I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
Job 10 stands inside the extended debate between Job and his three friends over the meaning of his afflictions. In it Job speaks conscious of his own integrity yet unable to comprehend God's dealings with him, judging to some extent from the same standpoint as his friends. The verse is his appeal asking God not to condemn him but to show him why He contends with him, and he makes that request without charging God foolishly. His afflictions are no proof that he has sinned, and his friends are wrong to blame them on his sin.
The verse belongs to the book's larger treatment of suffering and divine providence, in which his affliction is presented as God's discipline. When answers to prayer do not match the request, the verse warns against treating that disappointment as proof of divine displeasure; instead people are to submit to God's wisdom and love, whose purposes and ways they cannot fully discover. God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself forever after, giving comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones and proving a blessing to Job himself.
Job 10 stands inside the extended debate between Job and his three friends over the meaning of his afflictions. In it Job speaks conscious of his own integrity yet unable to comprehend God's dealings with him, judging to some extent from the same standpoint as his friends. The verse is his appeal asking God not to condemn him but to show him why He contends with him, and he makes that request without charging God foolishly. His afflictions are no proof that he has sinned, and his friends are wrong to blame them on his sin.
The verse belongs to the book's larger treatment of suffering and divine providence, in which his affliction is presented as God's discipline. When answers to prayer do not match the request, the verse warns against treating that disappointment as proof of divine displeasure; instead people are to submit to God's wisdom and love, whose purposes and ways they cannot fully discover. God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself forever after, giving comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones and proving a blessing to Job himself.