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Job 10 - You Fashioned Me as Clay · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: You are listening to The Bible Explained with Jen Koukl,
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Speaker 1: a P40 Ministries podcast. Well, good morning, friends and faithful listeners,
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Speaker 1: and welcome to The Bible Explained podcast. And you know what?
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Speaker 1: I actually have a favor to ask all of you
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Speaker 1: guys before we dive into today's episode. I put together
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Speaker 1: a short two-minute listener survey, and I'd really love to
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Speaker 1: hear from all of you faithful listeners. The link to
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Speaker 1: that is at the very tippy top of the episode.
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Speaker 1: So if you find the time, if you could take
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Speaker 1: a couple minutes to fill that out, that'd be helpful
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Speaker 1: for me, and I'd love to hear your guys' input
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Speaker 1: about the podcast. All right, let's dive into today's episode.
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Speaker 1: We're going to be talking about Job chapter 10, where
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Speaker 1: Job starts to talk to God almost in a different way.
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Speaker 1: You know, he started out kind of asking God a
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Speaker 1: whole bunch of questions, you know, why am I alive?
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Speaker 1: I despise my life. I just wish that I never
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Speaker 1: had been born. You know, questions kind of like that.
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Speaker 1: But now he's starting to frame them into something a
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Speaker 1: little bit different. So we are going to dive into
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Speaker 1: this topic in one moment after this first sponsored advertisement.
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Speaker 1: So you faithful listeners might not know this about me,
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Speaker 1: but I actually have two addictions. The first addiction is coffee,
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Speaker 1: as you guys know. And my second addiction is Tic Tacs,
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Speaker 1: specifically the white ones. I don't like any other flavor.
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Speaker 1: I only like the white Tic Tacs. And I always
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Speaker 1: have many, I have packs of them all over the
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Speaker 1: house because I eat them constantly. So if I'm not
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Speaker 1: drinking a cup of coffee, I'm usually popping a few
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Speaker 1: Tic Tacs here and there. All right, let's get into
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Speaker 1: Job chapter 10, the entire thing. And let's give reference
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Speaker 1: to God's word together. I'll be reading as always from
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Speaker 1: the W.E.B. My soul is weary of my life. I
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Speaker 1: will give free course to my complaint and I will
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Speaker 1: speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will tell God,
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Speaker 1: do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
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Speaker 1: Is it good to you that you should oppress, that
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Speaker 1: you should despise the work of your hands and smile
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Speaker 1: on the counsel of the wicked? Do you have eyes
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Speaker 1: of flesh or do you see as man sees? Are
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Speaker 1: your days as the days of mortals or your years
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Speaker 1: as man's years that you inquire after my iniquity and
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Speaker 1: search after my sin? Although you know that I am
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Speaker 1: not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out
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Speaker 1: of your hand. Your hands have framed me and fashioned
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Speaker 1: me altogether, yet you destroy me. Remember, I beg you
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Speaker 1: that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring
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Speaker 1: me into dust again? Haven't you poured me out like
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Speaker 1: milk and curdled me like cheese? You have clothed me
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Speaker 1: with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones
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Speaker 1: and sinews. You've granted me life and loving kindness. Your
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Speaker 1: visitation has preserved my spirit, yet you hid these things
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Speaker 1: in your heart. I know that this is with you.
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Speaker 1: If I sin, then you mark me. You will not
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Speaker 1: acquit me from my iniquity. If I am wicked, woe
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Speaker 1: to me. If I am righteous, I still will not
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Speaker 1: lift up my head, being filled with disgrace and conscious
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Speaker 1: of my affliction. If my head is held high, you
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Speaker 1: hunt me like a lion. Again, you show yourself powerful
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Speaker 1: to me. You renew your witnesses against me and increase
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Speaker 1: your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.
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Speaker 1: Why then have you brought me out of the womb?
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Speaker 1: I wish I had given up the spirit and no
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Speaker 1: eye had seen me. I should have been as though
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Speaker 1: I had not been. I should have been carried from
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Speaker 1: the womb to the grave. Aren't my days few? Stop.
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Speaker 1: Leave me alone that I may find a little comfort
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Speaker 1: before I go where I will not return from, to
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Speaker 1: the land of darkness and of the shadow of death.
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Speaker 1: The land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death,
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Speaker 1: without any order, where the light is as midnight. Going
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Speaker 1: through the book of Job so far, you can kind
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Speaker 1: of see a pattern starting to form where Job complains
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Speaker 1: about everything that happened to him. His friends respond to
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Speaker 1: that complaint very arrogantly and cruelly to Job's suffering. Job
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Speaker 1: responds in kind to his friends and then asks God
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Speaker 1: a whole bunch of questions. We see that again in
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Speaker 1: this chapter, except now Job is getting even more brazen,
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Speaker 1: I suppose, with his questions for God. This is the
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Speaker 1: part of the book where Job really starts to put
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Speaker 1: God on trial. And honestly, that is what the entire
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Speaker 1: book of Job is about. So Job, now ending his
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Speaker 1: speech to his friends, begins to put God on trial.
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Speaker 1: It says right here in verse one, my soul is
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Speaker 1: weary of my life. I will give free course to
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Speaker 1: my complaint and I will speak in the bitterness of
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Speaker 1: my soul. His friends kept telling him, you know, just
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Speaker 1: perk up, Job. Get yourself out of these ashes. Start
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Speaker 1: doing good things again. You know, really, seek after God
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Speaker 1: because you stopped seeking after him. And that's clearly why
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Speaker 1: you're going through all this trouble. So seek after God
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Speaker 1: once again, and he will bless you. The problem was
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Speaker 1: you never had very strong roots in God, which is
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Speaker 1: why you are suffering now. And Job was like, well,
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Speaker 1: hold on a second. I always had strong roots in God,
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Speaker 1: which is the truth. Us as the reader knows that
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Speaker 1: we know that Job never did anything wrong. He truly
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Speaker 1: had deep conviction and faith in God. They could only
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Speaker 1: see their point of view, that suffering must come from
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Speaker 1: doing something wrong or doing something foolish. So they believed
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Speaker 1: that Job must have done something stupid or foolish or
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Speaker 1: unfaithful or sinful in order for him to be going
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Speaker 1: through this suffering that he was experiencing. And he kept
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Speaker 1: telling his friends, no, I promise you guys, I am
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Speaker 1: completely innocent. I have not done anything wrong. And what
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Speaker 1: he says right here in verse one, I am going
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Speaker 1: to complain about this. I'm not going to just perk
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Speaker 1: up like you guys tell me to and, you know,
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Speaker 1: go home and pretend like everything is hunky dory. I'm
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Speaker 1: not going to do that because there is nothing I
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Speaker 1: have done to sin. So I will complain and I
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Speaker 1: will express the bitterness of my soul is what he says.
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Speaker 1: I will tell God, verse two, do not condemn me.
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Speaker 1: Show me why you contend with me. So now this
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Speaker 1: is where he tells God, God, show me why. Show
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Speaker 1: me why you contend with me. Tell me what I've
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Speaker 1: done wrong. Why are you doing this to me? Why
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Speaker 1: are you being unjust and unfair? Is it good to
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Speaker 1: you that you should oppress and that you should despise
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Speaker 1: the work of your hands and smile on the counsel
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Speaker 1: of the wicked? He's like, God, do you really think
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Speaker 1: you're being just by oppressing me? The work of your
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Speaker 1: own hands, you know, you created me and yet You're
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Speaker 1: oppressing me so hard and you're smiling at the counsel
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Speaker 1: of the wicked. Now, the reason Job is saying that
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Speaker 1: is because of what he said a few chapters ago.
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Speaker 1: If you remember, he was asking his friends and God,
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Speaker 1: what's the difference between being good and evil? Because an
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Speaker 1: evil person gets blessed or he gets cursed by God.
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Speaker 1: And so does the good person. He gets cursed or
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Speaker 1: blessed by God. So what is the difference? Why should
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Speaker 1: I have worried my entire life about being good and
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Speaker 1: when God is just going to oppress me for being good,
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Speaker 1: just like he would a wicked person. And that is
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Speaker 1: what he's telling God right here. He's like, God, do
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Speaker 1: you really think it's good to oppress people who are
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Speaker 1: not wicked? People like me who have done nothing wrong
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Speaker 1: while you bless the wicked people and smile on their counsel?
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Speaker 1: Is that the kind of God that you are? That
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Speaker 1: is what Job is asking God. Is that who you are?
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Speaker 1: Do you have eyes of flesh or do you see
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Speaker 1: as a man sees? Are your days as the days
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Speaker 1: of mortals or your years as a man's years that
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Speaker 1: you inquire after my iniquity and search after my sin?
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Speaker 1: He says, God, I know that you're not like men.
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Speaker 1: I know that your eyes are so much better than
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Speaker 1: any man's eyes. Your eyes don't have the human limitation
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Speaker 1: to them. You can see everything and you don't have
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Speaker 1: the lifespan of a mortal man. You are eternal. You
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Speaker 1: are the God of gods who has always been. And yet,
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Speaker 1: even though you are all-knowing, all seeing, completely powerful and
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Speaker 1: without limit. You still inquire after my iniquity, he says
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Speaker 1: in verse six, and search after my sin. Although you
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Speaker 1: know that I am not wicked, there is no one
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Speaker 1: who can deliver out of your hand. He's like, God,
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Speaker 1: what's the point in oppressing me of all people? What's
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Speaker 1: the point of searching out my sin so diligently the
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Speaker 1: way that you've been doing it? You are all powerful
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Speaker 1: and no one can do anything against you. No one
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Speaker 1: can deliver me out of your hand. So what is
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Speaker 1: the point? Why are you searching me so diligently is
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Speaker 1: what Job is getting at here. And then in verse eight,
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Speaker 1: your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether. And
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Speaker 1: yet you destroy me. Remember, I beg you that you've
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Speaker 1: fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?
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Speaker 1: He's like, God, I am your very own creation. You
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Speaker 1: formed me in my mother's womb. You made sure that
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Speaker 1: I was brought to safety out of her womb. And
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Speaker 1: yet now you choose to destroy me. You fashioned me
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Speaker 1: as clay, he says in verse nine. So are you
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Speaker 1: going to bring me into dust and ashes again? You know,
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Speaker 1: grind the clay down into nothing but dust. You know,
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Speaker 1: just as somebody makes a really beautiful object out of clay,
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Speaker 1: they're not going to just go and smash that object
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Speaker 1: is what Job is getting at. They're not going to
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Speaker 1: grind that object down into clay because then they're just
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Speaker 1: wasting their time making that clay vessel that apparently was
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Speaker 1: perfect and fine and did nothing wrong like Job. what
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Speaker 1: would be the point of the potter grinding it down
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Speaker 1: into nothing? I mean, Job is really getting at some questions.
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Speaker 1: I think that probably a lot of us have asked God,
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Speaker 1: you know, like, God, what's the point? Why are you
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Speaker 1: letting me go through this? Why, if scripture says that
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Speaker 1: you love me, Are you allowing me to go through
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Speaker 1: pain and hurt? These are all the things that Job
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Speaker 1: is asking here, but even on a darker level in
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Speaker 1: some ways. In fact, he's kind of taking Psalm 139,
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Speaker 1: you know, the beloved Psalm that I'll end up reading
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Speaker 1: at the end of all of this, and twisting it
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Speaker 1: in a way. Now, granted, the book of Job was
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Speaker 1: probably written before Psalm 139. So if anything, David, who
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Speaker 1: wrote Psalm 139, kind of reframed everything Job said in
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Speaker 1: a really beautiful way, which I'll talk about in a
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Speaker 1: little bit here. But he says, remember, I beg you, God,
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Speaker 1: that you have fashioned me as clay. So will you
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Speaker 1: bring me into dust again? Now, this verse reminds me
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Speaker 1: of Romans chapter nine, verses 19 through 24. And this
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Speaker 1: is Paul talking about somebody complaining about how or why
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Speaker 1: God made them. Kind of like how Job is doing
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Speaker 1: right here. Here's what this says. Romans 9, starting in
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Speaker 1: verse 19. You will say then to me, why does
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Speaker 1: he still find fault? For who withstands his will? But indeed,
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Speaker 1: oh man, who are you to reply against God? Well,
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Speaker 1: the thing formed asked him who formed it. Why did
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Speaker 1: you make me like this? Or hasn't the potter a
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Speaker 1: right over the clay from the same lump to make
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Speaker 1: one part a vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
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Speaker 1: What if God, willing to show his wrath and to
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Speaker 1: make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of
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Speaker 1: wrath prepared for destruction, and that he might make known
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Speaker 1: the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which
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Speaker 1: he prepared beforehand for glory, us whom he also called,
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Speaker 1: not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles.
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Speaker 1: So did you catch that? Job is essentially saying that
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Speaker 1: he is a vessel made for destruction, made for dishonor.
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Speaker 1: something that God fashions and forms just to grind it
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Speaker 1: down into dust again. It is not a beautiful vessel
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Speaker 1: that you, you know, place on your mantle for everybody
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Speaker 1: to see. It's a vessel that you use and destroy.
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Speaker 1: And that is exactly what Job is calling himself. He's saying, God,
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Speaker 1: how dare you make me a vessel for destruction? And
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Speaker 1: notice what Paul said. He said,' Who are you, O man,
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Speaker 1: to argue with your maker?' Because here is something that
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Speaker 1: Job is not understanding. Job does not understand that he
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Speaker 1: is not a vessel made for destruction. That God did
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Speaker 1: not just form Job to destroy him in life for
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Speaker 1: absolutely no reason whatsoever. Job is believing something that is
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Speaker 1: not true about God or about himself because he doesn't
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Speaker 1: understand the plan of God or what God is doing.
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Speaker 1: But you and I as the reader, We can see
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Speaker 1: the plan of God a little bit clearer than Job could.
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Speaker 1: And that is why Paul says, who are you, oh man,
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Speaker 1: to argue with your creator? Who are you to say,
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Speaker 1: why did you form me like this? Why did you
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Speaker 1: make me a vessel for destruction? In other words, we
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Speaker 1: have no right to assume we know the entire plan
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Speaker 1: of God. God's plans are so beyond us. And God
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Speaker 1: has a purpose for every single one of his people.
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Speaker 1: And there's a beautiful verse actually that ties into this.
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Speaker 1: Second Timothy 2, 20 through 21. It says, now in
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Speaker 1: a large house, there are not only vessels of gold
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Speaker 1: and silver, but also of wood and of clay. Some
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Speaker 1: are for honor and some for dishonor. If anyone therefore
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Speaker 1: purges himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor,
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Speaker 1: sanctified and suitable for the master's use, prepared for every
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Speaker 1: good work. So that's another thing. Some people can start
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Speaker 1: out as vessels for dishonor, vessels for destruction, but become
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Speaker 1: vessels of honor if they actually believe in Jesus. It
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Speaker 1: says right here, he will be a vessel for honor,
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Speaker 1: sanctified and suitable for the master's use, prepared for every
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Speaker 1: good work. So Job doesn't really understand what God is
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Speaker 1: doing here, and yet he's arguing with his maker, putting
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Speaker 1: himself almost on the same level as God, in a sense,
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Speaker 1: by claiming he knows every single thing that God is doing.
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Speaker 1: But Job doesn't understand anything, anything at all that God
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Speaker 1: is doing. So Job's pride is really coming to the
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Speaker 1: forefront right here. I read something interesting about the book
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Speaker 1: of Job recently, actually. And I am very sorry because
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Speaker 1: I do not remember who quoted this. So I don't
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Speaker 1: have a specific reference for this quote yet. but it's
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Speaker 1: not mine. I'll just say that. But the quote said
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Speaker 1: something along the lines of buried pride can really come
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Speaker 1: to the forefront during suffering. So even if Job was
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Speaker 1: a very humble man during his earlier days of, you know, plenty,
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Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that there wasn't a root of pride
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Speaker 1: buried down deep in his heart. But that doesn't mean
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Speaker 1: that God was punishing Job for that sin because Job
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Speaker 1: was not per se, expressing that pride. He was a
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Speaker 1: humble man. He was following God's laws. He was not
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Speaker 1: outright sinning. He was a blameless man. But now that
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Speaker 1: root of pride that is in every single one of
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Speaker 1: us is coming to the forefront in Job's heart because
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Speaker 1: he's suffering so extremely. And this is a common thing,
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Speaker 1: I am sure, for many people who experience this kind
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Speaker 1: of is being unjust because he's allowing me to go
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Speaker 1: through this thing. But again, we don't know God's entire plan.
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Speaker 1: And neither does Job, because Job is acting very presumptuous
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Speaker 1: against God right here. And he says in verse 10,
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Speaker 1: haven't you poured me out like milk and curdled me
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Speaker 1: like cheese? You've clothed me with skin and flesh and
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Speaker 1: knit me together with bones and sinews. You've granted me
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Speaker 1: life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit,
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Speaker 1: yet you hid these things in your heart. And I
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Speaker 1: know that this is with you. If I sin and
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Speaker 1: you mark me, you will not acquit me from my iniquity.
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Speaker 1: Job is basically saying that God brought him into the
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Speaker 1: earth to destroy him, to curdle him like cheese, is
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Speaker 1: what he says, and pour out his life like milk.
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Speaker 1: If I am wicked, verse 15, woe to me. If
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Speaker 1: I am righteous, I will still not lift up my head,
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Speaker 1: being filled with disgrace and conscious of my affliction. Again,
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Speaker 1: he goes back to that old idea. What's the point
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Speaker 1: of being good if the good person and the wicked
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Speaker 1: person get the exact same reward? And, you know, Job
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Speaker 1: really believes that because at the very end of this
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Speaker 1: complaint that he has, he goes into what he believes
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Speaker 1: the afterlife looks like. And man, it's not a good picture.
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Speaker 1: But before we get to that, he says in verse 16,
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Speaker 1: if my head is held high, you hunt me like
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Speaker 1: a lion. And again, you show yourself powerful to me.
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Speaker 1: You renew your witnesses against me and increase your indignation
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Speaker 1: on me. Changes and warfare are with me. He is
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Speaker 1: calling God a powerful lion right here that is only
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Speaker 1: out to pursue Job. He's misframing God's love on humanity.
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Speaker 1: Because Job clearly believes and understands that God is always
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Speaker 1: with him, right? Because everything he's saying right here, from
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Speaker 1: the time he was in the womb to right now,
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Speaker 1: God has been with him, been pursuing him, In loving kindness,
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Speaker 1: he actually says that in verse 12, he says, you
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Speaker 1: granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved
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Speaker 1: my spirit. So there were times where God's presence was
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Speaker 1: a blessing to Job. But now in Job's mind, God's
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Speaker 1: presence is no longer life bringing, but it's death bringing.
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Speaker 1: And if that is not a lie from Satan, I
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Speaker 1: don't know what is. Satan really wants to frame God
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Speaker 1: as if God is oppressive and takes away people's freedom
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Speaker 1: and doesn't let them have any fun and hurts them
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Speaker 1: and destroys them and does all sorts of things to them.
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Speaker 1: That is how Satan wants people to understand God. And unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: that is what Job is understanding about God right here.
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Speaker 1: He's not recognizing God's comfort and God's goodness. He's only
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Speaker 1: seeing God as this oppressive figure that is like stalking
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Speaker 1: him as a lion stalks the prey. So now in
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Speaker 1: verses 18 through 22, he really brings it to a
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Speaker 1: head right here. He says, why then have you brought
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Speaker 1: me out of the womb? I wish I had given
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Speaker 1: up the spirit and no eye had seen me. I
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Speaker 1: should have been as though I had not been. I
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Speaker 1: should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
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Speaker 1: Aren't my days few? Stop, leave me alone. Amen. Amen. Amen.
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Speaker 1: That's how Job understands the afterlife. So you can see,
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Speaker 1: I guess, his level of distress that he has because
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Speaker 1: not only is his life to him a constant misery,
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Speaker 1: but also the afterlife is is essentially just this place
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Speaker 1: of darkness and of the shadow of death. Unless Job
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Speaker 1: right here has fooled himself into thinking that there is
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Speaker 1: no paradise. Because if God, you know, hunts him down
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Speaker 1: as God would hunt down the wicked, then maybe there
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Speaker 1: is no such thing as paradise. Maybe it's only eternal
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Speaker 1: blackness and misery and the shadow of death for all
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Speaker 1: of eternity. It could be that Job has believed this
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Speaker 1: lie he's telling himself so deeply that he no longer
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Speaker 1: believes that there is any goodness for anybody who believes
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Speaker 1: in Yahweh, even in the afterlife. Whatever it is, Job
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Speaker 1: is really beginning to believe some harsh things about God.
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Speaker 1: He's putting God on trial. And we're going to talk
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Speaker 1: more about this idea of putting God on trial in
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Speaker 1: the coming chapters as well, because Job really starts to
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Speaker 1: ramp it up, especially as his friends no longer have
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Speaker 1: much to say. His friends will stop talking more and
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Speaker 1: more as Job begins to talk more and more. So
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Speaker 1: we will get into all of that in the coming chapters.
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Speaker 1: So I hope you guys have been enjoying the book
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Speaker 1: of Job so far. And I do appreciate all of
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Speaker 1: you sticking with me to the end of the episode.
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Speaker 1: So please take a moment to listen to this sponsored advertisement,
21:30
Speaker 1: and I will be back after that to close out
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Speaker 1: Job chapter 10. So I think the much better way
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Speaker 1: to understand God and God's love and continued presence with
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Speaker 1: us is found in Psalm 139, where David, it feels like,
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Speaker 1: takes the words of Job and kind of reworks them
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Speaker 1: into something super beautiful. So let's read Psalm 139, 13
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Speaker 1: through 18. It says,' You formed my innermost being and
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Speaker 1: you knit me together in my mother's womb. I will
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Speaker 1: give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
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Speaker 1: Your works are wonderful and my soul knows that very well.
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Speaker 1: My frame wasn't hidden from you. When I was made
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Speaker 1: in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.'
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Speaker 1: Your eyes saw my body. In your book, they were
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Speaker 1: all written. The days that were ordained for me, when
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Speaker 1: as yet there were none of them. How precious to
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Speaker 1: me are your thoughts, God. How vast is their sum.
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Speaker 1: If I would count them, they are more in number
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Speaker 1: than the sand. When I wake up, I am still
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Speaker 1: with you. I just love that. And earlier in the Psalm,
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Speaker 1: David goes into how there is no place in the
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Speaker 1: universe that he can be free from God's presence, that
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Speaker 1: God is everywhere. It doesn't matter where he goes, whether
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Speaker 1: he's at the lowest depths of the ocean or in
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Speaker 1: the grave or in the darkest darkness, God's presence will
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Speaker 1: be there with him. So we don't have to be
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Speaker 1: afraid because God is always near us. Job was understanding
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Speaker 1: God's nearness as something oppressive. David takes it as something
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Speaker 1: so loving that we are not ever afraid really alone.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what we're doing. We have someone with
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Speaker 1: us at all times who is caring for us deeply,
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Speaker 1: who is watching us, and not just with critical eyes,
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Speaker 1: but in a way where He cares about us and
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Speaker 1: loves us so deeply. Now, the W.E.B. says in verse
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Speaker 1: 17 of Psalm 139, How precious to me are your thoughts, God,
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Speaker 1: how vast is their sum. But if you look at
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Speaker 1: this in a different version, like the NIV or the NLT,
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Speaker 1: for example, there's a footnote about that verse that says
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Speaker 1: it could also mean how amazing are your thoughts concerning me,
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Speaker 1: which I think that is so beautiful that God thinks
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Speaker 1: about us all the time. Individually, he knows your name.
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Speaker 1: The God of the universe knows your name and he
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Speaker 1: knows my name as well. And I think that that
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Speaker 1: is such a beautiful thing about God and something that
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Speaker 1: should be encouraging to all of us believers. So faithful listeners,
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Speaker 1: I encourage you to take that with you throughout the week.
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Speaker 1: And also don't forget to fill out that survey that
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Speaker 1: I have linked in the description of this episode. That
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Speaker 1: would help me out a lot. Faithful listeners, have a
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Speaker 1: fantastic rest of your Monday. Happy listening and God bless.
24:43
Speaker 1: I just want to take a second to thank the
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Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with me on
24:46
Speaker 1: the Bible Explained podcast. In fact, if you go to lifeaudio.com,
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Speaker 1: you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network.
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Speaker 1: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.