约伯的质问
约伯记三章1至6节、16及26节
1此后，约伯开口咒诅自己的生日，
2说：
3“愿我生的那日和说怀了男胎的那夜都灭没。
4愿那日变为黑暗；愿神不从上面寻找它，愿亮光不照于其上。
5愿黑暗和死荫索取那日，愿密云停在其上，愿日蚀恐吓它。
6愿那夜被幽暗夺取，不在年中的日子同乐，也不入月中的数目。
16或像隐而未现、不到期而落的胎，归于无有，如同未见光的婴孩。
26我不得安逸，不得平静，也不得安息，却有患难来到。”
信息分享
当我们继续读下去，发现约伯的态度经常转变，情绪异常复杂，时而持定信心，时而软弱怨怼，就像我们遇到灾难时的反应一样，我们不该觉得有任何奇怪。
约伯有时因强烈的自怜自艾而发出痛苦的呼喊，有时又因坚定信心的亮光，照亮整个生命。自怜的声音总是在追问：「为何偏偏发生在我的身上？而不是其他人。」答案总是像约伯所言：「但愿我从没有出生做人。」请看他在第六章1至6节说的话。
可是，当他持定信心的时候，他的话语却崇高超脱，那是信心的声音。在他与朋友的对答中，当他论及神对这一切事情的心意时，他的答案是：「我知道我所行的路，他试炼之后，我必如精金。」（二十三10）。约伯的意思是说：「我的生命经过试炼之后，会比之前更加有价值。」彼得也说过这个道理：「你们的信心既被试验，就比那被火试验，仍然能坏的金子更显宝贵。」（彼前一7）
你若把约伯与三个朋友的对答全部读完，你便会发觉约伯虽有质疑，却一直相信神。他不明白受苦的意义和目的，也没有我们今天有的认识，但他的话却包括了一句美好的信心宣言：「他必杀我，我却在祂里面有指望。」（十三15英译本中译）
经历苦难的时候，自怜是最差的反应，它是病人康复的真正障碍。它不能够荣耀神，基督徒在任何环境中都不应如此。
我们今天比约伯幸运得多，我们拥有整部圣经，知道基督已为我们降世受死；我们深深经历过神的大爱。难道我们不能更多信靠祂么？求主今天并以后的每天帮助坚固我们。
THE QUESTIONS JOB ASKED
Job 3: 1-6 & 16, 26
1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2 And Job spoke, and said:
3 “May the day perish on which I was born,
And the night in which it was said,
‘A male child is conceived.’
4 May that day be darkness;
May God above not seek it,
Nor the light shine upon it.
5 May darkness and the shadow of death claim it;
May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, may darkness seize it;
May it not rejoice among the days of the year,
May it not come into the number of the months.
16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child,
Like infants who never saw light?
26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, for trouble comes.”
Message
Job’s attitude varies as we go through this book. There is a strange mixture, very like our own re-actions at times. We don’t have to be schizophrenic to be a mixture of faith and failure.
Sometimes Job cried out from the depths of self-pity, yet at times his life was brilliantly lit up with wonderful flashes of strong faith. The voice of self-pity always asks, “Why has this happened to me?
It doesn’t happen to anyone else.” As Job said “I wish I’d never been born”. Look at his words in chapter 6, verse 1-6.
In Job’s best moments his words were magnificent. There was the voice of faith. In the midst of questioning as to where God was in all this, Job said, “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me I will come forth as gold.”(23:10) In other words, Job was saying, “When I have been tested I will be more valuable than ever before.” Peter said that in his epistle - Trials come so that our faith (of greater worth than gold) may be proved genuine.
If you were to read all that Job said in dialogue with his friends, you would see him questioning but believing. He couldn’t see beyond his suffering. He didn’t know what we know, but his finest words include this statement, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him” (13:15).
Self-pity is one of the worst reactions to suffering. It can be a real hindrance to the patient’s recovery. It dishonours God and is wrong for a Christian in any circumstances.
Today we have so much more than Job had. We have the whole Bible. We know of Christ’s life and death. We know the love of God for us all. Why don’t we trust Him more? Can we ask God to help us do that today and each day?