God has granted us LIFE, FAVOR, and CARE!
May 27 Bible Reading: Job Chapters 10-12
God has granted us LIFE, FAVOR, and CARE!
"Your hands have made me and
fashioned me, an intricate unity; yet You would destroy me. Remember, I pray,
that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again? Did you
not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and
flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews? You have granted me life and
favor, and Your care has preserved my spirit." (Job 10:8-12)
With the outspokenness that comes from weariness and despair,
Job continues his lament and directs it to God. He maintains his innocence: “You know that I am not wicked” (vs. 7).
He acknowledges God’s power as Creator, "Your
hands have made me and fashioned me" (vs. 8); but with a twist he
refers to his life as clay (vs. 9), milk (vs. 10), and a spirit which clothed
me with skin and flesh (vs. 11).
One reason that Job was so distressed by what he perceived to
be mistreatment by God was that he was certain that he was God’s creation. Like
the author of Psalms 139, Job had a keen sense of the handiwork with which God
fashioned him in the womb, gave him life, and blessed him. Now he cannot
understand how the same good God can treat him so badly!
Harold St. John in his classic book "Job" comments on this paragraph as follows:
"We must not miss
this amazing passage in which the Clay expostulates with the Potter and reminds
God that in creating man He has assumed responsibilities from which he cannot
honorably escape. 10:8. Thy hands made and fashioned me. 10:10. The formation
of the physical embryo. 10:11. The growth of skin and flesh and the development
of bones and sinews. 10:12. (a) The gift of “soul” with its many-sided
expressions and (b) The visitation of God by which man’s highest part, the
“spirit,” is conferred and preserved."
However, in spite of his lament Job makes a declarative
statement that God has given us life, favor and care through which He has
preserved our spirit. When we seek to please God at all times and never let go
of mercy and truth, then we will find favor in the sight of God and people. "Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find
favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man" (Prov 3:3-4). Just
like Joseph (Gen. 39:4, 21) and Daniel (Dan. 1:9; 10:11), let us also walk
closer to God so that we can experience His life, favor and care everyday and
every moment in His presence.
"For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Psalms 30:5)
