Job 10:8 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, we can see two things: how Job looks to God as his Creator and Preserver, and how he uses that truth in prayer. This is one of the first things we all need to know and think about. God made us, not our parents, who were only the tools of his power and care in bringing us into being. He made us, and we did not make ourselves. His hands formed these bodies of ours, and every part of them (Job 10:8). They are wonderfully and fearfully made.

Job notices both body and soul here. The body is made like clay in the hands of a potter, shaped into this form by skill and will (v. 9). We are earthen vessels, lowly in our origin and soon broken apart, made as clay. So the thing shaped must not say to the one who shaped it, "Why did you make me like this?" We should not be proud of our bodies, because their material comes from the earth. Yet we should not dishonor them either, because their form comes from divine wisdom.

Job describes the making of the human body in the womb with a striking picture. He says, "You poured me out like milk," which is then thickened into cheese (v. 10). He also gives details of how the body is built up (v. 11). Though we come into the world naked, the body is both clothed and armed. Skin and flesh serve as its clothing, and bones and sinews as its armor, not to attack, but to protect. The heart and lungs are hidden and guarded in this way. The careful design of the human body is a clear display of the Creator's wisdom, power, and goodness. It is a sad thing that bodies made for holiness can become tools of sin, when they could be temples of the Holy Spirit.

The soul is life, and the soul is what makes a person truly alive, and this too is God's gift. Job says, "You have granted me life" and breathed into me the breath of life, without which the body would be only a lifeless corpse. God is the Father of spirits. He made us living souls and gave us reason. He gave us life and favor, and life itself is a favor, a great one. It is more than food or clothing, and it gives us the chance to receive all other blessings. Job is in a better frame of mind here than when he once complained that life was a burden and asked why he had not died at birth. By "life and favor," he may also mean life along with all the comforts of life, pointing back to his former prosperity. There was a time when he walked in the light of God's favor and thought, like David, that through that favor his mountain stood strong.

God not only gives life, he also keeps it going. When he lights the lamp of life, he does not leave it to burn on its own. He keeps supplying it. "Your visitation has preserved my spirit" means God has kept Job alive, guarded him from the dangers that surround life, and supplied all the daily supports life needs and longs for.

Job then uses this truth in prayer. He says, "Remember, I beg you, that you made me" (Job 10:9). And what does he mean by that? First, if God made him, then God knows him perfectly (Psalm 139:1-13). God does not need to examine him by pain or scourging to find out what is inside him. Second, if God made him by an act of sovereign power, then God could also unmake him by the same power, and Job would have to submit. Third, Job pleads that God should not destroy the work of his own hands. This is a prayer God's people have often used: "We are the clay, and you are our potter" (Isaiah 64:8). "Your hands have made me and formed me" (Psalm 119:73). So Job says, "You made me, and will you destroy me?" (Job 10:8) "Will you bring me back to dust?" (Job 10:9)

This is also a plea for mercy. Job is saying, "Will you not pity me? Will you not spare and help me, and stand by the work of your own hands?" (Psalm 138:8). "You made me, and you know my strength. Will you then let me be crushed beyond what I can bear? Was I made to be made miserable? Was I preserved only to be saved for these sufferings?" If we use this truth to move ourselves toward duty, "God made me and keeps me alive, so I will serve him and submit to him," then we may also use it in prayer for mercy: "You made me, make me new. I am yours, save me." Job could not understand how God’s former kindness and present harshness fit together, but he ends by saying that these things are hidden in God's heart (Job 10:13). They are all part of God's own wise purpose, even if they seem hard to match. When God changes his way in such a surprising manner, we may not be able to explain it, but we must believe that there are good reasons hidden in his heart, and they will be made clear in time. It is not for us to assign the cause, but we know that this is with God. God knows all his works.