1.
My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2.
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
REMONSTRANCE WITH GOD
‘I will say unto God, etc.’
Job 10:2
I. After the audacious words at the close of chapter 9 Job turns to God in the very bitterness of his soul, and ‘Show me,’ he says, ‘wherefore Thou contendest with me. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me long ago. Why, like a malignant human foe, dost Thou deal so cruelly with Thine own creature, one whose innocence Thou knowest? Oh, why didst Thou give me the gift of this weary life? Having given it, why not give me some respite that I may take comfort some little before I go where I shall never return, to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death, a land of darkness as darkness itself, without any order—where the light is as darkness—from the sunlight to the sunless land.’
II. There is not, you see, one word, as it were, left of resignation or patience.—Only a moan now loud, now low, of one who feels himself Wronged, deserted of the God Who loves him, Who lifts up his cry for mercy and relief. Neither is there, so far, a word of hope for redress beyond the grave. His friends’ words seem full to overflowing of the even current of pious and indisputable truths; his much the reverse. Yet somehow, as we read, our hearts go and seem meant to go with him, rather than with them. If we are tempted to criticise we should ever remember that in the whole book God lays no charge against His child. Terrible things are these which Job utters concerning God, but at least they are honest.
Illustration
‘To Job it seemed so great an anomaly that God should have done so much for him in his creation, preservation, and continual providence, and that yet He did not save him from suffering, but seemed to delight in heaping it upon his head. There seemed to be a variableness about God which was inconsistent with His immutable love. But there is one underlying purpose which is now revealed to the eye of faith, that God’s one desire is to do the best He can for us, and if He cannot realise this except through pain, He loves us well enough to give us pain that He may bring us to His ideal of blessedness. It is one purpose pursued through various processes of light and shade, joy and pain.’
3.
Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
4.
Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
5.
Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,
6.
That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
7.
Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
8.
Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
9.
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
10.
Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
11.
Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.
12.
Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.
13.
And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.
14.
If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
15.
If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;
16.
For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
17.
Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.
18.
Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!
19.
I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20.
Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
21.
Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
22.
A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.