Job begins his lament in chapter 3 with a strong wish that he would never have been born:

After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job spoke, and said: “May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, ‘A male child is conceived.’ May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it. May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it…Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes. “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? (Job 3.1 – 5, 10, 11, NKJV)

“Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?” I’ve read this many times, but this time I was reminded of It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart. This summary paragraph captures the essence:

The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his personal dreams to help others in his community and whose thoughts of suicide on Christmas Eve bring about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody. Clarence shows George all the lives he touched and what the world would be like if he had not existed. – from the Wikipedia article, emphasis mine

What would the world have been like if Job hadn’t existed? Here’s a clue from Job 29 (which we’ll no doubt revisit when we get there):

Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper. The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy…I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor… I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth. (Job 29.12 – 17, NKJV)

So back to the question: “Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?” Answer: because you did a lot of good in the world.

And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4.17 – 21, NKJV)