March 15, 2024

God has the ultimate control over our lives.

Job 10

Niki Krauss
Friday's Devo

March 15, 2024

Friday's Devo

March 15, 2024

Friday's Devo

March 15, 2024

Friday's Devo

March 15, 2024

Big Book Idea

God is at work even when we can't see it.

Key Verse | Job 10:12

You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

Job 10

Job Continues: A Plea to God

1  I loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my complaint;
    I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2  I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
    let me know why you contend against me.
3  Does it seem good to you to oppress,
    to despise the work of your hands
    and favor the designs of the wicked?
4  Have you eyes of flesh?
    Do you see as man sees?
5  Are your days as the days of man,
    or your years as a man's years,
6  that you seek out my iniquity
    and search for my sin,
7  although you know that I am not guilty,
    and there is none to deliver out of your hand?
8  Your hands fashioned and made me,
    and now you have destroyed me altogether.
9  Remember that you have made me like clay;
    and will you return me to the dust?
10  Did you not pour me out like milk
    and curdle me like cheese?
11  You clothed me with skin and flesh,
    and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12  You have granted me life and steadfast love,
    and your care has preserved my spirit.
13  Yet these things you hid in your heart;
    I know that this was your purpose.
14  If I sin, you watch me
    and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
15  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.
16  And were my head lifted up, 1 10:16 Hebrew lacks my head you would hunt me like a lion
    and again work wonders against me.
17  You renew your witnesses against me
    and increase your vexation toward me;
    you bring fresh troops against me.

18  Why did you bring me out from the womb?
    Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
19  and were as though I had not been,
    carried from the womb to the grave.
20  Are not my days few?
    Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer
21  before I go—and I shall not return—
    to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
22  the land of gloom like thick darkness,
    like deep shadow without any order,
    where light is as thick darkness.”

Footnotes

[1] 10:16 Hebrew lacks my head
Table of Contents
Introduction to Job

Introduction to Job

Timeline

Author and Date

The unknown Israelite author of this book presents Job as a person living in Uz (see note on 1:1). Job’s godliness (1:1) matches the ideals of Israelite wisdom literature. He clearly knows Yahweh (1:21). The events of the book seem to be set in the times of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).

Theological Themes

The book of Job concerns itself with the question of faith in a sovereign God. Can God be trusted? Is he good and just in his rule of the world? The book shows that the reasons for human suffering often remain a secret to human beings.

In the book of Job, God seems both too close and too far away. On the one hand, Job complains that God is watching him every moment so that he cannot even swallow his spit (7:19). On the other hand, Job finds God elusive (9:11). Though God is greatly concerned about humans, he does not always answer their most agonizing questions.

At the same time, Job’s friends offer no real help. They come to “comfort” him (2:11), but Job ends up declaring them “miserable comforters” who would console him “with empty nothings” (21:34). These friends represent an oversimplified view of faith. They think that all human troubles are divine punishments for wrongdoing. Their “comfort” consists largely of urging Job to identify his sin and repent of it. These friends are negative examples of how to comfort those who are suffering.

The book illustrates that one does not need to fully understand God’s will in order to be faithful while suffering. Those who suffer need not be afraid to express to God their confusion and questions.

Purpose

The book of Job was written to those who struggle with the question of how God can be good when the world is filled with suffering.

The author does not provide a formal defense of God’s justice. Rather, as Job’s friends offer their inadequate answers, the author shows how their reasoning fails. Then, in chs. 38–41, the Lord speaks in his own defense, bringing Job to fuller understanding (ch. 42).

Even during his suffering and confusion, before God finally speaks, Job can triumphantly declare, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (19:25).

Outline

  1. Prologue: Job’s Character and the Circumstances of His Test (1:1–2:13)
  2. Dialogue: Job, His Suffering, and His Standing before God (3:1–42:6)
    1. Job: despair for the day of his birth (3:1–26)
    2. The friends and Job: can Job be right before God? (4:1–25:6)
      1. First cycle (4:1–14:22)
      2. Second cycle (15:1–21:34)
      3. Third cycle (22:1–25:6)
    3. Job: the power of God, place of wisdom, and path of integrity (26:1–31:40)
    4. Elihu: suffering as a discipline (32:1–37:24)
    5. Challenge: the Lord answers Job (38:1–42:6)
  3. Epilogue: The Vindication, Intercession, and Restoration of Job (42:7–17)
The Global Message of Job

The Global Message of Job

Universal Questions

With its story of one man’s life and suffering, the book of Job raises universal questions. Why do people suffer, especially godly people? Where is God in suffering? Can God be trusted amid suffering? Job’s friends try to answer such questions with superficial and simplistic solutions, eventually earning God’s rebuke (Job 42:7–9).

Ultimately we learn from Job that we can hope steadfastly in our sovereign God. Instead of providing easy answers to hard questions, this incomparably glorious, all-knowing, and almighty God presents to people in all places and in all times the simplest, most powerful, and most universal answer to these questions. God’s answer to human suffering has everything to do with his own infinite goodness and care for his creation.

Suffering in a Fallen World

In the life of Job we see the breadth and depth of human suffering. We see suffering in health (Job 2:7), suffering in the loss of property (1:14–17), and suffering in the tragic death of family members (1:18–19). In Job we also listen in on a discussion in the heavenly courtroom between God and Satan (1:6–12; 2:1–7), in which God delights in the upright life of Job. There we are given a window into the normally invisible reasons for our trials and suffering.

Sin and suffering. Suffering is universal, though the kind of suffering differs from circumstance to circumstance. Sometimes we suffer because of our own sin. There is no such thing as sin without consequences. Sometimes God himself directly chastises his people for their sins. However, Job’s friends are wrong to assume that his suffering is a direct result of disobedience (Job 8:4), and it would likewise be wrong to conclude that all or even most suffering in the world today is divine punishment for specific sins. The speeches of Eliphaz (chs. 4; 5; 15; 22), Bildad (chs. 8; 18; 25), and Zophar (chs. 11; 20) reflect such wrong assumptions.

Common suffering. Another type of suffering is what we might call “common suffering.” This is suffering that affects all people without distinction. It is simply the result of living in a fallen world. It includes health problems from colds to cancer. It includes bad weather, earthquakes, and typhoons. It includes financial struggles, and even death itself. Each tragic incident in Job’s life includes an element of this common suffering.

Godliness and suffering. Not only are godly people afflicted with suffering just as others are, but the godly experience some kinds of suffering due specifically to their godliness (Matt. 10:24–33; Acts 14:22; 2 Tim. 3:12). Faithfulness to Christ will bring insult and at times persecution—suffering that could be avoided if we were not disciples of Christ. We see this principle in Job, for it was precisely Job’s uprightness that prompted God to single him out to Satan and then led Satan to seek to afflict him (Job 1:8–12).

Devastating suffering. Job’s suffering is uniquely profound and painful. Some suffering, we learn, defies any category. We discover in Job that Satan has a hand in some of the suffering of God’s people (Job 1:6–12; 2:1–7; compare 2 Cor. 12:1–10). But even such demonically instigated suffering is not outside of God’s sovereignty. Nor should our focus be on Satan when we suffer but rather on persisting in steadfast faith amid such God-ordained pain. At the very least a lesson to be learned from Job is that our vision and insight into suffering is severely limited. What is not limited, however, is God’s perfect understanding and sovereign control over every event in our lives. In the “Yahweh speeches” of Job (chs. 38–41), God does not engage Job in the details of his questions and complaints. Rather, God reminds Job that God is God and Job is not. God laid the foundation of the earth (38:4); he is God over the seas (38:8, 16), over the stars (38:31–33), and over every creature (39:1–30; 40:15–41:34).

A Global Message of Comfort and Hope

The almighty, all-good God. Despite its focus on challenges and sufferings, the book of Job speaks a message of great hope to the world. We live in a world longing for comfort and hope, and such hope is found in the sovereign God who sees, who is good, and who is faithful. We are not victims of random fate or uncontrolled circumstances. We are loved faithfully and passionately by a sovereign God who works all things for our good (Rom. 8:28). The suffering global church can take comfort amid suffering, knowing that God is pleased with our faithfulness to him, even as God expressed delight in “my servant Job” (Job 1:6–8; 2:3). James 5:11 reminds us that God will fulfill his good purposes and is indeed compassionate and merciful toward his people.

No neat formulas. Living an upright life of faith in God does not exempt us from suffering. This was the fundamental misunderstanding of Job’s friends (Job 8:6) and the reason that their “comfort” was so “miserable” (16:2). Indeed, in Job and in all of Scripture we see that suffering is a part of the experience of godly people, and that suffering is also a means for our sanctification. Suffering is a blessing as through it we learn that God’s ways and purposes are much greater than we can know (chs. 40–41). His purposes and faithfulness are much greater than the achievement of ease and a comfortable life; the global church must not make an idol out of worldly comfort and earthly abundance.

The sufferings of the Savior. Job confessed faith in the living Redeemer (Job 19:25). That Redeemer would one day come and suffer for us on a cross. Here we have yet another kind of suffering, the atoning sufferings of Christ. He suffered for our salvation, bearing the penalty for our sin. It is also our great privilege to share in his suffering (2 Cor. 1:5; 2 Tim. 1:8; 2:3; 1 Pet. 4:13). These are not the sufferings of health problems or bad weather or the consequences of our own folly. These are sufferings that flow from our union with and loyalty to Christ. There is a global attack on the righteous, but God will continue to provide sufficient grace to his people (2 Cor. 12:9).He will grow both his people and his kingdom through such suffering as it is endured in faith.

Our Intercession and Mission of Hope

Though God’s righteous anger burned against the three friends of Job, their folly was forgiven in response to the righteous intervention of Job’s prayers (Job 42:7–9). What then is the Christian response to those who suffer—and to those who cause suffering?

We are to intercede for the world, both in prayer and in life. We are to “comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:4). This comfort must find expression in our ministry and service to those in need both where we live as well as around the world—to orphans, widows, and all those who suffer.

This comfort is most gloriously and eternally known as the church ministers the gospel of new hope in Christ to the world—to the lost, to the downtrodden, and even to our enemies (Matt. 5:44). For the greatest suffering in this world is not the loss of property or even family; it is to be lost in sin, without the living Redeemer.

Proverbs Fact #1: Wisdom

Fact: Wisdom

Wisdom is a key term in Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. The word can mean “skilled at making sound decisions in life.” Proverbs 9:10 states that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”

Job Fact #1: Comfort

Fact: Comfort

Comfort is a key word in the book of Job. When faced with personal tragedies, Job receives no comfort from his friends (16:2). But when God answers him (see chs. 38–41), he finds the comfort he needs.

Job Fact #7: Three cycles of conversations

Fact: Three cycles of conversations

The book of Job includes three cycles of conversations in which the friends of Job offer their comfort and advice, and then listen as Job responds. The first cycle covers chs. 4–14.

Job Fact #15: Elihu

Fact: Elihu

Elihu is the only character in the book of Job with a Hebrew name.

Job Fact #6: Clay

Fact: Clay

Clay was one of the most readily available materials in ancient times. It was used to construct buildings and to make everyday household items. Job describes himself as having been made “like clay” (10:9) and says that he will someday return to dust. This should remind readers of Genesis 2:7, where the Lord created man from dust.

Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar

Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar

After the Lord allowed Satan to afflict Job, three of his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, came to comfort him. However, all three wrongly assumed that Job’s suffering was the result of some hidden sin. Each man urged Job to repent so that God would have mercy on him. But Job insisted that he was innocent. Although it is true that some suffering is a result of sin, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar oversimplified this truth. They believed that all troubles are punishments for wrongdoing, which was not the case for Job. The wrong actions of Job’s three friends should remind believers today to be wise and sensitive when dealing with people in distress. The Lord rebuked Job’s three friends and instructed Job to pray for them. (Job 42:7–9)

Study Notes

Job 10:1–2 As in 7:11, Job explicitly announces his turn to address his Creator directly.

Study Notes

Job 10:3 Job’s awareness that he is the work of God’s hands provides the theme for the verses that follow.

Study Notes
Job Fact #6: Clay

Fact: Clay

Clay was one of the most readily available materials in ancient times. It was used to construct buildings and to make everyday household items. Job describes himself as having been made “like clay” (10:9) and says that he will someday return to dust. This should remind readers of Genesis 2:7, where the Lord created man from dust.

Study Notes

Job 10:8–13 Job shares the wonder of the psalmist (Ps. 139:14) and the insight given to the prophet (Jer. 1:5a), but uses it here to proclaim his innocence.

Study Notes

Job 10:15–17 Even if he is in the right (v. 15; see also 9:15, 20), Job feels he has no strength to walk upright because of the weight of his suffering (10:15) and the threat of further affliction (vv. 16–17).

Study Notes

Job 9:1–10:22 Job responds, in a speech that is relentlessly legal: ch. 9 is framed by the term contend (9:3; 10:2), and legal terms occur throughout the chapter (e.g., 9:2, 3, 14, 19, 20, 32, 33).

Job 10:21–22 Job repeatedly describes death as darkness and shadow. The adjectives (thick, deep) underscore his plea to be released from suffering while he still has the light of life.

S3:055 Job 10

Listen Now

Dive Deeper | Job 10

Chapter 10 finds Job questioning why God even allowed him to be born if the suffering he was enduring was what God had planned for his life from the beginning. Even in the questioning, Job acknowledges God's sovereignty, and in Job 10:12, he states it plainly. Job knows God loves him and has blessed him richly up to the point when he lost it all. The fact of God's earlier blessings and generous provision makes the question, "Why?" loom large in Job's mind.

Have you ever found yourself asking that same question of God? I have. In Job 10:2, Job asks God directly to tell him the charge He has against him. To question why is human nature. We reason that if only we knew why something was happening, we could better endure it. But not in this chapter (or any chapter) does God give Job the reason for his suffering. He had no idea God was using Job's faith to defeat Satan. Know this: God doesn't owe us an explanation for the things He allows in our lives. He's God, and we aren't.

I've walked through times of great suffering in my life. We all have. Jesus warned us to expect it (John 16:33). He also promised to be with us always, to the very end (Matthew 28:20). Suffering in a way that pleases God is to stand faithful, trusting our Anchor will hold, trusting in God's goodness and His sovereignty. Just look how God has used Job's story!

Satan wanted to prove that Job loved and obeyed God only because of His blessings to Job. God turned Satan's goal on its head by proving Job's faith would stand; his Anchor would hold. Satan was out to discredit Job, and God made him famous instead! His story of faithful suffering has helped carry me and multitudes of others through times of suffering. And here we are, talking about Job thousands of years later. God is in the business of doing "far more abundantly than all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20). Ours is not to question why, but to trust fully in God's sovereignty and goodness instead.

This month's memory verse

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

– Romans 5:8

Discussion Questions

1. When or in what circumstances have you asked God, "Why?" How did He respond?

2. What does it mean to you to suffer "according to God's will" (1 Peter 4:19) or in a way that pleases Him?

3. Describe some of the good you've seen God work through or out of your own suffering. Were you able to discern the good even while in the suffering season or only in hindsight? Explain.

As we gear up to release even more features for Join The Journey in 2025, our staff team, unfortunately, no longer has the margin to continue to support the comment functionality. We have big things in store for Join The Journey 2025. Stay tuned!

GJ

greg jones

Job is speaking to God in the presence of his friends. It’s important to hear the depth of his pain and in that pain hear the responses of his friends. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. Job 1:1-3 Job was the greatest of all the people of the east. He was, blameless in the eyes of others. He was, well off in the eyes of others. Now that he has lost everything by no fault of his own, in that state, we need to hear Job, and, hear the responses of his friends. And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. Job 42:10-11 After, God restores Job’s fortune to double what his fortune had been before he is going to be shown sympathy. He is going to be shown sympathy and be comforted for all the evil that Yahweh has brought upon him. And his all comforters are going to give the richest man before who has had his fortune doubled a piece of money, and a gold ring. I’ve had a pretty good life. Like the people surrounding Job I probably extend more comfort to the comfortable than the uncomfortable.
MS

Michael Scaman

King David steps up and makes a point. I empathize deeply with Job's anguish and despair. Like him, I've wrestled with the mysteries of suffering and the seeming silence of God in the midst of it. Job's cries resonate with the depths of my own soul, and his questions echo my own struggles. Is Job's prayer here that far from some of the laments in the book of Psalms? One example being "look away from me" found in Psalm 39:13 : "Look away from me, that I may enjoy life again before I depart and am no more." In this Psalm, the psalmist is reflecting on the brevity of life and the frailty of humanity. The psalmist acknowledges their sinfulness and asks God to turn His gaze away so that they may have some measure of happiness before their life comes to an end. After all note that Psalm 39 is attributed to me, aka King David,. as "For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David." Jeduthun was one of the Levites appointed by David to lead worship and music in the tabernacle (1 Chronicles 16:41-42). Additionally, I King David , also wrote Psalm 130 where "If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?" I acknowledge the universal reality of sin, declaring, "If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?" This recognition underscores the profound need for divine mercy and forgiveness,. I therefore have much in common with Job's views
SB

Sue Bohlin

SUPER devo Niki!!!!! Bless you!! I read Job’s complaint to God from the perspective of a parent whose young children didn’t, couldn’t, understand why we allowed certain things they didn’t like or which hurt. God, the perfectly loving Heavenly Father, not only had unrevealed purposes for Job’s trial, but He also knew Job’s story would become part of His forever Word that would answer questions and bless millions for all time and eternity. He had the ultimate 35,000 foot perspective that was actually from beyond the edges of the universe!
KH

Kathy Hempel Cox

Fantastic devo! Wrote lots of notes just from your observations. Thank you
AL

Amy Lowther

1. I ask God “Why?” all of the time. He always encourages me to do my best and that life is going to be ok no matter what situation is facing me. 2. It means you have to get things done you need to get done that you haven’t gotten done, but should have gotten done. Because of God’s will, you finally get things done that should have been done a long time ago. 3. While suffering, God brings light to darkness. He helps you see things will be ok. Niki - Thank you for sharing your ideas. You made a good point in saying, “God is in the business of doing "far more abundantly than all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20). So we should believe in God not doubting Him or overanalyzing Him.