This Week In

Trusting God in Severe Depression

Job 3:1-26 · Week 2

Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hathhedged in?

Job 3:23

The Big
Question

Can you trust God's character even when you don't understand your suffering?

Start get started.

Last week we began the book of Job, learning that God allowed Satan to test Job's faith while Job remained unaware of the conversation happening in heaven. Job's response revealed what he truly believed about God.

This week Job finally speaks, and what comes out is raw grief and sorrow. He curses the day he was born, but even in his darkest words, he never once curses God himself.

Move dig deeper.

Job 3:1-10

Curses himself, not God

Job reaches a breaking point and curses the day he was born, but he refuses to curse God even though Satan and his own wife wanted exactly that. He'd rather curse himself than step into the far more dangerous territory of accusing God. Two people wanted Job to curse God, but Job never does.
Job 3:11-19

Never accuses God of wrong

Job shifts to wondering why he survived birth at all, longing for the rest that the dead seem to have. He pours out his heart honestly, but he never once tells God He was wrong for letting him live. There's a real difference between being done with life and accusing God of injustice.
Job 3:20-26

Doesn't question God's character

Job wonders what the point of living even is now, wishing for death, yet he refuses to take his own life. He wants God to end it, not himself, which shows he still trusts God is in control. Job doesn't see the end of his story, but God does, and God has further plans.

Enduring Truth

Even in the darkest suffering, you can stilltrust God's character, just as Job, Paul, and Christ all did.

Trusting God in Severe Depression

Group Discussion & Response

Job 3:1-26

Talk talk it over.

Job uses several different Hebrew words for darkness to describe how he feels. What word or image would you use to describe your own hardest season?
Job never once accuses God of doing wrong, even while pouring out his pain. What's the difference between honestly expressing pain to God and accusing Him of injustice?
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 that he despaired of life itself so that he would rely on God, not himself. When has hardship pushed you to rely more on God?
Job doesn't see how his story ends, but God does. What would change about how you handle a current struggle if you truly believed God sees what you can't?

Do respond this week.

Pray

Ask God for the courage to bring Him your honest pain this week, trusting Him with what you don't understand, the way Job, Paul, and Christ all did.
Praise

Thank God that His character never changes, even when your circumstances do, and that He remains faithful in every season of grief and darkness.
Preach

Remind yourself this week that grieving deeply and trusting God are not opposites, and that even the strongest believers have struggled the way Job did.
Practice

Identify one person walking through a hard season and simply sit with them, the way Job's friends did before offering any words.

Close in Prayer

Father, we come to You in our pain, our confusion, and even our despair, just as Job did. We don't always understand why we're still walking through what we're walking through, but we trust that You see the end of our story even when we can't. Help us to pour out our hearts honestly to You without ever doubting Your character. We trust You, no matter what. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Notes & Reflection