Crush Me?

Job 6 finds Job wanting to just die, because he has suffered so much:

Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for,  that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life!

Have you ever wanted to die?  You think it would be easier than facing the pain, enduring the same, or going through the darkness.  So you just hope to disappear for good.

That’s what Job hoped for.  He hoped for God to let go of his life – to stop breathing life into his nostrils.

When we are hopeless to the point of death, we are in effect stating that our creative God does not have the power to release healing, hope, and restoration to us.  In other words, we are declaring to our maker that we are done with the life he has given us.  We are rising up against the one who maintains our hope and telling him that we cannot live any longer, because we are in pain.

However, God breathes into us his breath for eternity when we accept his Son, and he will not grant us the prayer of death just because we are in pain.  He will grant us the request of strength to endure, hope against all odds, and dignity to bear it all without shame.

If you’re in devastating circumstances today, don’t ask for death.  Ask for life.  You are still breathing and that means there is still purpose.  That means your God isn’t through with you yet, even in the middle of the pain.

Instead of hoping for death…put your hope in Him…the life giver.