Job 2:7-8

7 So went [yatsa'] Satan [satan] forth [yatsa'] from the presence [paniym] of the LORD [Yahovah], and smote [nakah] Job ['Iyowb] with sore [ra`] boils [shachiyn] from the sole [kaph] of his foot [regel] unto his crown [qodqod].

8 And he took [laqach] him a potsherd [cheres] to scrape [garad] himself withal; and he sat down [yashab] among [tavek] the ashes ['epher]. KJV-Interlinear

7 Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes. NASB

Lest any of us might boast for any reason, God can bring us to our knees in total humiliation, in a matter of minutes, with only the power of His will.

Job lived several millennia ago, in the very early generations of the post flood human civilization. There was no technology as we know it today, no modern medicines, and no modern medical treatment protocols, nothing that might give Job some relief from his affliction.

Job suffered horribly.

Satan left the assembly of God, and he left it in a hurry. He was more eager to get on with his harassment of Job, than to stand before God Almighty.

These are the symptoms of Job's affliction - inflamed, ulcerous sores (Job 2:7), itching (v. 8), degenerative changes in facial skin (vv. 7,12), loss of appetite (3:24), depression (3:24-25), loss of strength (6:11), worms in the boils (7:5), running sores (7:5), difficulty in breathing (9:18), darkness under the eyes (16:16), foul breath (19:17), loss of weight (19:20; 33:21), continual pain (30:17), restlessness (30:27), blackened skin (30:30), peeling skin (30:30), and fever (30:30).

Many of the current commentaries claim that this disease could be anything from small pox to leprosy. But no matter what modern terminology might apply, Job was in a bad way. When you feel bad, a disease name does not help you feel any better. I would imagine that none of us today, have been so sick, even though we have all no doubt, found ourselves bent over the toilet a time or two in our life.

Job had enjoyed the honored position of a wealthy man, and that of a judge at the city gate. Now he sits in the ashes of burned dung, scrapping himself with broken pieces of pottery. His fall from position, in Satan' eyes, is now complete.

Satan has set out to gain a confession of hate from Job. Satan has taken away his children, his servants, his property, his reputation, and now his health.

Job sits in ashes with no medical treatment except for the soothing feel of ashes and the scrapping of his sores with a piece of broken pottery. Even his wife will not be a comfort to him, but more of a critic.

Job had lived a good life. He was respected in his community. He was a generous person. Job was a fair man. And now where are all of those friends and neighbors who he had helped over his long years of grace and charity? Who has come to sooth his sores, to bind his wounds, to apply any salves to his affliction?

Job smelled bad. Job looked bad. Job felt bad. Unpleasant, would be a kind word for his description. Who would want to associate with that? And no one would have anything to do with him, except for the friends who would come from far off to visit him. They are in for a shock when they see him.

And yet Jobs affliction, though it was applied to him, is the perfect description of anyone who rejects truth. Satan inflicted Job with the perfect description of Satan's own self-portrait. Satan's own spiritual portrait, that is.

Look into the mirror. If ever you have rejected, or ignored, or been indifferent toward God, Christ, and Bible doctrine, or if you have ever tried to define your own spirituality, then this is the perfect picture of your soul. Smile! Isaiah described mans righteousness as filthy menstrual rags. You can review that study in Isa. 64.

From head to toe, Job was miserable, and that is the state of mans life without God. Job was hopeless and helpless. His life was looking very bleak.

Job did not deserve any of this. None of us do, just ask anyone who has been in prison! But if Job, in all of his uprightness, did not deserve this, and yet he was hammered. Therefore, since we, who fall far short of Jobs credentials, how much more do we all deserve to be hammered even more.

But deserving is not the issue here. Gods wisdom is.

We are students without portfolio. We come to God with nothing to offer. We have nothing, and everything we have, was given to us by God in the first place.

Most people choose to go through life, doing things their own way. They generally have to learn the hard way, too. Some folks get the message without being hammered so much in life. That is the better way to live, one would think.

Job, in verse eight, gives us a picture of ourselves when we are at our all time rock bottom spiritual low. On that God can build the most beautiful and phenomenal person imaginable, but only if you open your eyes and start paying attention to His Word.

Stick with your own devices, and you will never amount to more than oozing, itching, smelling, maggot infested sores. Now is that something a person can be proud of?

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