Job...Vain Regrets Ch 29-30
A little side road of sorts here drawn from my daily readings of Job. Something that struck ME as I have wasted much time in the pursuit of this very thing and hope to grow more from this as well as stimulate growth in others.
Benjamin Disraeli said: Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old Age a regret. - Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield Disraeli Coningsby, bk.3, ch.1.
I cannot count the hours I have wasted in this pursuit. Hours of wanting to “go back but with what I know now.” (as if I somehow would not make the same mistakes because I am so very much improved). Hours of vain, empty regrets.
There are whole years for which I hope I'll never be cross-examined, for I could not give an alibi. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
I have wanted to correct sins by reliving them and erasing them and changing the decisions I made. I have wished I was bolder or less bold or nicer or not so nice on this or that occasion.
I am at an age when I often wonder if my life has been of much value at all in regard to eternity.
Now Job ,in his great pain and distress, after his 3 friends have blasted him for his wretchedness, sits in a very sad spot. And Job. like you or I, indulges in this very thing. VAIN REGRET.
I read this on Monday AM and decided to interject this in here before Elihu’s speech, because it is just before it.
Just a few thoughts about why Job had regrets and why we might indulge in them as well.
In the first 11 verses we see Job wishing things were as in days of old.
1 Job further continued his discourse, and said: 2"Oh, that I were as [in] months past, As [in] the days [when] God watched over me; 3When His lamp shone upon my head, [And when] by His light I walked [through] darkness; 4Just as I was in the days of my prime, When the friendly counsel of God [was] over my tent; 5 When the Almighty [was] yet with me, [When] my children [were] around me; 6 When my steps were bathed with cream, And the rock poured out rivers of oil for me! 7"When I went out to the gate by the city, [When] I took my seat in the open square, 8The young men saw me and hid, And the aged arose [and] stood; 9 The princes refrained from talking, And put [their] hand on their mouth; 10 The voice of nobles was hushed, And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
Job though he would like to go back and had regrets because he remembered the good things in those days.
Can we talk? I remember in Belfast when things got real tough and I was struggling I said to my wife,”some days I wish I could just go back to Greenville where things were good and people liked me.”
She would hug me and smile and say “You are only remembering the good parts, Steve. You forget the times when you came to me frustrated and struggling and ‘upset by those ‘twits...”
You know what? She was right. I love the people of our church in Greenville, but they were sinners nonetheless, and I was just as up and down there as I ever am now. The times were not ALL that rosy all the time.
Job has a selective memory as well. We know that the Job himself had stated in 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
It is the birthright of sinful humanity to have struggles. Looking back things were not ALL that good all the time for Him, for me, and perhaps for you.
Carly Simon, in her song Anticipation” said : And tomorrow we might not be together
I'm no prophet and I don't know nature's ways So I'll try and see into your eyes right now
And stay right here 'cause these are the good old days
Remembering the good stuff is healthy. It is what allows us to forgive past offenses and live in some measure of joy now. But there is also a time to look back reflectively and remember that “life was hard then too.” So we need to live on with today.
Now look at verses 11-17: 11 When the ear heard, then it blessed me, And when the eye saw, then it approved me; 12 Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and [the one who] had no helper. 13 The blessing of a perishing [man] came upon me, And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice [was] like a robe and a turban. 15 I [was] eyes to the blind, And I [was] feet to the lame. 16 I [was] a father to the poor, And I searched out the case [that] I did not know. 17 I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth.
Quite an impressive resume there isn’t it? Job remembers the good deeds he did and now he feels as if he should receive better repayment than the misery he is in .
I found this in a blog called Patti’s homepage:
One of the most difficult attitude problems any counselor faces is that of "entitlement". Entitlement is an attitude of "I'm owed." It is apparent in beliefs such as these:
"I'm a college graduate, so I deserve a high-paying job."
"I've been good to my friends, so they owe me their loyalty."
"I am a senior citizen, so I deserve younger people's respect."
"We weren't put on this earth to suffer, so life owes me a break."
"I took care of my kids when they were young, so I am entitled to some special care from them when I grow old."
Our culture loves to foster these notions in us. During the 1970's, McDonald's restaurants built an entire ad campaign around the slogan, "You deserve a break today." In the 1980's, another ad campaign said, "Pamper yourself with Calgon." In the 1990's, it was "You owe it to yourself to buy a Mercedes Benz." Society continues to bombard us with the message that we are such fantastic people, we are entitled to an equally fantastic way of living.
To some degree, we all have entitlement feelings. We carry around a sense of being owed for something we have done or for some wonderful trait we have. When we feel entitled, we focus on what we are owed, not what we might need to give to others. It is a "one-way street" mind-set. When these feelings are strong and people don't meet our expectations, we often find ourselves bitter, resentful, and angry. Relationships can be (and often are) destroyed by feelings of entitlement.
Job felt that all the benevolence of his past entitled him to special favor now. He longs for this .
We can indulge in vain regrets when we think “After all I did for them, why did they do this to me?” Job was in that mode to some degree as well.
Now looking at vv 18-20 18 Then I said, 'I shall die in my nest, And multiply [my] days as the sand. 19 My root [is] spread out to the waters, And the dew lies all night on my branch. 20 My glory [is] fresh within me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.'
Job, in his life, had expectations.
I know of a woman who always dreamed that her grown daughter who lived in another state would come and drop her life and care for her.
When the daughter (who knew nothing of this) indicated the direction of her life, the woman was deeply hurt. She had false expectations.
We can have expectations of others or of circumstances that are unrealistic or at the least not reality. He had a good retirement. And now all of that was gone and all he had was empty regrets.
Job EXPECTED that , as his life was fine, he would live long a die in his nest.
We may look back in our lives with vain regrets because we had false expectations of people or things or circumstances. Even false expectations of what we think the Bible means.
Some read “all things work together for good” to mean that all the bad stuff that happens will have a good outcome. But the rest of that scripture goes on to show that it is speaking of God ‘s perfecting hand in forming us into his likeness.
So vain regrets can come from false expectations.
Now look at vv 21-25 "21 [Men] listened to me and waited, And kept silence for my counsel. 22 After my words they did not speak again, And my speech settled on them [as dew]. 23They waited for me [as] for the rain, And they opened their mouth wide [as] for the spring rain. 24 [If] I mocked at them, they did not believe [it], And the light of my countenance they did not cast down. 25 I chose the way for them, and sat as chief; So I dwelt as a king in the army, As one [who] comforts mourners. /
Job had vain regrets because he used to have honor and felt he deserved better.
That sort of overlaps previous thoughts so i will move on into chapter 30.
1. But now they mock at me, [men] younger than I, Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock. 2 Indeed, what [profit] is the strength of their hands to me? Their vigor has perished.
Here is the BUT NOW section of Job’s vain regrets. Here he contrasts his present misery with his past pleasures. He says “It just isn’t fair.” He compares the indignity of NOW with the dignity he felt he had earned.
I visit in hospital often enough. I have done so for over 25 years. LISTEN! Many formerly dignified persons go there in their older years and the first thing they have to sacrifice is dignity.
This isn’t done to be mean, it is just that to attend to the physical needs of many patients, certain procedures need to be done. (ICU=robe with no back).
I know I have often gone for a coffee at the appropriate moment just to salvage some of the dignity of a close friend. We are born wrinkled, bald , naked and crying and by and large we leave the same way. It just doesn’t seem fair.
Now Job’s shattered sense of dignity was a bit different. People paid him no respect. People whose Dad’s were not allowed to hang out with his sheep dogs because they weren’t deemed good enough. And now they looked down on him.
I see a lot of disrespect among many young people today, I see kids shoving past older people, pushing through and not thinking for a minute that that old man stormed the beaches at Normandy, or that Grammy looking woman saved countless lives in her service in Vietnam. They do not know that the sweet ,quiet lady who can’t move fast enough for their speedy selfish little feet, tended the sick at a hospital or cared for elderly. It just isn’t fair. And if we are not careful we can have vain regrets because we feel we deserve better. BY THE WAY... Those older folk DO, young folk and I am pleased when I see you showing them honor.
But Job’s vain regrets come from a violated sense of dignity.
And the situation he is in now, added to by these regrets we see in vv 16-23
"16 And now my soul is poured out because of my [plight]; The days of affliction take hold of me. 17 My bones are pierced in me at night, And my gnawing pains take no rest. 18 By great force my garment is disfigured; It binds me about as the collar of my coat. 19 He has cast me into the mire, And I have become like dust and ashes. 20"I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You regard me. 21 [But] You have become cruel to me; With the strength of Your hand You oppose me. 22 You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride [on it]; You spoil my success. 23 For I know [that] You will bring me [to] death, And [to] the house appointed for all living.
/All of these inner thoughts have drained Job. I wonder if he remembers the great outburst of chapter 19 “My redeemer lives?”
My wife, in my times of vain regrets or mulling over what can’t be helped, says “Steve, you think too much.” Job is mulling over things that can’t be changed, he cannot go back, he can only go forward. But he is in despair and in verses 24-31 he contrasts once more the “THEN and the NOW.”
Surely He would not stretch out [His] hand against a heap of ruins, If they cry out when He destroys [it]. 25 Have I not wept for him who was in trouble? Has [not] my soul grieved for the poor? 26 But when I looked for good, evil came [to me]; And when I waited for light, then came darkness. 27 My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest; Days of affliction confront me.
28I go about mourning, but not in the sun; I stand up in the assembly [and] cry out for help.
29 I am a brother of jackals, And a companion of ostriches. 30My skin grows black and falls from me; My bones burn with fever. 31 My harp is [turned] to mourning, And my flute to the voice of those who weep./
Folks, all of Job’s lapsing into vain regrets have brought him into self pity, they “Why ME syndrome.”
This is an easy place to be if we do not have a good understanding of what is going on behind the scenes. Job has no clue how the “heavenlies” are tuned in to his plight. All he knows is that he is in deep despair and hurting badly and All his “friends, the 3 stooges, can do is taunt and criticize and condemn.
I am understanding that I cannot go back, I cannot fix the horrible mistakes of my past, cannot UNDO the sins, cannot recall the unkind words cannot relive those choices.
I have but one choice. Go to God though Jesus and accept it, accept what he has done. He has purged my past and he alone can make it clean and whole.
Rush of fools wrote: "Undo"
I've been here before Now, here I am again Standing at the door Praying You'll let me back in To label me A prodigal would be Only scratching the surface Of who I've been known to be
Turn me around, pick me up Undo what I've become Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace I need You, I need Your help
I can't do this myself You're the only one Who can undo what I've become
That is one important step. Let Jesus have your past, your sins your failures and even your successes. Lay your horrors AND your honors at his feet that he may make of them and of you what he thinks best.
Because you cannot go back.
May I share a private pain, a moment of MY vain regrets?
Glory Days ( a poem of self pity)
Underachiever? Or just content to be average. In my life were no glory days to look upon.
An average student in high school years no effort to excel or rise above and in my life so oft I’ve missed the best of things because I just didn’t try
Yet good things have come to me and I cannot take credit for them They came despite no honest days of glory gone.
In Uncle’s Army, while others went to fight in foreign war I spent an almost easy time in European hills untouched by all the misery and the gore
And was the guilt not merited because I lived and others died alone And can I hold my head up high when heroes tread in glory march back home?
Because my memory was good I passed the test yet learning was not always there
And coasting through my ministries has burdened me a times and i really really want to care.
No glory days in yester-life, no blazing moments of my past to wow the crowds
just average,not so glory days and I didn’t always do my best a fact of which I am not proud.
A smattering of German , of Igbo just a bit, of french enough to buy a meal and Spanish? Not a wit And with an aptitude, they say, for language, you can see I’m not in line for glory days no power in me for glory days I’m just an average me. (Steve Nute)
Lord, help me be the best average me I can be...
All that is is self pity and vain regrets.... you cannot go back.
So because you cannot go back, make sure that your future self doesn’t have regrets.
Live today for Christ, “you cannot turn back the hands of time, but you can wind the clock” (Bonnie Prudden)
Live to the max, let Jesus be your master and commander and give it all to him, your past with it’s honors and it’s horrors, and let him help you wind the clock.
I conclude with “This is by an unknown author, but it was on an old WORD record by Stuart Hamblen that my Mom had. It stayed with me and I finally found it on the web,and filled in my blanks. Listen to this as an encouragement to live large in the present and not dwell on past regrets.
You can not control the length of your life, But you can the width and the breadth,
And the place you obtain in those quiet halls of fame, That position is yours to decide,
And the trail that you blaze in life's rugged hills can be broad and easy to find,
And the height you reach, inspire others to climb, Those generations yet unborn to time.
You can not steal back from a day that is spent idle words or one single deed,
They are posted at night on the bill board of time, For others who follow to read,
Nor can you dictate what history will write, be it mean or be it sublime,
But what's written of you will have an effect, On those generations yet unborn to time.
Did the world get a bargain the day you were born, Or has you life to others brought shame,
Do you ponder the fact how the folk will react, When descendants of yours speak your name,
Will the ink of your life stand bold, or fade out, As history appraises the lines,
Is their untarnished value in what you bequeath, To those generations yet unborn to time?
--Author Unknown
Please think about that. AMEN
