Expository Commentary on the Book of Job. Bible Study – 12
Just for your thoughts.
Expository Commentary on the Book of Job.
Bible Study – 12
"Why Was I Born?"
"Why was I born?" There is hardly anyone who has never asked this question at least once in life. At different stages of our journey, this question rises from the depths of our hearts toward God.
It often arises when we feel useless in the eyes of the world; when all our plans and efforts collapse in failure; when we endure unbearable physical pain that no medicine can heal; when we cannot understand the reason for our suffering; or when the kindness and help we have shown to others are forgotten and repaid with ingratitude. In such moments, this question naturally echoes within us.
This is not a voice of rebellion against God. Rather, it is the cry of a human heart overwhelmed by helplessness and weakness.
It is this very question that Job raises in chapter 10 of the Book of Job. Job may well be the first person in the Bible to ask, "Why was I born?"
Everything had once been going well for him. Job was a righteous man who was pleasing to God. Thinking that his children might have sinned unknowingly, he regularly offered sacrifices and sought atonement for them before God. But suddenly he lost his children and all his possessions. On top of that, he was afflicted with intense physical suffering. Unable to bear such overwhelming grief, he cried out to God, "Why was I born?"
In this chapter, Job pours out his anguish not to his friends, but directly to God. Some of his words are deeply painful:
"You hunt me like a lion." (Job 10:16)
"You search out my iniquity and investigate my sin." (Job 10:6)
"Your hands shaped and made me, yet now You destroy me." (Job 10:8)
"You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me." (Job 10:17)
Finally, he pleads with God, "Leave me alone, that I may have a little comfort before I go and do not return" (Job 10:20–21).
In this chapter, Job not only longs for a mediator but also begins to yearn for a Redeemer who can deliver him from his suffering. That longing later blossoms into his great confession of faith: "I know that my Redeemer lives" (Job 19:25).
Yet God did not answer Job immediately. God knew that Job's suffering was not the result of his own sin but a trial brought about by Satan with God's permission. Therefore, God did not hold Job's accusations against him.
In the same way, when we ask God painful questions in moments of deep anguish, He does not respond with anger. He is full of grace and compassion. He looks beyond our words and sees the true condition and intention of our hearts.
There was no bitterness toward God, no hatred, and no abandonment of faith in Job's lament. It was simply the cry of a broken heart crushed by suffering.
To those who ask through tears, "Why was I born?" God, in His perfect time, reveals the answer to the greater question: "Why should I live?" That is the beauty of His boundless grace and unfailing mercy.