Why was I even born?

“Why did I not die at birth?

Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?

Why did the knees receive me?

Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?

For now I would have lain still and been quiet,

I would have been asleep;

Then I would have been at rest – Job 3.11-13

There is a scene from the great Christmas movie classic 'It’s a Wonderful Life.' Jimmy Stewart is playing the part of George Bailey. His life has taken a series of bad turns to the point where he suddenly gets the notion in his head that everything would be better if he had never been born.  

Long before our fictional George Bailey stood on that snowy bridge we had a real live Job who asked the same question.

Why didn’t I die at birth?

Why did my mother nourish me?

If not for that I would be at peace and not going through the misery I am going through now.

I wish I could say that those kinds of thoughts were rare. However the reality of life and the heaviness of trails can become overwhelming. Personal illness, especially serious illness, can bring anyone to the point where they consider if life is worth living. I can understand why anyone in Job’s situation would say ‘it would have been better if I had never been born.’

And that is the point of the book of Job. Job, like George Bailey and like you and me could not see the whole picture at this point. All he could see was right then and right there and all we can see is right here and right now.

That’s why Job was in despair.

Nut there was a bigger picture – and we are about to be privileged to see it.