Job 10
Job to God: Is it fun to hurt people?
This is what I really think
1I quit. I hate life and I’m done with it.So, now I’m free to say what’s on my mind, [1]
With all the bitterness in my soul.
2Here’s what I’m saying to God:
Stop it. Stop condemning me.
Instead, start explaining yourself.
What’s your problem with me?
3Do you enjoy hurting people?
Is it fun to make something and then break it?
Does it make you smile
To watch evil people hurting others?
4Do you have eyes like a human?
Do you see like we do?
5Do you have a life span like humans do?
Is time running out for you, too?
6Is that why you're in such a hurry
To find something wrong with me?
You want to get the job done before you die,
7Even though you know I did nothing wrong?
Who can defend me against that kind of justice?
Did you create me to kill me?
8You created me with your own hands.And now you've turned against me, to kill me.
9You do remember creating me from clay don't you?
And now you're going to turn me back into dust?
10Didn't you create me
Like we create cheese from milk?
11You laced my bones together
With muscle, ligaments, and tendons.
And you dressed me in skin.
God’s secret plan to catch Job sinning
12You've shown loyalty to meby preserving my life.
13But here's the secret you kept from me.
And it was your intention all along, I'm sure.
14You were going to keep your eye on me.
And if you caught me sinning,
You were going to condemn me as guilty.
15If I've done something bad, that's on me.
Yet if I’m a good and righteous man,
I still can't hold my head up high,
For here I sit in ashes and shame [2]
Because of all these tragedies.
16Vicious as a lion you stalk me,
Over and over and over again.
17You continue to disgrace me with your testimony.
You continue to target me with increasing force.
You call in reinforcements to hurt me even more. [3]
Job: I wish I had been DOA
18Why am I here? Why was I born?I wish I had been dead on arrival.
19Then, I would never have existed.
I would have gone from my mother to the grave.
20I don't have much longer to live.
Can we agree on that?
So, get off my back,
And give me a little peace
21Before I head to the land
Where darkness is the sunrise.
I'll never come back from there,
22That land of chaos and despair,
Where day is dark as night.
Footnotes
Buckle up. Of all the characters in the Bible, Job is one of the best at expressing his frustration, shock, and anger with God. He tears into God with a bullwhip for a tongue.
Job seemed to say that tragedies like these led people to figure God sent them as punishment for sin. People generally seemed to believe that God controlled everything because he was God Almighty. And they were taught that he is a just and honest God. So they presumed that when bad things happened it was God who let them happen. And when good things happened, they came as a reward from God for good behavior. Even the disciples of Jesus presumed that. When they saw a man who was born blind, they asked Jesus who it was that sinned enough to warrant something like this. They asked if it was the man himself or his parents. Jesus gave them a third option (John 9).
This sounds like Job is taking swat at his “comforting friends.”
Discussion Questions
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