Job 10:8 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters | Metropolitan Tabernacle

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Job 10:8

Comments

Why, Job asks, did God create his servant, if he now intends to destroy him? Does God not have a certain plan? Does he change his mind time and time again? By the end of the chapter, Job is ready to say that he has no hope after death. When things shake and shock us, we must not forget our heavenly Father who interacts with us. Job has lost sight of the tender-heartedness of the Lord, his feelingfullness. Does the Lord need reminding that he has made us? Obviously not, but in rehearsing these thoughts before the Lord, Job appeals to his concern for the creatures he has made. He reflects on his painstaking workmanship and incomprehensible skill. A cheese was a luxury item; it was made with much expertise; the dairyman took great care to get the best result. Job can scarcely begin to describe the wonder of his bodily construction, but he owes it all to God. Would God put such effort into the construction of his creature if he only intended to destroy him afterwards? Man is given life, and he is made aware of his Creator. He seeks after him – or he should do so – and he may appeal to his fatherly feelings. Job continues to admire the wonderful gifts he has received from the Lord. Life is the gift of God: conscious life, rational life, emotional life with all its richness of experience. There is material close at hand to stir up our appreciation of the Lord’s goodness. We have privileged access to the life within us to scrutinise our own mysterious created inner being. As a man considers what he is, he ought to be filled with awe that he even exists, and yet men daily take for granted the wonder of their own nature, and treat it as if it was nothing, as if they made themselves and owed no gratitude to God for what they are. Yet how little we understand about ourselves, especially the workings of the soul, the spirit. The word ‘visitation’ could be translated ‘mustering’, a word used of the gathering together of an army and provision being made for it. God sustains our spirits continually. Not only our existence in the first place is wonderful, but our continued existence moment by moment, for life is an ever-changing experience. ‘And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.’ What has God hidden? Not the troubles which have come upon Job, for the thought is more positive than that. Job is in the middle of developing his argument that God should not forsake or torment the creature which he has lavished such care upon. What is hidden is the wonder of God’s workmanship and the skill with which he made man. It is right that we should praise the Lord for what he has done, but we must seek out his glory and build up our admiration for him by careful reflection on his works. He keeps many of his wonders out of sight, and reveals them only when we show how much we value them. God however has not forgotten what was in his mind when he created Job, so Job appeals to that knowledge which must still be there.

Application

Job makes a sound argument and it is one that we can use. God will not begin something that he does not complete. He will not act inconsistently with himself. Though we are in the dark about much that he does, we can see enough of his purposes to know that he who has created us will not abandon us in the middle of our journey.

Don’t let go of the loving kindness of God. Once you give way to self-pity, you are on the slide. Your own concept of God will deteriorate until he seems to be your enemy. If we are to continue to pray in extreme circumstances we must keep hold of the lovingkindness of the Lord, for we cannot pray to a God with no compassion, who is out to do us harm.

Real prayer involves real requests, not words uttered carelessly. Job focuses on what troubles him most of all, and brings his deepest concerns to God. He appeals to the mercy of God based on his vulnerability and this is legitimate, and yet he speaks as if God has forgotten to be kind. It is right that we bring our helplessness to him as an argument why he should deal gently with us, but we must be careful not to cross the line and charge him with cruelty or unreasonableness. If the creature can be aware of his own weakness and know his own vulnerability, how much more is God aware of our limitations! We may appeal to his gentleness and present to him what we are suffering, as long as we do not accuse him of any fault. Scripture records this prayer of Job to show us that God can be moved by the things that we say to him and sees all that goes on in our hearts.

Questions

How strong is this argument when we consider that God has cursed the earth and that we are destined to grown old and decay, and finally to die in corruption? Is Job asking God not to apply this law of corruption in his case? No, he acknowledges that he will die and his body return to the dust again, but he asks that this should not be the end. With his mortality before his eyes, he asks for a work of grace which will deliver those who love God from death, and give hope even to mortal man. The believer dares to look back to the time before Adam fell, and to ask God to fulfil his original purpose in creating mankind. Since he formed Adam with a body, and since that body is an essential part of man, then we dare hope that God will reverse the death sentence and bring us to life, body and soul. However only those who are in Christ can have this hope.

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Introduction

Job 10:8 Commentary and Bible Study