Bitterness Of...Soul

Job 7:11,17-18 – “Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul…“What is mankind that you make so much of them, that you give them so much attention, that you examine them every morning and test them every moment?

Job 10:1 – “I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

Psalm 6:3 – My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?

Isaiah 38:17 – Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

Job 27:2-4 – “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter, as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not say anything wicked, and my tongue will not utter lies.

Application:

• ·         Because Job is so bitter, his mind has conjured up a false picture of God.
• ·         Language of impatience and complaint is found frequently in the prayers of the Psalter. It expresses the anguish of relief not granted and exhibits the boldness with which the psalmists wrestled with God on the basis of their relationship with Him and their conviction concerning His righteousness.
• ·         God not only puts our sins out of sight; He also puts them out of reach, out of mind and out of existence.
• ·         Humanity is created in God’s image to have dominion over the world. Job’s words are a parody on this theme—as if God’s only interest in people is to scrutinize them unmercifully and take quick offense at their slightest fault.
• ·         Job’s faith in God continued despite his personal perception of denied justice.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV