What is the meaning of Job 6:11? What strength do I have Job opens with the blunt question, “What strength do I have…?” (Job 6:11). The man who once “was the greatest of all the people of the east” (Job 1:3) now feels drained of every physical and emotional resource. • Earlier he admitted, “My strength has dried up like clay” (echoing Psalm 22:15). • “My bones cling to my skin and flesh” (Job 19:20) confirms the literal toll of suffering. • Scripture never minimizes genuine weakness; yet it also reminds that “He gives power to the faint” (Isaiah 40:29). Job’s lament is raw, but it lays the groundwork for the Lord to be seen as the true source of strength. that I should still hope Feeling powerless, Job wonders why he should “still hope.” The question is rhetorical—he sees no visible reason to keep expecting relief. • Later he sighs, “Where then is my hope?” (Job 17:15). • Contrast the psalmist’s self-talk: “Put your hope in God” (Psalm 42:5). • In gospel light we learn that “hope does not disappoint us” (Romans 5:5) because it rests in God’s character, not in our stamina. Job’s despair shows what happens when circumstances eclipse confidence in the Lord’s faithfulness. What is my future Literally, “What is my end…?” Job’s outlook has shrunk to the immediate misery of boils, bereavement, and misunderstood grief. • He earlier moaned, “My days… come to an end without hope” (Job 7:6-7). • Yet the wider canon asserts, “I know the plans I have for you… plans to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). • Even in the old covenant era the faithful could say, “You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will take me into glory” (Psalm 73:24). Job’s words document how pain can cloud, but not cancel, the future God holds. that I should be patient Patience—steadfast endurance—feels impossible when tomorrow looks no different from today’s agony. Job’s friends offered lectures, not comfort, stretching his endurance even thinner. • James points to this very scene: “You have heard of Job’s perseverance” (James 5:11). • Scripture calls us to “wait patiently for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14) and reminds us, “You need to persevere so that… you will receive what He has promised” (Hebrews 10:36). • Job’s question, therefore, exposes the human impossibility of patience apart from divine enabling; yet God will later vindicate Job and renew his capacity to endure. summary Job 6:11 captures the honest cry of a sufferer who sees no strength, no reason to hope, no visible future, and therefore no basis for patience. The verse is not a denial of God’s faithfulness but a snapshot of human frailty under extreme pressure. Cross-scriptural testimony answers each lament: the Lord Himself supplies strength, grounds hope, secures the future, and empowers patience. Job’s questions drive us to the only One who can fully answer them—our all-sufficient, promise-keeping God. |
    |