Jewels from Job
Job – Chapter #10
1 "My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.” Job 10:1-22 (NKJV)
JOB PUTS IT ON THE TABLE
Job continues to speak. He tells us that he is not going to hold anything back – that he is going to let it all out. "I’m putting it all out on the table, all the bitterness of my life—I’m holding back nothing." Job 10:1 (MSG) He wants to know why he is suffering so. He wants to know if there is anything that he has done wrong. Sometimes when we go through suffering we ask the same questions; “What have I done to deserve this? What have I done to cause this?” There are times when we suffer because of our own actions – there are other times when we suffer because of the actions of others and there are times when we suffer for no apparent reason. In the un-natural – fallen – world in which we live there is enough pain and suffering for all. Welcome to the club.
Chapter outline:
Job complains of his hardships. (1-7)
He pleads with God as his Maker. (8-13)
He complains of God’s severity. (14-22)
2 I will say to God, ’Do not condemn me; Show me why You contend with me. 3 Does it seem good to You that You should oppress, That You should despise the work of Your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked? Job 10:2-3 (NKJV)
JOB SPEAKS TO GOD
In verse two Job addresses God. It becomes a prayer that will continue through the end of the chapter.
Verse three seems to ask the question: “Is God unjust?” Why would He bless the way of the wicked? Why would He punish the way of the innocent? We must always remember that Job’s suffering is caused by Satan not by God. It is Satan who has touched Job. It is Satan who has caused so much pain. Yes, God has allowed it – does that mean that it is God who is unjust? Job is not aware of all these facts that we are given the privilege to know. There are times when we are in the midst of problems when we do not see where the problems are coming from.
The more our problems – the narrower our view.
We must never forget also what James says of Job: “See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and have seen the outcome from the Lord: the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” James 5:11 (HCSB) Does it seem to you at this point that Job is enduring? Yes, he is – even though he is questioning what is happening to him.
4 Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees? 5 Are Your days like the days of a mortal man? Are Your years like the days of a mighty man, 6 That You should seek for my iniquity And search out my sin, 7 Although You know that I am not wicked, And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand? 8 ’Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; Yet You would destroy me. 9 Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again? 10 Did you not pour me out like milk, And curdle me like cheese, 11 Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews? 12 You have granted me life and favor, And Your care has preserved my spirit. 13 ’And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was with You:’ Job 10:4-13 (NKJV)
IS GOD NOTHING MORE THAN A MAN?
In these few verses Job’s attention turns to God.
In verses four and five Job asks the question, “Is God nothing more than human?” Of course he knows God is not human. Job knows that God is his creator. He is the creator of us all. Even inside the womb of our mothers God has put us together. “My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being formed in secret, in a region of darkness and mystery. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days of my life were written, before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.”
Psalm 139:15-16 (AV)
Job gives two illustrations of how he views his life:
Clay – verse 9
Milk – verse 10
Both of these he shows can become useless. Both can become of no value.
14 If I sin, then You mark me, And will not acquit me of my iniquity. 15 If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery! 16 If my head is exalted, You hunt me like a fierce lion, And again You show Yourself awesome against me. 17 You renew Your witnesses against me, And increase Your indignation toward me; Changes and war are ever with me. 18 ’Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me! Job 10:14-18 (NKJV)
JOB BECOMES GOD’S PREY
In the NKJV verses 14-16 gives three “ifs”:
1. If I sin.
2. If I am wicked.
3. If my head is exalted. “If I am proud,” Job 10:16 (HCSB)
If I sin – if I am wicked – if I am proud – I deserve punishment. I deserve it because it is what I have coming to me. But even if I didn’t sin can I stand firm before God? Will my knees not quake? Will I not fall on my face? Will I not be undone? Who can stand before the awesome power of God?
The argument seems to go – if I have done anything wrong I deserve punishment – but I know of no wrong doing. The punishment does not seem fair! Will the righteous suffer just as much as the unrighteous? Job who told you life was to be fair? Who told you this was punishment?
After all this questioning Job asks another question: “Why was I born?” But the question goes even deeper then that. Job wonders why God caused his birth. "So why did YOU have me born?” Job 10:18 (MSG) If all this world is nothing more then trouble – what is the purpose of life? If the righteous suffer unjustly why should there be life at all? Job is asking the deepest questions of man. If life is nothing more then pain and sorrow – why do we even exist? Would it not be better if we were still born?
19 I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave. 20 Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort, 21 Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death, 22 A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness.’ Job 10:19-22 (NKJV)
JOB’S VIEW OF THE AFTERLIFE
In verse twenty Job asks to be left alone. Are my days not few? Stop [it]! Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little Job 10:20 (HCSB) After a few days I will die. Rich Mullins wrote: “Everybody each and all, We’re gonna die eventually, And it’s no more or less our faults, Then it is our destiny.” (From the song; Be With You)
Job’s view of death:
1. A place of no return.
2. A land of darkness.
3. A land of shadow of death.
4. A land without order.
5. A “Black Hole” where even light is darkness.
The after life is view as a place, "Where death projects his shadow, intercepting the light of life: without any order, having no distinction of inhabitants; the poor and the rich are there, the king and the beggar, their bodies in equal corruption and disgrace: where the light is as darkness, a palpable, obscure, space and place, with only such a light or capability of distinction, as renders darkness visible." From “The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge”
How different this is from the Christian view of death.
There is such a thing as progressive revelation. That which we see many times in the Old Testament is not fully revealed. Even in the New Testament we may have a blurred vision. “For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12 (HCSB)
“We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!” 1 Corinthians 13:12 (MSG)
Lord, I pray for the day when our vision will be clear – for then we will see You face to face. Amen.”
