13th.: Please Do Not Condemn Me
Job uttered numerous prayers that asked God, WHY?
His second prayer began with,
“Do not condemn me. Show me wherefore thou contends with me. Is it good unto thee that thou should oppress, that thou should despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? Have thou eyes of flesh? Or sees thou as man sees. Are thy days as the days of man? Are thy years as man’s days that thou inquires after mine iniquity, and searches after my sin? Thou knows that I am not wicked. And there is none that can deliver out of thine hand. Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about. Yet, thou does destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou has made me as the clay. And wilt thou bring me into dust again? Has thou not poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese? Thou has clothed me with skin and flesh, and has fenced me with bones and sinews. Thou has granted me life and favour, and thy visitation has preserved my spirit. And these things has thou hid in thine heart. I know that this is with thee.” (Job 10:2-13).
Job then tried a different line of reasoning,
‘Most men won’t make something beautiful to turn around and rashly destroy it.’
Nevertheless, Job acknowledged that God made him.
Job also acknowledged that he had sinned (Job 7:20, 21),
yet he tried to stay away from the worst kinds of wickedness (Job 10:7a).
Job questioned why God would destroy his own beautiful works (Job 10:8)?
Yet God was not persuaded to back off on the difficult times.
Notice, it was not because of any sin that Job had done.
Rather, God had already decided on a particular plan for Job.
Sometimes, as the platitude goes, we just have to trust God.