What We Complain About Reveals Where Our Affections Lie

I cannot keep from speaking. I must express my anguish. My bitter soul must complain. [Job 7.11] 

Why could Job not keep from speaking?

Why was Job compelled to express his anguish?

Why did Job feel his bitter soul must complain?

There is a reason... But first, we must understand, as Job eventually confessed, that Job's speaking, expressing and complaining are the very things that revealed his indiscretion:

Then Job replied to the LORD, “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.” [Job 40.3-5]

Job's repentance was for all he had spoken, expressed and complained - what he said. But, again, why did Job run his mouth so much necessitating his repentance? Before answering this question, we should first understand that "repent" means to "turn away" - to "turn around" from what is wrong to what is right. It is in this understanding that we are given the answer to why Job couldn't keep his mouth shut.

We looked forward to find that Job eventually repented for what he said, now, let's look back to what happened to inspire Job's verbal torrent. In broad and general terms, Job's loss regarding possessions and life were at the center of his complaint. God's and Satan's background story aside, we are given a clear foretelling of Jesus in the fact that there were two separate tragedies in Job's story: 1) his loss of possessions and 2) his loss of his own health. Possessions have everything to do with man's ways and health has everything to do with physical life. It just so happens that these two things (Job's tragedies) are the very two things Jesus specifically identified that would prevent a person from following Him.

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)]

Job's running-of-the-mouth was the natural response of one whose affections are inappropriately fixed on possessions and life instead of God. Regardless how blessed Job looked and sounded on the outside, his inappropriate affections could only be revealed when his possessions and life were jeopardized. 

The "backstory" of God's and Satan's exchange in Job's plight revealed that Satan had no idea what was in Job's heart while God obviously did (Jeremiah 17.9-10). God's "upright" description of Job to Satan was based on Satan's perception of Job, not God's (otherwise, Job would not have been found in need of repentance).

Possessions and life are the driving forces behind idolatry. Possessions and life are at the selfish core of debt, insurance, medicine and technology - all idols of man's design. Unironically, possessions and life must be forsaken and abandoned in order to follow Jesus.

Job's restoration came only after he forsook and abandoned (repented for) his affection, previously manifested in his verbal tirades, for possessions and life. Only after Job repented of his idolatrous selfishness revealed in what he said did he realize what Jesus would later describe in Matthew 6:

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. [Matthew 6.25-34]

If our affections are not singularly upon God alone, we find ourselves, like Job, in need of repentance.

“I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. [Exodus 20.2-7] 

 What we complain about reveals where our affections lie. 

Father, I am indicted here more than anyone I know. Will You find me repentant for my selfish idolatry? I genuinely want that to be the case - I want my words, my disposition and my actions to all reveal my affection only for You. So be it.