Why Am I Alive?

  1. Job laments.
  2. He is lamenting having ever been born. He’s lamenting that the thing he has feared has come upon him. I wonder what it was he was fearing.
  3. In chapter 1 we read about him making atoning sacrifices in case his kids had cursed God. It seems maybe he was fearing punishment from God and trying to prevent it.
  4. He doesn’t see behind the curtains like we do that God is proud of him, showing him off. He doesn’t know God’s plan for his future blessing.
  5. We should always acknowledge God’s work behind the scene. In time we can see it and we can ask for help seeing what His hand was accomplishing so that it was always mercy and goodness following you all the days of your life. We should be able to look back and see the trail of goodness and mercy. It may take time to see it, but it’s always there.
  6. Job isn’t seeing any goodness or mercy at this point. He wishes he had never been born.
  7. He thinks it would have been better to have not been born or to have died at birth so he could be at rest.
  8. What’s the foolishness in that thinking?
  9. It’s denying God as Creator. It’s denying God made you and has purpose for your life. Scripture tells us that God ordained our boundaries in space and time. He decided where and when we would live. You were born on purpose and for a purpose.
  10. If anyone who experiences anguish of soul was never born, then Jesus would have never been born and we would have no Savior.
  11. Jesus experienced bitter distress. He was in anguish of soul in the garden. But He patiently endured, which is all the more amazing because He had the power to miracle Himself out of His situation, but He chose instead to submit to the Father’s will, the good plans purposed for Him that included a time of anguish.
  12. God is in control and has purpose in all He does, for our good, for His glory, for the redemption and salvation of His people.
  13. All things we don’t want to miss out on! Submit patiently to the suffering. He will exalt you in time (ref. 1 Peter 5:6).