Hello everyone! Today’s Bible study is on Job 10 – Job Pleads With God. According to Bible scholars, the events of the book of Job took place approximately before 2100 B.C.
I encourage you to turn to Job 10 in your Bible. Kindly invite the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read and study Job 10 with me. I mention this in all the Bible Studies because it is through the Holy Spirit that we get fresh revelation and knowledge to understand the word of God better. I am using the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, just in case you want to know. All the scriptures that you find highlighted in purple in this post are from the NKJV.
In the Bible Study on Job 9, we read about how Job has no mediator in the court of God. Well, in this Bible study on Job 10, we will read about Job’s discourse of how he would plead with God for relief from his suffering.
Without any further delay, let us begin the Bible Study on Job 10, shall we?
Job Loathes His Life
1 “My soul loathes my life;
I will give free course to my complaint,
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
In Verse 1 of Job 10, Job tells how he hates his life. Job is so exhausted and exasperated with his illness and situation that he says that he will no longer hold his tongue. He complains without any restraint and speaks from the bitterness of his soul. Job’s soul was heavy with grief and bitterness about his sudden and extreme trial. He was facing the worst trial that any one in his time had ever faced up until that time.
Job Seeks Answers From God
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?
4Â 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,
6Â That You should seek for my iniquity
And search out my sin,
7Â Although You know that I am not wicked,
And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?
In Verses 2-7 of Job 10, Job says that He would plead with God to not condemn him and ask God to show him why He contends with him. In short, Job wants to know the reason behind his suffering. He further asks how does it please God to oppress him(Job), who is His very creation. And does it seem good to God to smile on the counsel on the wicked?
Job further asks if it seems right to God to seek for his iniquity like mortal men who seek revenge knowing fully well that he couldn’t deliver himself from His hand. Job claims that he is not even wicked to begin with. And God knows that Job is not wicked too. To God, Job is honest and it is satan who is against Job and wants to prove God wrong about Job. This is the reason behind the whole test.
Job Reflects On How God Made Him
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.
In Verses 8-11 of Job 10, Job reflects on how God created him intricately. And he thinks to himself on how the same hands that created him are now destroying him. He further explains how God made him like clay and yet He will turn him to dust again. Job’s question is that if God eventually wanted to destroy him then why did He create him in the first place. All his sufferings could have been avoided easily if he were not created. He reflects on how God clothed him with skin and flesh and knit him with bones and sinews.
In Verse 12 of Job 10, Job speaks of how God had granted him with life and favour and His care had preserved his spirit. And yet, this same God who preserved him is now destroying him, according to Job. Again, Job does not have any idea about the satan’s bet with God, regarding him, in the courts of Heaven. Job was confused at this point and didn’t understand what was going on. He was not hearing from God either and God seemed so distant in his time of need.
Observation
From Verses 8-12 of Job 10, we understand how God created man. He made him from the dust of the earth with intricate unity – taking care of even the minutest details. God made man like clay, poured him out like milk and curdled him like cheese. He clothed us with skin and flesh and knit us together with bones and sinews.
In Job 10, we see how the Creator intricately forms us and designs us and we can’t take any credit for His work. For we are His created beings. We are not created by other humans.
That is why we cannot take credit for our children’s lives saying that we created them. NO. We didn’t. He is the the creator. We can copiate (man and woman) to produce a human body (which the Creator has already built in us) but “Life” comes from the Creator and from Him alone. We do not have any power in our name but in the name of Jesus alone.
Job Talks About God Hunting Him Down
13 ‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart;
I know that this was with You:
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.
In Verses 13-17 of Job 10, Job tells how God has hidden his sin and iniquity in His heart and hidden it from him too. Job says that if he sins, God marks him for his iniquity and does not acquit him. And he was doomed if he was wicked. He cannot lift up his head even if he is righteous for no one is more righteous than God. He exclaims that he is full of disgrace and wants God to look at his misery. Job says that he cannot exalt his head even for a little while for God would show Himself awesome against Job and renew his witness against (of him trying to exalt himself) Job. In all these matters, changes and war are always with Job and he does not find a moment’s rest and does not know what to do anymore.
Job Asks God About His Life’s Purpose
18 ‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb?
Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19 I would have been as though I had not been.
I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
In Verses 18-19 of Job 10, Job asks God about the purpose of his birth and that it was better if nobody had ever seen him. If the purpose of his life was to be reduced to his current situation (even while he is not wicked) then he was better dead than alive, according to Job. He wishes that nobody had ever known him or seen him. However, he was famous during his time because of his wealth, properties and possessions and favour with God.
Job Asks God To Leave Him Alone
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.
In Verses 20-22 of Job 10, Job asks God to leave him alone for he percevies that he has only a few days of life left in him due to his extreme suffering. He seeks comfort and wants God to give him a moments rest and peace before he passes away in to the shadows of death and darkness forever.
Conclusion
This brings us to the end of Job 10. Job pleads with God to leave him alone at least until the time he passes into the shadows of darkness forever. The feelings and emotions that Job feels is really palpable in Job 10. It is indeed a sobering chapter. Also, Job, in his God-imparted wisdom, revealed how God created man.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments below.
Until Next Time!