In Job 6, Job responds to Eliphaz, expressing deep anguish and frustration. He defends his despair, feeling misunderstood, and laments his friends’ lack of empathy, comparing their counsel to a dry, unreliable stream.
Reflection on Job’s Despair and the Hope
Job 6:13 (NIV): “Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?” Feeling utterly abandoned, Job believed God had deserted him in his darkest hour. With his wife unable to support him and friends proving unhelpful, he saw no way out. Despite his deep faith, Job’s despair led him to overlook a core truth: his strength and hope had always come from God, not from his own resilience. At this moment, he felt that if God had indeed left him, he was beyond all hope of strength or comfort.
The Message translation highlights this feeling sharply: Job 6:13: “Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps? Why, I don’t even have any boots! My So-Called Friends”. Here, Job’s language is raw, expressing that he not only lacked the means to help himself but had also lost any external support.
Pulling yourself up
In this context, to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” is an idiom meaning to overcome hardships independently. The Collins Online Dictionary defines it as “to improve your situation through your own efforts, without help from anyone else.” Job’s despair captures the deep distress of realising he could not help himself, nor did he believe anyone else could. His situation felt so bleak that he even wished for death as an escape from his anguish:
Job 6:9 (NLT): “I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.”
Being without help
Being without help is a frightening reality for anyone. Yet God’s ultimate plan for us is not to live in isolation or despair. God’s desire is for us to experience support and fellowship through others and Himself. Scripture repeatedly speaks to the power of companionship and shared burdens:
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (AMP): “Two are better than one because they have a more satisfying return for their labour; for if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and does not have another to lift him up.”
Galatians 6:2 (NIV): “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfil the law of Christ.” If Job had fully understood God’s enduring compassion, he might have found comfort in knowing he was never truly abandoned. Even when friends failed him, God remained near, ready to offer help.
We are invited to experience God’s presence and find rest in His gentle guidance: Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV): “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Ultimately, Jesus taught that true strength and fulfilment are found in yielding to God’s lead, not relying solely on self-sufficiency: Luke 9:24-27 (MSG):“Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?”
In times of despair, remember that God is our true strength, support, and hope, offering a way through challenges with His enduring presence and love.