What is the value of suffering? To most people, the question makes no sense. Instead, we simply want our misery to come to an end, and as quickly as possible. But today’s passage reminds us that our suffering can, in fact, bring us closer to Christ.

Job knows full well that God, in His power and authority, could have given him relief at any time. And so he describes his misery in graphic detail as God personally attacking him, much as one warrior fights against another (16:14).

But much of what Job describes poetically happened to Jesus quite literally. Compare, for example, verses 10 and 11 to Jesus’ experience on Good Friday. He was mocked. His own people struck Him in the face. He was surrounded by His enemies, and given over into the hands of the godless Roman soldiers. In other words, as Job experienced suffering that he had not earned and did not deserve (16:17), he was walking in the footsteps of Christ.

But there’s another way that Job’s pain drew him closer to Christ. For in his anguish, he cries out for a witness in heaven to testify on his behalf (16:19). And that’s exactly what Jesus does for all of us. Because He chose to suffer and die in the place of all His people, He is able to stand in the presence of the Father, pleading His own blood as a substitute for the death penalty our sins deserve.

Now, we can allow the problems in our lives to make us bitter. We can allow our disappointments and discouragements to turn us away from Christ. But Job shows us another way. Like him, will we allow our sufferings to draw us closer to Christ, as we share in His pain, and as we seek Him to plead our cause?

Job 16:9-22 (ESV)

9 He has torn me in his wrath and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10 Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.
11 God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks me with breach upon breach; he runs upon me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness,
17 although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place.
19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high.
20 My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,
21 that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor.
22 For when a few years have come I shall go the way from which I shall not return.