Job Chapter 10

What Job Would Say to God

A. What Job would say to God if he could

1. Job 10:1–7

“My soul is weary of my life,
I will leave my complaint upon myself,
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me,
Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
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?
Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
Are thy days as the days of man?
Are thy years as man’s days,
That thou enquirest after mine iniquity,
And searchest after my sin?
Thou knowest that I am not wicked,
And there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.”

a. I will leave my complaint upon myself. Job now resolves to give full expression to the anguish that has been building within him. He believes that he has scarcely begun to speak what is truly in his heart. His words are not calculated rebellion but the overflow of a soul crushed by prolonged suffering. The phrase “the bitterness of my soul” describes deep misery, not moral sourness. Job is not turning against God, but pouring himself out before God with brutal honesty.

i. This form of speech is a biblical complaint, a lament directed toward God rather than away from Him. Job still believes God is the only one worth speaking to, even when he does not understand Him.

b. Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me. Job’s central question emerges clearly. He does not ask first for healing, relief, or restoration. He asks for understanding. He wants God to make His case known. Job feels as though he is being treated as a wicked man, yet he knows this does not align with his conscience or with what God Himself knows to be true of him.

i. To Job, condemnation would mean being treated as morally guilty. That is precisely what troubles him. The suffering he endures looks like judgment, and yet he knows he has not lived in defiant wickedness.

ii. Job’s request is not born of idle curiosity, but of a conscience seeking clarity. He longs to know whether God sees some fault in him that he himself cannot find.

iii. It is striking that Job does not request immediate deliverance from his affliction. Relief alone would not answer the deeper question. Even if healed, Job would still be left with unresolved doubt about God’s justice and character.

iv. God may contend with a righteous man for many reasons. He may do so to display His sustaining power, to refine and mature faith, to expose hidden weakness, to deepen humility, or to draw His servant into a deeper fellowship of suffering. Though these reasons apply broadly, they were not the direct cause of Job’s suffering, which lay beyond Job’s knowledge at this moment.

v. God also contends with sinners for redemptive purposes, to awaken them to their condition, to test sincerity, to expose cherished sin, or to bring clarity to the way of salvation. Trials often reveal what prosperity hides.

c. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands. Job dares to ask whether God derives pleasure from his pain. He reminds God that he is the work of His hands, carefully formed and sustained by divine power. The thought that God might now despise what He has made deeply disturbs Job. His words reveal confusion, not blasphemy, the confusion of a faithful man whose experience seems to contradict everything he believes about God.

d. Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth? Job knows that God is omniscient and not limited by human perception. Yet God’s actions feel to him as though they are based on superficial judgment, much like the shallow conclusions drawn by Job’s friends. The tension between what Job knows about God and what he experiences from God sharpens his distress.

e. Thou knowest that I am not wicked. Job appeals directly to God’s perfect knowledge. God Himself had declared Job to be blameless and upright. Job is not claiming sinlessness, but integrity. He acknowledges human frailty while denying conscious rebellion or hypocrisy.

i. Job confesses that he is a sinner in the general sense, but not a man living in known wickedness or deliberate hypocrisy. His conscience does not accuse him of the kind of evil that would justify such overwhelming judgment.

ii. Job’s suffering has begun to distort his perception of God. He struggles to see beyond present circumstances to the unseen purposes of God. Faith that rests on character rather than circumstances is being tested to its limits.

2. Job would ask, “I am Your creation, why do You afflict me?”
Job 10:8–12

“Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about,
Yet thou dost destroy me.
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay,
And wilt thou bring me into dust again?
Hast thou not poured me out as milk,
And curdled me like cheese?
Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh,
And hast fenced me with bones and sinews.
Thou hast granted me life and favour,
And thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.”

a. Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about. Job appeals directly to God as his Creator. He understands that his existence is not accidental, mechanical, or self generated. God personally formed him, shaped him, and ordered his being as a unified whole. Job’s language reflects an advanced understanding of human formation and complexity. Like the psalmist, Job recognizes that the human body is not merely functional but intentionally designed. “I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:14).

i. When Job speaks of being made like clay and returning to dust, he shows awareness of mankind’s origin and mortality. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). Job understands both the dignity of creation and the frailty of human life.

ii. Job uses three vivid images to describe God’s creative work. First, man is like clay shaped by a potter, emphasizing intentional design and divine authority. Second, man is like milk curdled into cheese, picturing the mysterious process of conception and development from a fluid beginning into solid form. Third, man is like a garment woven together, expressing care, structure, and intricate assembly.

iii. The image of curdled milk has drawn much comment because of its earthy realism. Some have seen in it an emphasis on man’s humble beginnings, highlighting how something so ordinary can be shaped into something marvelous. Others recognize a restrained yet accurate description of embryonic development, marveling at God’s wisdom in forming life gradually and purposefully. Job’s point is clear, God did not create him carelessly or cheaply, but with deliberate craftsmanship.

b. Yet thou dost destroy me. Having affirmed God’s role as Creator, Job now expresses the pain that follows from that truth. The same God who carefully formed him now appears intent on tearing him down. Job does not deny God’s right to act, but he cannot reconcile creation with destruction. To Job, it feels senseless for God to invest such care only to crush what He has made.

i. What Job does not know is what the reader knows. God has explicitly limited Satan’s power and forbidden Job’s death. “Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life” (Job 2:6). Job’s despair is understandable because he lacks this heavenly perspective. His words reflect human perception under suffering, not divine intent.

ii. Job does not accuse God of injustice in principle, but he cannot discern God’s purpose. The power that once built him now seems to undo him, and without revelation, that power feels arbitrary and terrifying.

c. Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. Job looks back over his life and acknowledges God’s sustaining grace. God did not merely create him and abandon him. God gave him life, showed him favor, and continually watched over him. The word visitation carries the idea of attentive care and ongoing oversight. God’s presence preserved Job’s inner life, not merely his physical existence.

i. This remembrance intensifies Job’s confusion rather than resolving it. The God who so carefully preserved him in the past now seems absent. Job struggles to understand why divine care would be lavished for years only to be withdrawn so abruptly.

ii. In this verse, Job acknowledges three gifts from God. First, life itself, the gift of existence. Second, favor, the kindness and goodwill God showed him. Third, divine visitation, God’s ongoing attention that sustained Job’s spirit. These acknowledgments show that Job’s faith is wounded but not dead. He still recognizes God as the source of every good thing in his life.

iii. Job’s argument implicitly rejects the idea that God creates human beings merely to destroy them without purpose. The care evident in creation and preservation suggests intention, value, and meaning. Job cannot reconcile that truth with his present affliction, but he knows instinctively that creation implies responsibility and purpose, not indifference.

B. Job’s agonized question, “Why, God?”

1. Job asks God to reveal a sinful cause within Job himself
Job 10:13–17

“And these things hast thou hid in thine heart:
I know that this is with thee.
If I sin, then thou markest me,
And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
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;
For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion,
And again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
Thou renewest thy witnesses against me,
And increasest thine indignation upon me;
Changes and war are against me.”

a. These things hast thou hid in thine heart, I know that this is with thee. Job begins to touch the deepest nerve of his anguish. He knows that God possesses full knowledge of the reasons for his suffering. Nothing about Job’s affliction is accidental or unknown to God. Yet that knowledge remains hidden from Job. The silence of God troubles him more than the pain itself. He does not accuse God of ignorance, but of withholding explanation.

i. Because of Job chapters 1 and 2, the reader stands in a unique position. We know what Job does not know. The heavenly counsel, the satanic accusation, and God’s sovereign purpose are hidden from Job but revealed to us. This makes Job’s struggle all the more poignant and forces the reader to sympathize rather than judge.

ii. It is a serious mistake to read Job as if he knew what transpired in the heavenly realm. He did not. His confusion is genuine. His questions arise from ignorance, not defiance.

b. If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. Job rehearses the dilemma that torments him. If he is wicked, then his suffering is deserved, and he has no hope. If he is righteous, his suffering is inexplicable, and he still has no relief. Either way, he sees no path to vindication.

i. Job’s friends argued relentlessly that some hidden wickedness explained his calamity. Job denies this, yet he cannot escape the shame of his condition. He is overwhelmed by disgrace, not because of guilt, but because his misery continues despite his prayers.

ii. Job is not claiming sinlessness. He is asserting that there is no known rebellion or hypocrisy that accounts for such devastation. His conscience does not accuse him of the crimes his circumstances seem to imply.

c. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion. Job describes God as pursuing him relentlessly. Instead of refuge, he feels hunted. Instead of protection, he feels attacked. This imagery expresses how abandoned Job feels. God seems not merely absent, but actively opposed to him.

i. Job experiences wave after wave of affliction, as though fresh forces are continually deployed against him. His suffering does not ease, it escalates. He feels surrounded by unending conflict.

d. Changes and war are against me. Job portrays his life as a battlefield. New troubles replace old ones without pause. The phrase suggests continual reinforcement of suffering, an unrelenting campaign. From Job’s perspective, God’s resources against him appear limitless.

i. This sense of relentless pressure deepens Job’s desperation and sets the stage for his plea that follows.

2. Job asks God to leave him alone
Job 10:18–22

“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!
I should have been as though I had not been;
I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone,
That I may take comfort a little,
Before I go whence I shall not return,
Even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
A land of darkness, as darkness itself;
And of the shadow of death, without any order,
And where the light is as darkness.”

a. Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb. Job returns to a theme first expressed in Job chapter 3. Overwhelmed by pain and confusion, he wishes he had never been born. This is not a desire for suicide, but a longing to have been spared existence altogether. Life, as he experiences it now, feels worse than nonexistence.

i. Job’s despair arises because he cannot see any meaning in his suffering. His friends think they see meaning, punishment for sin, but Job knows that explanation is false. The reader sees meaning because of the heavenly revelation. Job does not.

ii. Had Job been able to see by faith the unseen spiritual realities behind his suffering, his anguish would have been transformed. Those realities were real even though hidden from him.

b. Cease then, and let me alone. Job begs God for respite. He asks not for healing, not for explanation, but simply for relief from divine scrutiny. He does not realize that it is precisely because God has not left him alone that he has survived this ordeal.

i. Job recognizes the brevity of life. His days are few and hastening to an end. He pleads that God need not hasten his death through continued affliction.

ii. Job’s words are painfully honest. They are wrong in their conclusions, but not wicked in intent. He refuses to deny the facts of his experience, even when those facts seem to contradict everything he believes about God.

c. To the land of darkness and the shadow of death. Job describes the afterlife as he understands it, using language common to the Old Testament. Death appears as a place of obscurity, disorder, and gloom. He piles image upon image to express the dread and uncertainty he feels.

i. The Old Testament reveals the afterlife only dimly. Moments of triumphant hope appear elsewhere in Job, especially Job 19:25–27, yet here despair dominates Job’s vision.

ii. This shadowed view of the afterlife prepares the reader for the fuller revelation that would come later. “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10).

iii. Job calls the present life “day” and the life to come “night.” In the light of later revelation, we know the opposite is true. The present age is the night, and the coming resurrection life is the day.