Job Complains to God
April 21, 2020
Commentary
In this chapter we find Job approaching God from four different ways:
- He challenged God (vv. 1-7) – Since he could not find someone to represent him, he decides to become his own defense attorney. He decides to vent his complaint, even if it kills him.
- He reminds God (vv. 8-12) – He reminds God that He has made him with his own hands. He has molded him, so why would He so soon discard him to the dust from which he was made.
- He blames God (vv. 13-17) – It seems that Job thought God had this affliction in mind all along and was stalking him like a lion ready to pounce on him. He felt that his innocence meant nothing to God, since He was against him, no matter what.
- He requests God (vv. 18-22) – He tells God that he wishes he could die. However, since he is not dead, he asks God if He could please give him a few moments of joy before he does die. This speech, like some others of Job’s ended on a doleful note about death. It would be final and gloomy.
In frustration, Job jumped to the false conclusion that God was out to get him. Wrong assumptions lead to wrong conclusions. We dare not take our limited experiences and jump to conclusions about life in general. If you find yourself doubting God, remember that you don’t have all the facts. God wants only the very best for your life. Many people endure great pain, but ultimately they find some greater good comes from it. When you are struggling, don’t assume the worst.
Application
In frustration, Job jumped to the false conclusion that God was out to get him. When I face afflictions and pain that are beyond my control, I should never feel that God is out to get me. I need to remember that life’s trials, whether allowed by God or sent by God, are with my best interest in mind.
Job 10:1– 22 (NET)
1 “I am weary of my life; I will complain freely without restraint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; tell me why you are contending with me.’
3 Is it good for you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?
4 “Do you have eyes of flesh, or do you see as a human being sees?
5 Are your days like the days of a mortal, or your years like the years of a mortal,
6 that you must search out my iniquity, and inquire about my sin,
7 although you know that I am not guilty, and that there is no one who can deliver out of your hand?
8 “Your hands have shaped me and made me, but now you destroy me completely.
9 Remember that you have made me as with the clay; will you return me to dust?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You gave me life and favor, and your intervention watched over my spirit.
13 “But these things you have concealed in your heart; I know that this is with you:
14 If I sinned, then you would watch me and you would not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I am guilty, woe to me, and if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head; I am full of shame, and satiated with my affliction.
16 If I lift myself up, you hunt me as a fierce lion, and again you display your power against me.
17 You bring new witnesses against me, and increase your anger against me; relief troops come against me.
18 “Why then did you bring me out from the womb? I should have died and no eye would have seen me!
19 I should have been as though I had never existed; I should have been carried right from the womb to the grave!
20 Are not my days few? Cease, then, and leave me alone that I may find a little comfort,
21 before I depart, never to return, to the land of darkness and the deepest shadow,
22 to the land of utter darkness, like the deepest darkness, and the deepest shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”