Job covers a lot of area in these three chapters. He remembers what life was like before his afflictions came. He speaks of the horrible physical, emotional and spiritual pain he is in, and he wraps up by again proclaiming his innocence.

Speaking of his pain. I’ve never experienced anything near the physical pain that Job suffered, but I have gone through a few excruciating episodes. I have a back that every once in a while decides to lay me out. The pain can be so bad that I need help to stand up.

And I’ve had bouts of kidney stones. Oh my goodness. Talk about excruciating. The first time it happened to me, I didn’t know what was going on. I thought I was dying. I went to the ER and of course they knew right away what was going on, and they gave me a shot of morphine.

Now, I’m not a drug user, so you’d think that morphine would have an effect on me, right. Nope. It did nothing to ease my pain. So they gave me another hit. After a few minutes, the pain went from a ten to maybe a seven. But they weren’t going to give me any more morphine.

I tell you this to say that when I’m in really bad pain, my personality has a tendency to shift just a bit. Instead of the nice guy that you’ve come to know and love here on the show, I can get…shall we say…snippy. And my normally sunshiny disposition changes to gloom. I’m sure I’m going to die at any moment.

I’m a terrible patient.

So given what Job was experiencing, I don’t think we can really hold against him the accusations he made against God in the 30th chapter. Job said God had become cruel toward him, that He used his power to persecute him, and so forth. Of course we know that the attacks on Job came from Satan, and even Job (when he was in his right mind) knew that God was his redeemer. But Job had come to the end of his rope.

I get it. He was, after all, just a man.