What is the meaning of Job 10:20? Are my days not few? • Job voices the brevity of his life, not in despair of God’s sovereignty but in honest realism. Psalm 39:4–5 echoes the same cry: “LORD, make me to know my end and the measure of my days… each man at his best exists as but a breath.” • James 4:14 reminds us, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Job is acknowledging what Scripture repeatedly declares: human life is short and fragile (Psalm 90:12; Job 14:1-2). • Seeing his days as “few” prepares the heart for humility, repentance, and dependence on the One who numbers every moment (Matthew 10:29-31). Withdraw from me • Job pleads for temporary relief from the intensity of the Almighty’s scrutiny. He had already asked, “Will You never look away from me…?” (Job 7:19). • Psalm 39:13 carries the same tone: “Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.” The feeling is not hatred of God but a cry for space to breathe amid suffering. • Even Christ felt the weight of divine distance when He quoted Psalm 22 on the cross (Mark 15:34). Scripture never condemns honest lament; it records it so we know our Father can handle raw petitions. that I may have a little comfort • Job longs for just “a little” respite before death, a request that shows how severe his pain is. Yet he still believes comfort is possible. • 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 assures us that God is “the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.” • Psalm 94:19 affirms, “When anxiety was great within me, Your consolation brought me joy.” Job seeks exactly this: a brief taste of consolation before his final breath. • Later, his faith pierces the clouds: “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25). Suffering pushes him toward the only true source of comfort—his living Redeemer. summary Job 10:20 captures a three-part sigh of the suffering saint: life is short, God feels unbearably close in judgment, and the heart begs for a moment of relief. Scripture affirms each element—human frailty, honest lament, and divine comfort—showing that even in anguish, the believer is safe to pour out every thought to the Lord who both numbers our days and promises eternal consolation in Christ. |
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