Page 101 - Job

“According to Your knowledge (he says in Your heart You know I
am right, God) I am indeed not guilty. Yet there is no deliverance
from Your hand.”
I could not escape if I wanted to. Nobody could. Then verses 8-13. What a
question this is. Why did You have former compassion on me? That is
what he asks. Verses 8-11 he talks about his birth, and he talks about the
intricate skill with which God formed him in the womb. Then in chapter
10, verse 12, he talks about early life. Look at verse 12. It almost looks
out of place.
“You have granted me life and lovingkindness; And Your care has
preserved my spirit.”
But if you read this in context, here is what he is saying. He is saying You
have treated me like a potter treats his vessel. You have given such
tenderness, such skill and such wisdom. Why? So that now, You can
crush the ornament and destroy it completely. Turn it back to dust? He
says I see a strange contradiction. You watched over me in my birth, and
in my early life You blessed me pouring out Your goodness. Why did
You do that,
God? Verse 13,
“Yet these things You have concealed in Your heart; I know that this
is within You.”
Here is what he is saying. You gave me a life of blessing first so I could
feel this pain more keenly now. You know, if a man is born blind he
doesn’t miss sight, because he never had it. But if you can see and then
you go blind, then that is more painful. Our son was born deaf. He does
not miss it; he has never had it; he does not know what it is to hear. If he
could hear and then lost his hearing, he would miss it. He says, oh, I see
now why You have blessed me. You blessed me all those years so that
now, You torment me and I feel it more. Whew, what a question. Why did
You have former compassion?
Then verses 14-19. His question is: “Doesn’t my moral condition mean
anything to You?” You read the three examples he gives there. Verse
14. “If I sin” – The English doesn’t explain it but the Hebrew denotes a
very small sin. I hate to use the word “little” sin, but that is what he has in
mind. If I do some little thing wrong, you still would not acquit me of my
guilt? If I am wicked, if the main direction of my life is wrong, woe is
me. If I am righteous, what’s the difference? I am going to get it anyway.
That is Job’s idea. It doesn’t matter if I sin a little bit or I sin a lot. He
says, doesn’t my moral condition mean anything to You, God? Verse 19, I

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