Why did Job curse the day he was born?
I believe you are referring to what we read in Job 3:2-4, “And Job spake, and said, LET THE DAY PERISH WHEREIN I WAS BORN, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.”
Job was a very wealthy man. He had a wonderful family. He and his wife had seven sons and three daughters. Job was a very godly man, also. In speaking to Satan, the Lord said of Job in Job 1:8, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” Satan’s response was one of cynicism and unbelief. He said in verses 10-11, “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.” Satan accused the Lord of putting a hedge of protection and blessing around Job and said that if the Lord would take that away “he will curse thee to thy face.” To prove the faithfulness of Job, the Lord told Satan in verse 12, “Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.” Satan could take all of Job’s possessions, but he could not take his life!
In one day’s time, Job learned that:
All his oxen were stolen and his servants were killed (Vs. 14-15).
A fire came from Heaven and killed all his sheep and those servants that tended them (Vs. 16).
All his camels were stolen and the servants with them were killed (Vs. 17).
All his children were killed in a great storm (Vs. 18-19)
How did Job respond to these devastating events? We read in Job 1:20-22, “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” What faithfulness!
We read later in Job 2:7-8 that Satan “smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.” It was at this point that Job’s wife gave him her advice. She said in verse 9, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.” Her advice was for her husband to relieve himself from all his suffering by cursing God and be put to death by God. It’s easy to understand Job’s wife concern for her husband. He had lost all he had, and now he was tortured by these boils that covered his body. Yet, her advice was TERRIBLE. She encouraged him to do the very thing that Satan said he would do!
Afterwards, Job’s three greatest friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar came to comfort him in his sufferings. When they approached Job, he looked so bad they did not even recognize him. They found themselves without words to say. They all sat together for three days without speaking to their friend. It was in Job 3:3 that he began to lament his circumstances. He began by saying, “Let the day perish wherein I was born…” In other words, he wished that he had never been born. For the rest of this chapter, Job mourned about how bad his life had become.
I encourage you to read the entire book of Job. Although he found that he had much to learn from the Lord, yet he NEVER cursed His Lord, although he did curse the day of his birth. After learning his needed lessons and remaining faithful, we read in Job 42:10, “…the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” (238.2)