The Most Important Service

Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer. (2Timothy 2:3-4)

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1Corinthains 9:24-25)

My sister’s wedding is over. I have to say, I’m glad. Planning a wedding and executing the plan, while she was getting ready to deploy to the Middle East (4 ½ weeks from telling me to wedding day), was intense for all involved. In the time leading up to my sister Rebecca’s wedding; my home became grand central station for wedding planning. Rebecca and Brenton, who had been on the marriage track for awhile (stuck in that horrible saving for… everything-from ring to wedding-stage), decided that they should get married before my sister deploys to the Middle East. So in a matter of a few short weeks a wedding was planned. Understandably, allot of things still needed to get dealt with in the week leading up to the wedding.

However, as they were in the midst of wedding planning, something stood out to me; something that at first seemed odd, and eventually left me impressed. The wedding is not the most important thing in their life (especially his). The most important thing in is preparing for him to return to the military as a member of the Special Forces. He is in incredible, strict, focused training. He carefully monitors what he eats. He’s up at 5, working out. He’s at the gym twice a day, lifting, exercising, preparing. He runs with a rucksack filled with sand. On and on the list goes, because while the wedding is important; the most important thing in his life is being ready for a higher calling. And lest you think he is alone in this, Rebecca is in on this single-minded focus. Together they are aiming at this higher goal a reality. The wedding is important, but there are things that are even more important.

I found myself thinking about this in relationship to the Christian life. As Christians, we are called to a service that is greater than the U.S. Military. We serve the King of kings, and Lord of Lords, the One “who was, and is, and is to come”. And yet, often, our faith in Christ is treated like an add-on, rather than the thing that shapes and defines who we are and how we live. But if this is how one lives as they prepare for special forces and service to the nation, how much more focused should our preparation and lives be as we seek to be prepared to live for Christ? The rest of life is important, but some things are of the utmost importance and demand incredible focus.

Here’s the point. It’s a question that’s started to form in my mind as I’ve watched Brenton train. How is your life arranged? Is serving Christ the most important thing? Or are other things of the greatest priority? You were created for His Glory (Isaiah 43:7), and commanded to “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). You were “called out of darkness and into his glorious light” (1 Peter 2:9) by the one who died the death you should have died. Can you see the cross, and is it driving you to grateful service to Christ?  And are you aimed at serving your commanding officer with your life shaped and molded by the gospel; or are you so involved in the day to day cares of this world that you find that you lose sight of the cross, and service to Christ is something you never get around to? Are you so busy that you never get around to training, preparing, growing? Ultimately, you can chase a crown that will not last, or you can seek the crown that will last forever. What is the aim of your life? And what are the things that are the greatest priorities in your life? Ponder this as you go about your week.

The wedding sermon cutting room floor

I'm performing my sisters wedding today. Here is a thought that I had to cut from the sermon. I find it helpful, I hope you do as well.

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. (Song of Solomon 8:6)

If you think about what a seal does, you’ll find this image profound. A seal does two things. It shapes, and it protects. First, it shapes, it reshapes. A seal is stamp, you take it, you pressed into hot wax that is covering the meeting point between two surfaces, and it leaves a mark in the wax. Love does that in our lives. Every now and then I’ll take my ring off, Veronique hates it when I do, but when I do, I’m reminded that it’s not there. It’s left a mark on my hand. A visible mark, but also, it’s changed the way my hand feels. If it’s off, I know it. Just a few months after we got married, I took my ring off, set it by the bedside table, and put on moisturizer, and then, in a rush, headed off to class. At some point, I went to raise my hand to ask a question, and I realized, it’s gone. It felt different. My hand felt different.

In marriage, the love that we have for each other, in relationship with Christ, the love that will hold your marriage together and causes a couple to hold fast to each other, reshapes us. It redefines how we approach things, how we think about things, how we go about every day, as it draws us deeper into relationship with each other and with Christ.

Repentance- The Key To Marriage Lasting

 My sister is getting married this weekend, and I'm performing the wedding. As I prepared for the wedding sermon,  I ran across a couple of profound and interesting quotes on marriage that every couple should remember.

“The key to a marriage is simply re-enacting the gospel to each other. You can talk about communication skills or other stuff, and they’re all good, but basically knowing how to forgive and knowing how to repent… If you both can forgive and repent, it doesn’t matter how different you are, you’ll be okay. Two Christians who are married can make it, no matter how incompatible… if you can repent and forgive.”

          Tim Keller, The Gospel Coalition National Conference, 2009.

“the most damaging statements that have ever been said about us are those things we have said about ourselves to ourselves. Many people have a never-ending loop of self-talk that berates them for being foolish, stupid, a failure, a loser. But now into your life comes someone who has the power to overturn all the accumulated verdicts that have ever been passed upon you by others or by you yourself. Marriage puts into your spouse’s hand a massive power to reprogram your own self-appreciation.”

          Tim Keller

Wow. Preach that to yourself on those days that your spouse is a heel. Better yet, preach it to yourself on the days that you are a heel.

Piper on Preaching: Bible-Oriented Preaching or Entertainment?

John Piper, released a new article on Sermoncentral.com on sermons entitled 'Bible-Oriented Preaching or Entertainment?' It caught my eye this morning. You find it here. It's worth the five minutes.

The Bible tethers us to reality. We are not free to think and speak whatever might enter our minds or what might be pleasing to any given audience—except God.

By personal calling and Scripture, I am bound to the word of God and to the preaching of what the Bible says. There are few things that burden me more or refresh me more than saying what I see in the Bible. I love to see what God says in the Bible. I love to savor it. And I love to say it.

I believe with all my heart that this is the way God has appointed for me not to waste my life. His word is true. The Bible is the only completely true book in the world. It is inspired by God. Rightly understood and followed, it will lead us to everlasting joy with him. There is no greater book or greater truth.

What does this mean for us? It means that the bible is the sole authority for life and faith. Piper goes on to give wise words about the implications of this for both the preacher and the listener. Scripture over church authority, and the need to press on to the task of preaching faithfully.

The implications of this for preaching are immense. John Calvin, with the other Reformers, rescued the Scriptures from their subordination to tradition in the medieval church. The Reformation, let us thank God, was the recovery of the unique and supreme authority of Scripture over church authority. Commenting on John 17:20, Calvin wrote,

Woe to the Papists who have no other rule of faith than the tradition of the Church. As for us, let us remember that the Son of God, who alone can and ought to pronounce in this matter, approves of no other faith but that which comes from the doctrine of the Apostles, of which we find no certain testimony except in their writings.  (Commentary on John)

Calvin’s preaching inspires me to press on with this great and glorious task of heralding the word of God. I feel what he says when he writes to Cardinal Sadoleto:

O Lord, you have enlightened me with the brightness of your Spirit. You have put your Word as a lamp to my feet. The clouds which before now veiled your glory have been dispelled by it, and the blessings of your Anointed have shone clearly upon my eyes. What I have learnt from your mouth (that is to say, from your Word) I will distribute faithfully to your church. (“Letter to Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto,” quoted in J. H. Merle d’Aubigne, Let Christ Be Magnified, Banner of Truth, 2007, p. 13).*

For Calvin, preaching was tethered to the Bible. That is why he preached through books of the Bible so relentlessly. In honor of tethered preaching, I would like to suggest the difference I hear between preaching tethered to the word of God and preaching that ranges free and leans toward entertainment.

Which brings him to the difference between preachers who are tethered to (bound to)  the word, and those who are not. He calls it the difference between entertainment oriented, and bible oriented preaching. Notice it,

The difference between an entertainment-oriented preacher and a Bible-oriented preacher is the manifest connection of the preacher’s words to the Bible as what authorizes what he says.

The difference between an entertainment-oriented preacher and a Bible-oriented preacher is the manifest connection of the preacher’s words to the Bible as what authorizes what he says.

The entertainment-oriented preacher gives the impression that he is not tethered to an authoritative book in what he says. What he says doesn’t seem to be shaped and constrained by an authority outside himself. He gives the impression that what he says has significance for reasons other than that it manifestly expresses the meaning and significance of the Bible. So he seems untethered to objective authority.

The entertainment-oriented preacher seems to be at ease talking about many things that are not drawn out of the Bible. In his message, he seems to enjoy more talking about other things than what the Bible teaches. His words seem to have a self-standing worth as interesting or fun. They are entertaining. But they don’t give the impression that this man stands as the representative of God before God’s people to deliver God’s message.

The Bible-oriented preacher, on the other hand, does see himself that way—“I am God’s representative sent to God’s people to deliver a message from God.” He knows that the only way a man can dare to assume such a position is with a trembling sense of unworthy servanthood under the authority of the Bible. He knows that the only way he can deliver God’s message to God’s people is by rooting it in and saturating it with God’s own revelation in the Bible.

The Bible-oriented preacher wants the congregation to know that his words, if they have any abiding worth, are in accord with God’s words. He wants this to be obvious to them. That is part of his humility and his authority. Therefore, he constantly tries to show the people that his ideas are coming from the Bible. He is hesitant to go too far toward points that are not demonstrable from the Bible.

His stories and illustrations are constrained and reined in by his hesitancy to lead the consciousness of his hearers away from the sense that this message is based on and expressive of what the Bible says. A sense of submission to the Bible and a sense that the Bible alone has words of true and lasting significance for our people mark the Bible-oriented preacher, but not the entertainment-oriented preacher.

People leave the preaching of the Bible-oriented preacher with a sense that the Bible is supremely authoritative and important and wonderfully good news. They feel less entertained than struck at the greatness of God and the weighty power of his word.

Lord, tether us to your mighty word. Cause me and all preachers to show the people that our word is powerless and insignificant in comparison with yours. Grant us to stand before our people as messengers sent with God’s message to God’s people in God’s name by God’s Spirit. Grant us to tremble at this responsibility. Protect us from trifling with this holy moment before your people.

I echo that prayer. May I be a preacher that is tethered to the word, and may the people of First Baptist be people who hunger not for entertainment, but for the mighty, powerful, Word of God.

Blogging the bible: Bildad's desparate argument

Bildad pushes back into the fray in chapter 18, basically he says, “Why insult us? You can’t make yourself an exception to the rule: the wicked get punished. That’s what’s happening to you.

Note that that Bildad’s argument has a hint of desperation to it. It’s a denunciation more than a dialogue, and he begins to berate Job, telling him that there’s really no point in talking till Job comes to his senses. Job has said that Eliphaz and co are not wise, Bildad says, no Job, it’s you who’s not wise. It’s a debate that is descending in quality as emotions start to get hotter. From Bildad’s perspective, Job is worse than wrong: he is perverse or insane. He’s willing to overturn the very fabric of the universe to justify himself: “You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?

Note also that Bildad is determined to make Job see the horrible end of the wicked. The rest of the chapter is all about the fate of the wicked. “The light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine…His strong steps are shortened, and his own schemes throw him down…For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on its mesh.” Bildad uses 6 Hebrew words for traps, more than in any other Old Testament passage. Whatever Job would do, Bildad says, would ultimately trap him. So Job would be terrified wherever he turned, which calamity following on him wherever and whenever he stumbles. Furthermore, in this he would suffer terrible agony. His skin would be consumed, Bildad says, referencing his skin problems. Furthermore, this is the worst of possible diseases (Diseases are deaths children, so the firstborn of death is a reference to the worst of these diseases). But that’s not the end. He would be taken from his tent, and subject to the king of terrors, i.e. death.  In the final tally, he would be cut off from the community, and be forgotten, “His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street,” he would die survivor less, as someone whose fate is appalling to people from every direction. This fate is a lesson for all around as to what happens to the wicked, Bildad thinks. The result is that all will learn see that “Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God.” Ultimately, what Bildad is saying is, “Job is not only wicked, but completely ignorant of God”. That’s why all this has happened. Since he refused to repent, how can he possibly be righteous, or know anything about God?” It’s the only conclusion he can come to.

What are we to make of all this. On one level, what Jobs friends are saying is completely in line with themes we find throughout scripture. God is just. Justice will be done and all will see that it is done. Someday, “ever knee will bow (Philippians 2)”; everyone will eventually be made to acknowledge that God is right—whether in the reverent submission of faith, or in the terror that cries for the rocks and the mountains to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb (Revelations 6). The theme is repeated time and again. And it must be. D.A. Carson observes that “The alternative to judgment is appalling: there is no final and perfect judgment, and therefore no justice, and therefore no meaningful distinction between right and wrong, between good and evil. Not to have judgment would be to deny the significance of evil. However, at the same time, if we apply this truth to quickly and freely, if we treat it as a mechanical cause and effect, and act as if we are omniscient and know all the facts, destroys the significance of evil from another angle. We rule out innocent suffering (as Jobs friends did). D.A. Carson notes that “To call a good man evil in order to preserve the system is not only personally heartless, but relativizes good and evil; it impugns God as surely as saying there is no difference between good and evil. Sometimes we must simply appeal to the mystery of wickedness. Carson is on to something. At times we must step back, and acknowledge that we don’t know all, we are not omniscient, we see but through a glass dimly, ultimately only God knows all, and we must be careful not to act is if we do.

Why the attack on the Catholic Church matters so much

Some of you have probably been paying attention to the Obama Administrations ordering Religious groups to go against their deeply held beliefs and bow to the government. At issue right now is the demand of the Government to pay for Abortions and Contraceptives through their insurance. While abortion is murder, contraceptives is something most Christians view as an open handed issue, and the Catholic church has come down against it. The Obama Administration has ordered them to bow. This is a big deal. Chuck Colson lays out why.

What's Really at Stake

Chuck Colson

Make no mistake. The raging controversy over the Obama administration’s refusal to exempt religious organizations from onerous health care mandates is a big deal. A very big deal.

But why? What’s really at issue here?

Despite what the media and the Obama administration are telling you, it’s not just a battle between the so-called “archaic beliefs” of the Catholic church on the one hand and advocates of women’s health on the other. It’s not just about access to abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization, bad as that is.
And it’s even more than a battle over religious freedom. I have to say, the Obama administration’s move boggles the mind. What part of “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...” does the administration not understand?

There is no way this outrage would survive if it has to get to the courts. And I’m grateful to see lawmakers in Congress on both sides working together to reverse the decision. Let’s hope they can succeed.

I’m even more gratified to see people of faith rallying against this violation of religious liberty. I’ve heard from ministers, rabbis, even Muslims, outraged at this threat.

That’s a point that Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C., Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik of Yeshiva University, and I make together in today’s Wall Street Journal. As we say in our opinion piece, a Catholic, a Protestant, and a Jew can all agree that “under no circumstances should people of faith violate their consciences and discard their most cherished religious beliefs in order to comply with a gravely unjust law.” Come to BreakPoint.org, and we’ll link you to our Wall Street Journal article.

So why in the world would the administration brush off the Bill of Rights and antagonize people of faith — maybe 80 percent of the U.S. population?
Because what’s really at stake here is whether or not there is any limit to government power.

That’s the point made by Daniel Henninger in his excellent piece yesterday, also in the Wall Street Journal.  “The American Catholic Church,” he writes, “is now being handed a lesson in the hierarchy of raw political authority.”

But the question for all of us, Henninger writes, “is whether anyone can remain free of a U.S. government determined to do what it wants to do, at whatever cost.”
Friends, the answer to that question depends on whether we the people, and especially we Christians and people of all faiths will rise up and say, “Enough! You may not intrude on our religious beliefs, you may not prohibit us from living out our faith.”

I have said before, now is the time to speak out — and to remain vigilant in the face of the government’s enormous appetite for power over the lives and liberties of its citizens. What’s really at stake is whether we will continue to be a free country.

Colson has a great Open Letter to Evangelical Christians that every member of First Baptist should check out. 

Here are some of the highlights. 

The issue,

As you probably know by now, Obama Administration has refused to grant religious organizations an exemption from purchasing health insurance that covers abortion-inducing drugs, surgical sterilization, and contraception. The Catholic bishops in America have responded quickly, decrying the Administration's decision for what it is—an egregious, dangerous violation of religious liberty—and mobilizing a vast grassroots movement to persuade the Administration to reverse its decision. We evangelicals must stand unequivocally with our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters. Because when the government violates the religious liberty of one group, it threatens the religious liberty of all.

Many bishops have already declared that they will not obey this unjust law. The penalty for such a move would be severe. Catholic hospitals, universities, and other organizations would be forced to pay punitive fines ($2,000 per employee) for refusing to purchase insurance that violates the teaching of their church.

For some institutions, it would spell the end of their existence—and their far-reaching service to the public and the needy.

The implications for this run well beyond the Catholic church,

Catholic institutions aren't the only ones affected by this mandate. Prison Fellowship, for example, which employs 180 people, could not purchase insurance for its employees that covers abortifacients. Nor could the world's largest Christian outreach to prisoners and their families afford the fines we would incur..

 The stakes,

We would urge you, therefore, to raise your voice against this unjust mandate that violates our first freedom as Americans. . . . We do not exaggerate when we say that this is the greatest threat to religious freedom in our lifetime. We cannot help but think of the words attributed to German pastor Martin Niemoeller, reflecting on the Nazi terror:

First they came for the Socialists, and I
did not speak out —
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists,
and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did
not speak out — Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was
no one left to speak for me.

Denny Burke has some great insights in his post, It's not just a Catholic thing.

Penny Nancy Young has a good article on this issue as well entitled, We are all Catholics now.

Donald Wuerl, Colson, and Meir Y. Solovechik have a powerful article in the Wall Street Journal as well, entitled, United we stand for Religious Freedom..

Here's the question. When our turn comes, will we bow the knee to Caesar? I hope we will be able to echo these words of Warren and Colsen, who write, respectively, 

Rick Warren:

I’m not a Catholic but I stand in 100% solidarity with my brothers & sisters to practice their belief against govt pressure [...]
I’d go to jail rather than cave in to a government mandate that violates what God commands us to do. Would you? Acts 5:29.

Chuck Colson:

We have come to the point—I say this very soberly—when if there isn’t a dramatic change is circumstances, we as Christians may well be called upon to stand in civil disobedience against the actions of our own government. That would break my heart as a former Marine Captain loving my country, but I love my God more. . . . I’ve made up my mind—sober as that decision would have to be—that I will stand for the Lord regardless of what my state tells me.

Piper on Preaching

John Piper is one of my spirutal hero's, and one of the men who has shaped my thinking on preaching. Here is an article that he put up recently on churchleaders.com about preaching.

He writes powerfully,

Some of you may have little or no experience with what I mean by preaching. What I mean by preaching is expository exultation.

Preaching Is Expository

Expository means that preaching aims to exposit, or explain and apply, the meaning of the Bible. The reason for this is that the Bible is God’s word, inspired, infallible, profitable—all 66 books of it. The preacher’s job is to minimize his own opinions and deliver the truth of God. Every sermon should explain the Bible and then apply it to people's lives. The preacher should do that in a way that enables you to see that the points he is making actually come from the Bible. If you can’t see that they come from the Bible, your faith will end up resting on a man and not on God's word.

The aim of this exposition is to help you eat and digest biblical truth that will

• make your spiritual bones more like steel,
• double the capacity of your spiritual lungs,
• make the eyes of your heart dazzled with the brightness of the glory of God,
• and awaken the capacity of your soul for kinds of spiritual enjoyment you didn’t even know existed.

Preaching Is Exultation

Preaching is also exultation. This means that the preacher does not just explain what’s in the Bible, and the people do not simply try to understand what he explains. Rather, the preacher and the people exult over what is in the Bible as it is being explained and applied. Preaching does not come after worship in the order of the service. Preaching is worship. The preacher worships—exults—over the word, trying his best to draw you into a worshipful response by the power of the Holy Spirit. My job is not simply to see truth and show it to you. (The devil could do that for his own devious reasons.) My job is to see the glory of the truth and to savor it and exult over it as I explain it to you and apply it for you. That’s one of the differences between a sermon and a lecture.

Preaching Isn't Church, but It Serves the Church

Preaching is not the totality of the church. And if all you have is preaching, you don’t have the church. A church is a body of people who minister to each other. One of the purposes of preaching is to equip us for that and inspire us to love each other better. But God has created the church so that she flourishes through preaching. That’s why Paul gave young pastor Timothy one of the most serious, exalted charges in all the Bible in 2 Timothy 4: 1-2:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word.

What to Expect from My Preaching and Why

If you're used to a twenty-minute, immediately practical, relaxed talk, you won't find that from what I've just described.

• I preach twice that long;
• I do not aim to be immediately practical but eternally helpful;
• and I am not relaxed.

I stand vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge whether they are ready to or not. I will be called to account for what I said there. That's what I mean by preaching.

Blogging the bible: The repsonse to Bildad

The debate between Job and his friends continues in chapters nine through 10. Here Job responds, in essence; “Yes, I know all this. He’s God, and I’m not. How can I call God to account? I know I’m innocent; however, he’s destroyed me, which makes me look guilty. There is no arbitrator, who could act as a mediator between man and God? Then I could speak freely. I despise my life, and I must be honest with God about my how I feel. God, you know that I am innocent, is it right that you destroy me as if I were evil?

Notice these things.

First, Job doesn’t believe that he can stand before God’s righteous sovereignty. HE knows that he would be overwhelmed if he dared to confront him. He says “How can a man be in the right before God?  If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength--who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?”

Second, Job feels boxed in. He doesn’t know what he’s done, and it is tearing him up. He knows that he hasn’t sinned, but he doesn’t have anywhere to go. He has no ability to answer God, and no one to appeal to “How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. For He crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause; he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life. It is all one; therefore I say, He destroys both the blameless and the wicked. When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. Job knows he is no more evil than many who have never experienced God’s wrath, but how can he make his case?

Third, Job see’s his friends as part of the problem. I know you will not hold me innocent. I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. He feels that they are making things worse, because they will not see his innocence.

Fourth, Job knows he needs an arbitrator; someone to solve the problems. “He is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself. Jobs problem is, there is none. He has no arbitrator to take away the wrath. But we do, the son of God, seated at the right hand of God the father almighty.

 Fifth, ultimately, Job wants answers. He hates himself, “I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.” But while he hates himself, he wants to know why? “I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?

Sixth, Job fully credits God with his life, but at the same time, he says, not only will you punish me for sin, but even if I’m innocent, you will turn my life to misery. “Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose. If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction. And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me.

Finally, in the end all Job can say is “why?” Why am I alive, why is this happening? Let me die. "Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few?” He ends by begging for death. “Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer before I go--and I shall not return-- to the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness."