Job 17:1-16
Job, in his suffering, sees no way out other than death, and he calls death to his aid. This should have proved to his friends that he did not have a bad conscience. If he had been guilty of what they were accusing him, would he not have been afraid to appear before God?
His words become ever more heart-rending: "I am become one to be spit on in the face", (v. 6 – JND translation). This hateful and ignominious outrage was inflicted on our Saviour (Isaiah 50:6; Mark 14:65; Mark 15:19). Man showed all the baseness of which he is capable by insulting, in such a cowardly manner, Him who was without defence and who of His own free will had already gone to the lowest depths.
"Upright men shall be astonied at this", continues Job in v. 8. What a truly incomprehensible thing to see "the righteous forsaken" (Psalms 37:25). Such a sight risked upsetting the faith of many who believed in the righteousness of God (cf. Psalms 69:6).
"My purposes are broken off," cries job, "even the thoughts of my heart" (v. 11). Indeed God comes into our lives to bring us to examine our hearts and there disclose plans which may be dear to us but which do not meet with His approval (Proverbs 16:9; Proverbs 19:21).