Today in God’s Word

Today in God's Word—June 2023

East Tallassee Church of Christ

June 5, 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? - Job 10:1-3

Sometimes I’ve done it because of physical or emotional pain. I’m ashamed to say it’s happened when I’ve been angry. At other times, I did it when I was frustrated and confused. Yes, friends, I’ve said things that I really didn't mean at all those times and probably others, too.

How about you? Have you spoken words that were more an expression of the moment’s emotion than a reasoned and carefully worded statement of what you truly thought and felt?

Chapter 10 records just such emotionally tinged words from the lips of a man who had a lot to be upset about. Yes, Job was bankrupt. Yes, he was bereaved of his ten children. Don’t forget he was suffering horrible physical pain as well. But the fact he didn’t understand why these things had happened was what seemed to drive this intense prayer to God. He didn't know why all this misery had come to him. His friends were not helping. They persisted in insisting that Job should confess some great sin so his great suffering could be explained and taken away.

Let's not be too harsh in our judgment of Job and these impassioned words recorded in this chapter. He spoke out of the bitterness of his soul. He acknowledged he was complaining, and was willing for God to search and inspect him. He asked God to tell him what he had done that he did not realize or recognize. He acknowledged that he had been guilty of some sins, but protested that he was not wicked.

Job freely acknowledged that God made him, and had the right to destroy him. He humbly admitted that God had given him life, had loved him with faithful love and preserved his spirit. But he asked God if he had made him and

sustained him just to torment him. Remember that Job nor his friends had mentioned or seemed to know about Satan. They seemed to be unaware of his existence and surely knew nothing of his role in Job's horrible plight. Job knew no one to whom he could attribute his agony but God. He reiterated his earlier wish that he had never been born. He asked God to give him a break, to leave him alone, let him find a little cheer and die. At this bitter moment, he didn't look past the relief of death to anything that might lie beyond the grave.

Job will say other things that will show he knew better than these words of anguish. But this raw chapter is an honest portrait of a man in a dark place, suffering without knowing why. Job still trusted God, and he still believed there was more to living than just here and now. Remember these words are not carefully reasoned theology. They are the overflow of raw emotion from a broken man. In an earlier speech he had called them “wind words.” Let’s give Job our sympathy and admire his integrity. Few of us have ever known a fraction of Job’s suffering. So let’s not make his dark words a pattern for expressing our grief, pain and disappointment to God.

Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.