Surely now God has worn me out;
he has made desolate all my company…
He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me. – Job 16:7, 9
In his misery Job thought God hated him and was his adversary. And yet he continues to hold out hope that God would hear his cries and deliver him. He still believed that God was just and would do the right thing if he could only argue his case before him.
In a few chapter, while still in his distress, Job will confess:
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me! (Job 19:25-27)
What an example of enduring faith in the face of hardship. Our pain will very seldom rise to what Job suffered but may our faith and trust in God never sag under lesser burdens.