Job’s Present State Is Humiliating
30 “But now those younger than I mock me,
Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
2 “Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me?
Vigor had perished from them.
3 “From want and famine they are gaunt
Who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,
4 Who pluck [a]mallow by the bushes,
And whose food is the root of the broom shrub.
5 “They are driven from the community;
They shout against them as against a thief,
6 So that they dwell in dreadful [b]valleys,
In holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 “Among the bushes they [c]cry out;
Under the nettles they are gathered together.
8 “[d]Fools, even [e]those without a name,
They were scourged from the land.9 “And now I have become their [f]taunt,
I have even become a byword to them.
10 “They abhor me and stand aloof from me,
And they do not [g]refrain from spitting at my face.
11 “Because [h]He has loosed [i]His [j]bowstring and afflicted me,
They have cast off the bridle before me.
12 “On the right hand their [k]brood arises;
They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways of destruction.
13 “They break up my path,
They profit [l]from my destruction;
No one restrains them.
14 “As through a wide breach they come,
[m]Amid the tempest they roll on.
15 “Terrors are turned against me;
They pursue my [n]honor as the wind,
And my [o]prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
Job compares his present state to that of the outcasts of society, and it seems the tables have turned. He’s become the outcast, and they are prospering in the wake of his downfall. It’s yet another reminder of how fickle wealth and power can be. For just as it seemed that worthless men were prospering, they could just as quickly be back in the “holes of the earth”.
Regardless of where we find ourselves, we cannot put our trust in our position or possessions. Those things may pass, and then were would we find out worth? Well, we would find it in the place it was all along. That is, our worth is found in the One who created us, and the value He places on our lives. Our value does not come from the money in our bank account, the car we drive, or the house we call home.
Neither should any of our hope or trust be placed in those things. Security and safety cannot be found in this earth, for it is not it’s nature to be secure. The only security comes from God alone. And even when “all around is sinking sand”, if our anchor is in Him, we will not be moved. God can and will give us His peace when we put our trust in Him. He is a rock that will withstand the test of time, and those anchored in Him will not be shaken.