Daily Devotional | Losing My Foothold

When we face trouble, it can feel like we are dangling precariously on the side of a cliff. We desperately try to find a foothold, any protruding ledge to grasp. It feels like any moment we will slip and fall.

Job was at the lowest point of his life. To make matters worse, cruel onlookers were mocking him. He was being ridiculed by young men whose parents were less than stellar individuals. Job described them as “[a] base and nameless brood” (v. 8). He stated that these men “mock me in song; I have become a byword among them” (v. 9).

Their cruelty is perplexing to Job. “Have I not wept for those in trouble?” Job asked. “Has not my soul grieved for the poor? Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness” (vv. 25–26). We can feel Job’s desperation: “And now my life ebbs away” (v. 16). “Night pierces my bones” (v. 17). “I am reduced to dust and ashes” (v. 19). In this condition, he cries out to God. He wants answers.

Often we, like Job, look for comfort and help to come quickly. However, the Lord's timetable is different from ours. In Psalm 73:2, Asaph writes, “But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.” Asaph had come to the point where he felt he could no longer keep his balance or maintain his grip. It was then, that he entered God’s sanctuary and realized, “I am always with you [God]; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel” (Ps. 73:23–24). Yes, it would be nice if people who comfort (instead of mockers) came to our aid quickly. But remember, God is with you through all the pain and loss.

Go Deeper

Describe a time in your life when you felt desperate for God’s help and answers. How did people react to your situation? Was it with comfort, or did they inflict more pain?

Pray with Us: Father God, we have to confess that the suffering inflicted on Job seems at times overwhelming and unfathomable. Yet, in the end, Your love wins! May we remember that, in the same way, You are with us through all the pain and loss.

BY Eric W. Moore

Eric Moore is Professor and Chair of the Applied Theology Field at Moody Theological Seminary. Eric is graduate of Michigan State University, Dallas Theological Seminary, the University of Michigan, and Western Seminary. He is the author of Pastoring the Small Church and a contributor to the One Volume Seminary (Moody Publishers). He has pastored Tree of Life Bible Fellowship church for over two decades. Eric and his wife, Marilyn, live in southeast Michigan and have three children.