A Hard Service
“Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
Job 7:1-3
+
A Hard Service
Job now shifts his focus of blame from Eliphaz towards God. He is overwhelmed with his current situation, as any of us would be, and finding no relief or wisdom in his friends’ words he turns to God. Job feels as though God is an unrelenting commander. Forcing him into battle time and time again without relief or support. Job feels conscripted into an army he wants no part of. This frequently happens to us. We feel like we didn’t sign up of this. When life is difficult, and things don’t turn out the way we had envisioned we grumble and turn against God. We shake our fists at the sky and demand to know why God would treat us this way. Quite often this is the reason many give for abandoning their faith. “A loving and just god would not allow such suffering and pain to happen to me, after all, I’m a good person and I don’t hurt other people.” But we know this is not true. We are not good people, “we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment.” Yet God, in His love, still provides for us, still cares for us, so much so, He sent His Son to die for us. A hard service none of us could endure. Christ, the only innocent man to ever live, drank God’s cup of wrath for all, suffered the humiliation of the cross, and the pain of abandonment by the Father, and He did it all for you. So you could have a relationship with the Father.
Job 7:1-3
+
A Hard Service
Job now shifts his focus of blame from Eliphaz towards God. He is overwhelmed with his current situation, as any of us would be, and finding no relief or wisdom in his friends’ words he turns to God. Job feels as though God is an unrelenting commander. Forcing him into battle time and time again without relief or support. Job feels conscripted into an army he wants no part of. This frequently happens to us. We feel like we didn’t sign up of this. When life is difficult, and things don’t turn out the way we had envisioned we grumble and turn against God. We shake our fists at the sky and demand to know why God would treat us this way. Quite often this is the reason many give for abandoning their faith. “A loving and just god would not allow such suffering and pain to happen to me, after all, I’m a good person and I don’t hurt other people.” But we know this is not true. We are not good people, “we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment.” Yet God, in His love, still provides for us, still cares for us, so much so, He sent His Son to die for us. A hard service none of us could endure. Christ, the only innocent man to ever live, drank God’s cup of wrath for all, suffered the humiliation of the cross, and the pain of abandonment by the Father, and He did it all for you. So you could have a relationship with the Father.
Recent
Archive
2026
January
In The GardenBy Your Own LawA Kingdom Not From HereThe King Who Bears Witness to the TruthWhich Jesus Will You Have?Behold the King We MockedBehold the Man, Lifted for YouAuthority from Above, Glory from the CrossBehold Your King, Lifted Up to JudgeThe Place of the SkullIt Is WrittenEvery Promise KeptStabat MaterIt Is FinishedThese Three TestifyA True TestimonyA Quiet Courage at the CrossThe Empty Tomb and the Wounded SaviorSeeing, Believing, and the Linen Left BehindCalled by Name in the GardenDo Not Cling, Go and TellPeace in Wounded HandsThe Wounds That Speak PeaceYou May Have LifeMy Lord and My GodFishingIt Is the LordThey KnewFeed My LambsFollow HimFollowing Jesus, Not Comparing Paths
February
The Testimony That Is EnoughBefore Kings, Before the CrossBefore You Were Born, the Word Was GivenSet Like FlintRemembering First LoveForsaking the FountainBroken Cisterns and the Living CrossAshamed of Our False RescuesForgottenWe Have SinnedLift Up Your EyesLike SisterReturn to the LordThe Gift of ShepherdsOur Only HopeShame That Leads to SalvationCircumcised HeartsBlow the Trumpet in the LandWhen Wisdom FailsThe Storm We Have SummonedThe Sound of the TrumpetWhen Wisdom Becomes FollyThe Earth Shall MournCan You Find One?There Is No DifferenceThe Lord Must InterveneSpeak TruthEnduring Nation
March
A RemnantA Deaf People, a Faithful GodFlee to the StrongholdCut Down to Be HealedNo Superficial PeaceStand at the CrossroadsRefined by Fire, Redeemed by the CrossTrust in the Lord, Not in Your HandsHe Flipped TablesPoured Out on JesusYou Are His PeopleTruth Has RisenSilence in the CitiesWhat Have I Done?Not a Bone Shall Be BrokenWhen Wisdom Becomes FoolishnessBitter MedicineThe Hiss of Judgment, the Promise of the CrossThe Wound of Sin and the Healing of ChristIs There No Balm?Truth at the CrossRefined by the LordScatteredRuinedDeath Has ComeBoast In The LordLike ScarecrowsNone Like Our GodGods That PerishWounded, Yet Not ForsakenDisciplined, Not Destroyed