"I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came" (Job 3:26).
When Satan brought the first attack on Job, using the Sabeans to take away his oxen and asses, killing his servants (1:14-15), he feared that more trouble would come, and it did. Fire fell from heaven burning up his sheep and shepherds (v.16). Then the Chaldeans made off with the camels, also killing the servants (v.17). Then his family was taken away by a whirlwind (vv.18-19), and he ended up sitting on a pile of ashes with "sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown" (2:7-8).
"After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day" (3:1). Satan had predicted that Job would curse God (1:11; 2:5) if his possessions and health were destroyed. But he did not. However, he did wish that he had never been born. "Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent [receive] me? or why the breasts that I should suck? . . . .Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?" (3:11-12,23).
Asking "why?" is a great temptation for those who are in deep trouble and anguish, for those who are suffering, like Job, unjustly.
When this happens, it would be good to remember the following: "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy" (James 5:11). "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9).
Abraham asked, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). God did what was right with Job; He will do the same with us. NPS
