What is the meaning of Job 30:15? Terrors are turned loose against me Job cries, “Terrors are turned loose against me;” • He pictures relentless assaults, not isolated troubles. • Earlier he said, “For the arrows of the Almighty are in me” (Job 6:4), and “His troops advance together” (Job 19:12). The language is military—calamities are God-permitted forces laying siege. • Psalm 88:15 echoes the feeling: “I have been suffering and near death from my youth; I have borne Your terrors and am in despair.” • The verse shows that the suffering believer may feel surrounded, yet Scripture affirms God remains sovereign (Job 1:12; 2:6). Nothing reaches Job apart from divine permission, underscoring both the literal reality of his pain and the larger heavenly contest behind it. They drive away my dignity as by the wind The onrush of disaster sweeps away Job’s honor: • He once sat “among the elders” (Job 29:7-10), but now “young men mock me” (Job 30:1). • “He has stripped me of my honor” (Job 19:9) parallels this line. • Wind imagery stresses utter helplessness. Just as dry chaff cannot resist a gust (Psalm 1:4), Job’s esteemed reputation is gone in a moment. • Isaiah 64:6 reminds us “our righteous acts are like filthy rags”; human dignity, however real, is fragile. God uses storm-force trials to reveal whether our worth rests on Him or on public esteem. My prosperity has passed like a cloud Job adds, “my prosperity has passed like a cloud.” • A cloud drifts across the sky—visible, substantial, yet quickly dissolving. Likewise, “wealth is fleeting” (Proverbs 23:5) and “when the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more” (Proverbs 10:25). • Job’s former blessings (Job 1:3) vanished overnight. James 4:14 draws the same lesson: “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” • Yet clouds also promise future rain; God can restore fortunes (Job 42:10). The verse acknowledges the loss without denying eventual grace. summary Job 30:15 stacks three vivid images—rampaging terrors, wind-blown dignity, cloud-like prosperity—to confess how swiftly total ruin can arrive when God allows it. The verse teaches that: • Suffering can be overwhelming, yet always under God’s control. • Human honor is fragile and must be anchored in God, not status. • Earthly prosperity is temporary; only the Lord’s character and promises endure. Job’s lament, taken literally, prepares believers to trust God when terror, humiliation, and loss strike with sudden force, confident that the same sovereign hand can also bring restoration. |
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