Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your
Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Studyheadquarters dot com.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the chapter today Audio Bible. I'm John Stangey,
Speaker 1: and today we're in Job chapter ten and we'll be
Speaker 1: reading from the English Standard version. I loathe my life.
Speaker 1: I will give free utterance to my complaint. I will
Speaker 1: speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say
Speaker 1: to God, do not condemn me. Let me know why
Speaker 1: you contend against me. Does it seem good to you
Speaker 1: to oppress, to despise the work of your hands, and
Speaker 1: favor the designs of the wicked? Have you eyes of flesh?
Speaker 1: Do you see as man sees? Are your days as
Speaker 1: the days of man? Or your years as a man's years?
Speaker 1: That you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,
Speaker 1: although you know that I am not guilty, and there
Speaker 1: is none to deliver out of your hand. Your hands
Speaker 1: fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether.
Speaker 1: Remember that you have made me like clay, and will
Speaker 1: you return me to the dust? Did you not pour
Speaker 1: me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You
Speaker 1: clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together
Speaker 1: with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and
Speaker 1: steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. Yet
Speaker 1: these things you hid in your heart. I know that
Speaker 1: this was your purpose. If I sin, you watch me
Speaker 1: and do not ecquit me of my iniquity. If I
Speaker 1: am guilty, woe to me. If I am in the right,
Speaker 1: I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled
Speaker 1: with disgrace, and look on my afflict. And were my
Speaker 1: head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion,
Speaker 1: and again work wonders against me. You renew your witness
Speaker 1: against me, and increase your vexation toward me. You bring
Speaker 1: fresh troops against me. Why did you bring me out
Speaker 1: from the womb? Would that I had died before any
Speaker 1: eye had seen me? And whereas though I had not
Speaker 1: been carried from the womb to the grave, are not
Speaker 1: my days few? Then cease and leave me alone, that
Speaker 1: I may find a little cheer before I go, and
Speaker 1: I shall not return to the land of darkness and
Speaker 1: deep shadow, the land of gloom, like thick darkness, like
Speaker 1: deep shadow, without any order, where light is as thick darkness.
Speaker 1: Let's pray, Lord, we thank you for your word, and
Speaker 1: we thank you for the opportunity to be able to
Speaker 1: look at it together today. And Lord, when we look
Speaker 1: at this portion of Scripture, we could see Job's anguish
Speaker 1: is very real, and he's in the midst of the
Speaker 1: darkest season of his life, and he's questioning why he
Speaker 1: was even allowed to be born. And at the same time,
Speaker 1: as he examines his life, he's not seeing an area
Speaker 1: of obvious sin against you. He feels that up to
Speaker 1: this point he's been living in such a way that
Speaker 1: he's honored you, and so he questions this time of
Speaker 1: trial because he's thinking of it through the lens of
Speaker 1: it being a punishment for sin. And Lord, you certainly
Speaker 1: do judge sin, and there are certainly consequences for sin.
Speaker 1: But Lord, help us to learn from what we're seeing
Speaker 1: Job experience in this book that not every trial that
Speaker 1: we experience in our life is something related to sinful
Speaker 1: activity on our part. Sometimes, Lord, you reveal to us
Speaker 1: in your Word that you allow trials to come into
Speaker 1: our lives for the purpose of us becoming stronger, for
Speaker 1: the purpose of us learning that we can rely on
Speaker 1: you and trust in you. You develop our faith, and
Speaker 1: you produce holiness and perseverance in the lives of those
Speaker 1: who trust in you. Lord, we're grateful for that. Lord.
Speaker 1: You demonstrate time and again in scripture that good things
Speaker 1: can come from trials. We see that likewise in the
Speaker 1: trials that your son Jesus Christ experienced during the course
Speaker 1: of his earthly ministry. As he, the innocent One, the
Speaker 1: anointed One, was crucified for our sin, but he did
Speaker 1: so for our benefit, that much righteousness could come as
Speaker 1: a result of his intervention on our behalf. So we're grateful,
Speaker 1: Lord for these things, and we pray that you'd remind
Speaker 1: us of these truths when we're in the midst of
Speaker 1: seasons that feel very difficult, and seasons that weigh heavy
Speaker 1: on our souls. Lord, grant us your strength, and we
Speaker 1: thank you for your presence with us today. We commit
Speaker 1: this day to your care and pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.