The description of Job’s disease yesterday was gut-wrenching. On top of his physical pain was the grief of losing all of his children and devastating financial losses. I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but I was wrong.

Job 7:5, “My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken and has become loathsome, and it closes up and breaks out afresh.”

“In elephantiasis maggots are bred in the sores (Acts 12:23; Isaiah 14:11). Clods of dust – Rather, a crust of dried filth and accumulated corruption. My skin is broken and loathsome – Rather, comes together so as to heal up and again breaks out with running matter.” Critical and Explanatory Commentary, Vol. I

I cannot fathom the depth of his misery.

 

“Most likely the story of Job is an ancient story (with its setting perhaps late in the second millennium) that was put into its present written form around the time of Solomon.” Amplified Bible Notes.

As I prepared for church, I went down my mental checklist: makeup, jewelry, perfume, Super Glue.

Yep, Super Glue! The last thing I did was to Super Glue together a crack on my left thumb. It is irritating at times, but painful when I play. I did not want to bleed all over a borrowed keyboard!

I thought, “God, why did you let it crack?” and I remembered that sickness is a part of living in a fallen world. I was humbled after I read the commentary on today’s verse.

Job 2:7, “So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with loathsome and painful sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.”

“Malignant boils. Rather, as it is singular in the Hebrew, a burning sore. Job was covered with one universal inflammation. The use of the potsherd agrees with this verse. It was that form of leprosy called black (to distinguish it from white), or elephantiasis, because the feet swell like those of the elephant. The Arabic ‘judham’ (Deuteronomy 28:35), where sore botch is rather the black burning boil (Isaiah 1:6). A potsherd – Not a piece of a broken earthen vessel, but an instrument made for scratching (the root of the Hebrew word is scratch); the sore was too disgusting to touch.” Critical and Explanatory Commentary, Vol. I

I am sorry I whined about a little crack in my thumb! (The Super Glue did the trick.)

 

 

 

 

I have one more day on the antibiotic and I still woke up with a raw throat from the drainage. My eyes are puffy and I have trouble reading. Even the bridge of my nose hurts. I can tell by the pressure behind my cheekbones it is just the sinus infection I have fought for over a month.

Earlier last week, I moved my Bible and books next to the bed. I have been reading and writing in bed on a lap desk. Today, I heard God say, “If you keep acting sick, you will stay sick.” It was confirmed in today’s verse.

Proverbs 18:9, “He who is loose and slack in his work is brother to him who is a destroyer and he who does not use his endeavors to heal himself is brother to him who commits suicide.”

“This verse reads in The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament). Its statement squarely addresses the problem of whether one has a moral right to neglect his body by ‘letting nature take its unhindered course’ in illness.” Amplified Bible Notes

I moved my books, and myself, back to my office.

 

 

Last night was rough. The pain woke me up at 2:00 a.m. and the medication could not overcome it. I tossed in bed for an hour and then watched TV. Finally, exhaustion drove me back to be at four. I could relate to the David’s pain in today’s verse.

Psalms 13:1, “How long will You forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?”

I was reminded of a paragraph that I read in the devotional, “Jesus is Calling” by Sarah Young.

“Thank Me for the conditions that are requiring you to be still. Do not spoil these quiet hours by wishing them away, waiting impatiently to be active again. Some of the greatest works in My kingdom have been done from sick beds and prison cells. Instead of resenting the limitations of a weakened body, search for My way in the midst of these very circumstances.”

Absalom wanted to be king. He did not realize that God picks the king. He tried to buy the throne. He bought chariots and horses and fifty men to run before him, 2 Samuel 15:1.

He made promises to the people, 2 Samuel 15:4.

He put on a religious front, when he said he was going to Hebron to make a sacrifice to pay a vow, 2 Samuel 15:7, 8.

He set everything up in secret, 2 Samuel 15:10.

He invited followers under false pretenses, 2 Samuel 15:11.

He sent for a man in high authority who he knew David had offended, 2 Samuel 15:12.

“Absalom sent for Ahithophel- who he knew was ready to join the revolt, through disgust and revenge, as Jewish writers assert, at David’s conduct towards Bath-sheba who was his grand-daughter.” Critical and Explanatory Commentary, Vol. I

How did King David respond? He left it all in the hands of God, 2 Samuel 15:14.

He released his private body guards and put his physical protection in God’s hands, 2 Samuel 15:18. (They refused to leave, 2 Samuel 19-22.)

He left publicly, 2 Samuel 15:23.

He didn’t take the religious articles with him, 2 Samuel 15:24-29.

He left humbly, 2 Samuel 15:30.

He prayed, 2 Samuel 15:31.

He worshipped God, 2 Samuel 15:32.

I think of the projects I want to be working on as I am lying in bed fighting this infection. The doctor expects it will take 30 days of antibiotics to completely recover. Some days are worse than others. I choose to have David’s attitude.

2 Samuel 15:25, 26, “Then the king told Zadok, Take back the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His house. But if He says, I have no delight in you, than here I am; let Him do to me what seems good to Him.”

I am not going to try to do anything on my own. In fact, I will obey my husband who told me to get some rest. I am going back to bed!