bowstring and afflicted me, they have cast off the bridle before me” (30:8-11).

Of the many residual effects of experiencing trouble and trial are the feelings of humiliation. The higher the esteem with which one was held the greater the humiliation. But the humiliation is generally mostly the manufacture of the one who is in trouble. At most times few really care all that much about the trouble you face. We are the ones who tend to be the most concerned, especially when reputation is at stake. No one, you see, really wants to have their private struggle become public knowledge, but that is generally what happens when a successful person, a prosperous person, a person in an enviable position with enviable opportunities experiences destruction somewhere in their life.

Job is absolutely humiliated. He has lost everything materially and physically he can lose. The only thing left is his dignity and that is under serious jeopardy given the fact that his life has become a byword (30:9). What Job has yet to discover is that none of what concerns us matter much to God. He is not bound by our emotions or our sense of propriety. He is not moved by our feelings of humiliation because He is God and above Him there is none other. He is not concerned about them because He can turn them around in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. Let’s face it; those feelings are ours and ours alone. We have to learn how to handle them, tame them and keep them under control rather that allowing them to control us. Today grant it to be so.

Dear Father, the trouble and trial with which we often must contend have us embarrassed because of the humiliation we feel. Everywhere we go we think people are looking at us and talking about us. Forgive us for wondering why we are suffering. Forgive us for forgetting that there is nothing too hard for You to do in our lives. Give us the capacity today to turn our struggles and every feeling of embarrassment and humiliation over to You. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.