4 Reasons to Overcome Frustration
JOB 21:1-16
1-2 Listen to what I am saying;
that is all the comfort I ask from you.
3 Give me a chance to speak and then,
when I am through, sneer if you like.
4 My quarrel is not with mortals;
I have good reason to be impatient.
5 Look at me. Isn’t that enough
to make you stare in shocked silence?
6 When I think of what has happened to me,
I am stunned, and I tremble and shake.
7 Why does God let evil people live,
let them grow old and prosper?
8 They have children and grandchildren,
and live to watch them all grow up.
9 God does not bring disaster on their homes;
they never have to live in terror.
10 Yes, all their cattle breed
and give birth without trouble.
11 Their children run and play like lambs
12 and dance to the music of harps and flutes.
13 They live out their lives in peace
and quietly die without suffering.
14 The wicked tell God to leave them alone;
they don’t want to know his will for their lives.
15 They think there is no need to serve God
nor any advantage in praying to him.
16 They claim they succeed by their own strength,
but their way of thinking I can’t accept.
JOB 24:1-17
Why doesn’t God set a time for judging,
a day of justice for those who serve him?
2 People move property lines to get more land;
they steal sheep and put them with their own flocks.
3 They take donkeys that belong to orphans,
and keep a widow’s ox till she pays her debts.
4 They prevent the poor from getting their rights
and force the needy to run and hide.
5 So the poor, like wild donkeys,
search for food in the dry wilderness;
nowhere else can they find food for their children.
6 They have to harvest fields they don’t own,[a]
and gather grapes in vineyards of the wicked.
7 At night they sleep with nothing to cover them,
nothing to keep them from the cold.
8 They are drenched by the rain that falls on the mountains,
and they huddle beside the rocks for shelter.
9 Evil people make slaves of fatherless infants
and take the children of the poor in payment for debts.
10 But the poor must go out with no clothes to protect them;
they must go hungry while harvesting wheat.
11 They press olives for oil, and grapes for wine,
but they themselves are thirsty.
12 In the cities the wounded and dying cry out,
but God ignores their prayers.
13 There are those who reject the light;
they don’t understand it or go where it leads.
14 At dawn the murderer gets up
and goes out to kill the poor,
and at night he steals.
15 The adulterer waits for twilight to come;
he covers his face so that no one can see him.
16 At night thieves break into houses,
but by day they hide and avoid the light.
17 They fear the light of day,
but darkness holds no terror for them.
JOB 36:1-26
1-2 Be patient and listen a little longer
to what I am saying on God’s behalf.
3 My knowledge is wide; I will use what I know
to show that God, my Creator, is just.
4 Nothing I say to you is false;
you see before you a truly wise man.
5 How strong God is! He despises no one;
there is nothing he doesn’t understand.
6 He does not let sinners live on,
and he always treats the poor with justice.
7 He protects those who are righteous;
he allows them to rule like kings
and lets them be honored forever.
8 But if people are bound in chains,
suffering for what they have done,
9 God shows them their sins and their pride.
10 He makes them listen to his warning
to turn away from evil.
11 If they obey God and serve him,
they live out their lives in peace and prosperity.
12 But if not, they will die in ignorance
and cross the stream into the world of the dead.
13 Those who are godless keep on being angry,
and even when punished, they don’t pray for help.
14 They die while they are still young,
worn out by a life of disgrace.
15 But God teaches people through suffering
and uses distress to open their eyes.
16 God brought you out of trouble,
and let you enjoy security;
your table was piled high with food.
17 But now you are being punished as you deserve.
18 Be careful not to let bribes deceive you,
or riches lead you astray.
19 It will do you no good to cry out for help;
all your strength can’t help you now.
20 Don’t wish for night to come,
the time when nations will perish.
21 Be careful not to turn to evil;
your suffering was sent to keep you from it.
22 Remember how great is God’s power;
he is the greatest teacher of all.
23 No one can tell God what to do
or accuse him of doing evil.
24 He has always been praised for what he does;
you also must praise him.
25 Everyone has seen what he has done;
but we can only watch from a distance.[a]
26 We cannot fully know his greatness
or count the number of his years.
MATTHEW 7:13-14
13 “Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. 14 But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it.