Job’s Mt. St. Helens (10:1-12)

Mount St. Helens in Washington State exploded catastrophically on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 am. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. The eruption blew away the top 1300 feet of the mountain and replaced it with a 1 mile wide horseshoe-shaped crater. The avalanche that followed contained approximately ¾ of a cubic mile of debris! (www.wikipedia.com).

Chapter ten is Job’s Mt. St. Helens: “I WILL GIVE FULL VENT TO MY COMPLAINT!” Hartley writes, “He (Job) concludes that God is either an incompetent Judge or a malicious Tyrant.” It is perhaps difficult for us (unless we have been deathly ill fighting off tormenting pain) to swallow some of things Job has to say in this chapter (one plausible interpretation of verse 13 will curl your toes). In his thinking Job seems to slip back to the lament of chapter three, the very dark “I wish I was dead” chapter. Francis I Anderson writes, “At the present the only outcome that Job can imagine is the gloom of death.”

10:1 “I loathe my own life; I will give full vent to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.” 2 I will say to God, 'Do not condemn me; let me know why Thou dost contend with me.’”

“WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!?! cries Job. (I was going to type that in size 48 font, but Blogger won’t let me). Job was a desperately sick man whose fellowship with God was broken…and he didn’t know why.

“The gospel of Christ,” writes Francis I Anderson, “has not brought to any man a guarantee of less misery than Job’s. It has brought rather the sharing of Christ's sufferings without which a person is but half a Christian.”

That statement of Anderson’s probably won’t be seen on any motivational posters. And in some quarters of churchdom I suppose it could be interpreted as a lack of faith. But consider something: the world’s greatest church planter and theologian, Paul the Apostle, emailed this to the Christians at Corinth, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life." (II Cor. 1:8)

At times Paul struggled desperately in the ministry. I have a feeling that the same black cloud that afflicted Spurgeon and other great men and women of God also afflicted that bald and bowlegged preacher that turned the world upside down. Paul’s greatness was seen in his honest humanity -- he never painted an incorrect picture of “Life with Christ.” “It’s worth everything!” he wrote his beloved church at Philippi, “But it will also cost you everything!”

The Message puts verse one this way, “I can’t stand my life – I hate it!” Job was bitter, very bitter…but he wasn’t sour. Despite his agony and sickening appearance he was determined to gain an audience with God.

Hartley writes, “For Job’s testing to be as severe as possible Job must be unaware of God’s confidence, for trust in God is tested to the ultimate when circumstantial evidence calls into question the integrity of one’s devotion to God. God’s silence intensifies a person’s testing far more than physical and emotional pain.”

10:3 “Is it right for Thee indeed to oppress, to reject the labor of Thy hands, and to look favorably on the schemes of the wicked? 4 Hast Thou eyes of flesh? Or dost Thou see as a man sees? 5 Are Thy days as the days of a mortal, or Thy years as man's years, 6 That Thou shouldst seek for my guilt, and search after my sin?”

“To look favorably” (vs. 3) means to smile upon. Translation: God, You won’t smile on me, but You smile on the plans of those that hate you!

The Message paraphrases verse 6 this way, “So what’s this all about anyway – this compulsion to dig up some dirt, to find some skeleton in my closet?”

10:7 According to Thy knowledge I am indeed not guilty; yet there is no deliverance from Thy hand. 8 Thy hands fashioned and made me altogether, and wouldst Thou destroy me? 9 Remember now, that Thou hast made me as clay; and wouldst Thou turn me into dust again? 10 Didst Thou not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese; 11 Clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews?”

Essentially Job is saying that God has taken such great pains and toiled so relentlessly to create, mold and shape him – how could he now be throwing his creation in the garbage can? Some of the words found in verses 7-11 are found in the creation story in Genesis 1 and 2 and also in Psalm 139 – a Psalm that recounts God's incredible care and marvelous creativity. But Job wonders why he is now on the verge of being turned back into dirt. Hartley states, “Job wants to make God aware that His rough treatment is about to smash His vessel.”

10:12 “Thou hast granted me life and lovingkindness; and Thy care has preserved my spirit.”

Lovingkindness is one of the great words of the Old Testament. The Hebrew word is “chesed” and is the equivalent of the New Testament word “agape (love).” It is a love that carries the thought of the unfailing devotion of a greater to a lesser in a covenant relationship. It is unfailing love. It is a steadfast love. It is a love that contains the idea of tenacious devotion.

The problem? Circumstances dictate that God’s devotion is gone, the unfailing has failed, the steadfastness has collapsed. God has seemingly abandoned Job and Job wants to know “WHY?”

Conclusion: There may (make that “will”) come times in your life when you need to vent. Chuck Swindoll tells the poignant story of his friend whose very young son was tragically killed when he drowned in a swimming pool. For the entire night the man drove the freeways of Los Angeles. Swindoll writes (quoting his friend), “During those hours I screamed out to God expressing all the grief and the anger and the sadness and the confusion from deep within my soul...I said things to Him in that car that I’d never said before to anybody…” Around dawn he pulled up to his house, put his head down on the steering wheel, and just sobbed. In recounting that story, Chuck Swindoll’s friend said this, “I was comforted with this thought: God can handle it. He can handle everything I said.”

God can handle it when you vent! He can handle all of your questions, your doubts your struggles. Pour out your struggles to Him today.