If I had to label Chapter 30, I’d label it as a Look at Differing Opinions. There’s the People’s Opinion, which Job relates to in the first few verses, and there’s God’s Opinion. The difference between the opinion of the assembly and God is vastly different here. While Job is complaining about how he’d recently been treated, we see that maybe his righteousness wasn’t as far reaching as he believed. Before the enemy’s attack, Job’s opinion sounded a lot like that of the Assembly, his community. Yet when he loses their high opinion of him, Job realizes the truth of whose opinion truly matters: God. Job called out to the Assembly (Job 30:28) and they didn’t answer him, but God did.
Helping the Unacceptable
Did I not weep for one whose life was hard and filled with trouble? Was not my heart grieved for the needy?
Job 30:25 AMP
By his words, Job wept for those who were having a hard time and his heart was heavy for the needy, but did he actually extend a hand to help or comfort them? Did he go the extra mile beyond orphans and widows to lend a hand in some way?
You see, Job spent a whole part of his speech talking about how great he had been. The things he’d done for people, the wisdom he brought to his community, the respect he’d garnered. And it paints a great picture. After all, he followed the Law and cared for those the Law specifically stated to care for. But what about the other people in need?
What about the people he didn’t deem worthy of his help? We know they’re there because the first eleven verses of chapter 30 are about the sons of those I refused to put with the sheepdogs of my flock. (Job 30:1) According to Job, the people who were mocking him were the sons of [worthless and nameless] fools. (Job 30:8) When he could have provided and helped them, he didn’t. He saw himself as above them.
Who is acceptable to us? Who do we find acceptable to help or lend a hand to? We may need to reevaluate the type of people we see as worthy of our help. Jesus didn’t help those who were only acceptable to society. In fact, He made a point to help those who most found unacceptable. So who are we following in our life?
I wonder, if Job had lent a helping hand beyond what was acceptable, would he have lost his relationship with God in the first place? Or would he have found an active understanding of God’s heart that few did?
Poured Out to God
I went mourning without the sun; I stood up, and I cried out in the kahal.
Job 30:28 OJB
The Hebrew word Kahal means Assembly, Congregation, or Community.
Job is saying he cried out to his community, the people he claimed to take care of, and asked for them to have mercy on him in return. We know that many, if not all, of them turned away and pretended he no longer existed. Any who did answer Job did so only to heap shame on him or to tell him to die.
Job was relying on people when he should have been relying on God. His trust and reliance were on people.
I’m not saying we can’t or shouldn’t rely on others, but our faith––our trust, reliance, and belief––must remain in God. We must seek out His leading first before we seek people.
We could alternate the verse to read as, I went mourning without the Son.
When I expected good, then came evil [to me]; and when I waited for the light, then came darkness.
Job 30:26
As we know, the enemy entered the Assembly of God and basically accused God of playing favorites with Job. The Accuser knew things were well with Job, that God had blessed him immensely. So he did what he does best, he worked to steal, kill, and destroyed all Job had going for him.
On my right the [rabble] brood rises; they push my feet away, and they build up their ways of destruction against me [like an advancing army]. They break up and clutter my path [upsetting my plans], they profit from my destruction; No one restrains them. As through a wide breach they come, amid the crash [of falling walls] they roll on [over me]. Terrors are turned upon me; they chase away my honor and reputation like the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud. And now my soul is poured out within me; the days of affliction have seized me.
Job 30:12-16 AMP
This doesn’t sound like the assembly, the people, Job called out to or the sons who mocked him. This is a description of the attack Job has endured. This is the work of the enemy of God, coming to take all that God has given Job and he did so expecting Job to turn on God. But what does Job do?
He pours out his soul. Who is he pouring his soul out to? Certainly not his “friends” who are judging him. No verse 16 says, “And now my soul is poured out within me.”
Job is pouring his soul out to God. He is seeking God. In his affliction, in his pain, in the demise of everything he valued, Job is seeking God. He’s lost the opinion of the assembly, they’ve turned away from him and he can no longer please them as he had before. In the loss of their esteem for him, Job is realizing that he only wants God’s good opinion of him.
The enemy will do what he can to deter us from continuing to seek out and draw closer to God.
Twice the enemy stood before God and each time his plan was to destroy Job’s life so much that Job would turn on God. He could have stopped at taking everything from Job, but he didn’t. He wanted to do all he could to keep Job from finding a new relationship with God.
When we work to do good according to God, Satan will come against us and attempt to derail us and derail our plans. He will attack us, afflict us, and do everything in his power to come between us and God. It’s not always as drastic as it was in Job’s case, either. Sometimes it’s a subtle thing, a pebble in the stream. But pebbles add up and will cause problems if we let it.
Job could’ve turned away from God. He could’ve listened to the assembly, the people who were encouraging him to turn away from God. If Job had listened to the assembly, he may have gained their respect again in some form, their pity at least. Had he done so, Job’s story would’ve had a very different ending. Yet Job poured it all out to God.
His pain, his complaints, his confusion, his anger, his questions, all of it was poured out within Job’s inner being to the Almighty.
Like Job, when the enemy comes against us and does all he can to drive a wedge between us and God, the only solution is to continue trusting God and following Him through it all.
Instead of harboring our pain, our confusion, our anger, our complaints, and our questions, we pour them all out to God, not to accuse Him, but to draw closer to Him.
Whose opinion are you letting define your life?
Is it that of the assembly, the people around you or the world at large? Or is it God’s opinion?
Don’t be someone who trusts people over or before trusting God. Only God can rescue, bless, and provide as you truly need.
Above My Waves 
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