Join us as we unpack the profound experiences shared in Job chapter 10. Our discussion navigates the dichotomy between Job’s plea to God and his recognition as a crafted being of the divine. Throughout this exploration, similarities in our own lives unfold, especially when circumstances push us to question and seek divine clarity. We also touch upon managing life’s ebbs and flows, never forgetting God’s blessings even in the darkest times. The episode reinforces faith’s role in navigating trials, celebrating Job’s unwavering quest for understanding, which promises insight and hope to contemporary listeners.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Alan J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
Today in Job chapter 10, Job continues his response to Bildad’s arguments with a plea to God himself. So let’s listen to Job as recorded by Faith Comes by Hearing.
Job 10 I loathe my life. I will give free utterance to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, ”Do not condemn me. Let me know why you contend against me. Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?” Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees? Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man’s years, that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand? Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. Remember that you have made me like clay, and will you return me to the dust? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. Yet these things you hid in your heart, I know that this was your purpose. If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am guilty, woe to me. If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction. And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me. You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me. You bring fresh troops against me. Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me and were as though I had not been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Then cease and leave me alone that I may find a little cheer before I go and I shall not return to the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.
Concerning Job chapter 10, I’ll just refer to one of my personal Bible reading journals, and that was the journal from 2015. There I read Job chapters 10 and 11 on the same day. Concerning chapter 10, I wrote, Job pleads directly to God and offers his innocence. He understands he is God’s creation, according to verses 7 through 12. And then I wrote, you have granted me life. And steadfast love and your care has preserved my spirit. And then I wrote great verse. I continued, Job forgets he had a good life. This is a period of suffering. Like most of us, life is up and down. Never forget God’s blessings in the pain. Job chapter 10 is a direct appeal by Job to God himself. Maybe you’ve been at wit’s end in your life. You can’t understand what’s happening to you, and you cry out to God. That’s exactly what Job is doing here in chapter 10. His appeal begins in verse 2. I will say to God, do not condemn me. Let me know why you contend against me. And just like many of us, he tries to understand the character of God. He says in verse 3, does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands? In verse 4 he asks, have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as a man sees? He continues in verse 5, are your days as the days of man or your years as a man’s years? Like us, Job doesn’t understand who God is. Yet he goes on to describe him in verse 8. Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. Remember that you have made me like clay, and will you return me to the dust? So Job knows God is his creator. He says so in verse 12. You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. Yes, God and God alone grants us life. He knows that God watches him. Verse 14, if I sin, you watch me. Verse 15, if I’m guilty, woe to me. But he also understands he may be experiencing the wrath of God. Go back to verse 1, I loathe my life. I will give free utterance to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. This suffering has taken its toll on Job. Back to verse 17, you renew your witness against me and increase your vexation toward me. You bring fresh troops against me. He wonders why he’s become an enemy to God. And then he asked God why he was even born. Verse 18, why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me and were as though I had not been carried from the womb to the grave. Have you ever felt that way? Are you suffering so much that you wish you didn’t even have life? And again, we are reminded that Job is innocent here. Then he pleads with God finally to leave him alone and let him die. Verse 20 through the end. Are not my days few? Then cease and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer before I go, and I shall not return to the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick as darkness. Chapter 10. We hear the heart of Job. The suffering accumulates. The pain is deep. and the separation from him and god is more than he can handle he seeks for answers and finds none have you been there at one point in your life did it turn so far south that you couldn’t see a way of escape did you cry out to god and get no answer were you about to give up Once again, in the book of Job, we see the right order to get an answer, and that’s plead to God, seek God. Job does so directly here in chapter 10. And as I’ve said in other chapters of Job, aren’t you glad this is not the end of the book or the end of the Bible? We need to keep going. We’re going to hear more from some of Job’s friends. We’re going to hear more from Job. And eventually, we are going to hear from God. If your soul is bitter, hold on. God is the one that granted you life. His steadfast love is still there, and he will preserve your spirit. Father, we give you thanks for the lessons we’re learning in this book of Job. Sometimes in our lives, you deal us a hand we don’t understand either. But through this book, we can gain strength to hold on. Like Job, we thank you for granting us life. Thank you for your steadfast love and your ability to preserve our spirits, even in the midst of suffering. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You know, sometimes we need a plumb line, a true north, a solid basis of truth to live life. We’re not going to find it in the media or in social media or Google or your friends, but it is available right at your fingertips. Pilate asked Jesus in John 18, 38, what is truth? The chapter before, Jesus had answered the question in his prayer to God for his disciples. In the 17th verse, Jesus pleads with the Father, Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. So what would it be like if everyone, everywhere, read the Bible every day? Wow, it might be heaven on earth. What would it be like if every Christian read the Bible every day? Would we be better ambassadors for Christ? What would it be like if everyone in your community read the Bible every day? Would we have greater impact in our communities? And what would it be like if you personally read the Bible every day? Could you use a closer walk with Jesus? Could you use a light unto your path and a lamp unto your feet to walk through this life? Could you use a spiritual power surge in your life? Matthew 22, 29, Jesus speaking to the Sadducees said, You are mistaken not understanding the scriptures or the power of God. Yes, the scriptures can give us power to live this life. So I’m going to give you three easy action steps to make the Bible worth your time each and every day. Number one, commit to daily Bible reading. Commit to seek God and His Word daily, every day. And if you miss a day, start again the next day. Change your belief about God’s Word to behavior in God’s Word. Use any of our Ezra Project resources to help you. Visit EzraProject.net to get an Ezra Project Bible reading journal or one of our day-by-day through the Bible books. Commit today and visit EzraProject.net for easy-to-use resources for your daily time in God’s Word. Number two, be intentional. Decide what you want out of your Bible reading. I got to visit the headquarters of Back to the Bible once in Lincoln, Nebraska, and in one hallway down one side, they had scribbled all the reasons people say they don’t read the Bible. On the other side were all the reasons people do read the Bible. And I want to give you some of those to encourage you. On that wall, it said, God wants me to. Yes, God wants you to read the Bible. Do you want to meet with Him daily? Because He’ll meet with you every day through His Word. Number two, it changes me. Where could you be in one year with more Bible reading in your life? Number three, it improves my outlook on life. Yeah, turn out the bad news and saturate yourself with good news from the Word of God. Number four, it keeps me grounded. Yes, when the storms of life come, and they will, can you stand? Yes, you’ll stand better and more solid because you’re in the Word of God. Next, it keeps my heart soft. Yeah, Nehemiah 8, when people heard the Word, they wept and they worshipped. You will do the same as the Word softens your heart. Lastly, on the wall, it said, it keeps my daily focus on God. Yeah, that’s a great reason to read the Bible. You’ll gain the spiritual power to live life in our secular world. And then thirdly and lastly, feed your soul. Let God minister to your soul. Hebrews 4.12 says, The Word of God pierces between your soul and your spirit, between joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart. Nothing else goes that deep. I don’t know where the place is between my soul and my spirit. But I want to put the Word of God there each and every day of my life. I hope you do too. God bless you as you spend time in God’s Word.
Join us as we unpack the profound experiences shared in Job chapter 10. Our discussion navigates the dichotomy between Job’s plea to God and his recognition as a crafted being of the divine. Throughout this exploration, similarities in our own lives unfold, especially when circumstances push us to question and seek divine clarity. We also touch upon managing life’s ebbs and flows, never forgetting God’s blessings even in the darkest times. The episode reinforces faith’s role in navigating trials, celebrating Job’s unwavering quest for understanding, which promises insight and hope to contemporary listeners.
