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In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble. They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure. Do you fix your eye on them? Will You bring them before You for judgment? Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! A person’s days are determined; You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.”
“At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.”
“If only You would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only You would set me a time and then remember me! If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. You will call and I will answer You; you will long for the creature Your hands have made. Surely then You will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; You will cover over my sin.”
“But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place, as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so You destroy a person’s hope. You overpower them once for all, and they are gone; You change their countenance and send them away. If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it. They feel but the pain of their own bodies and mourn only for themselves. ”
Job 14:1-22
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
So many people go through life daily with the attitude that the time they have alive in this world is it. Through their days of youth, they often feel like they have to experience everything they can experience while they can experience it. After all, this life isn’t going to last forever and you never know when a day might be your last. And when the youth fades away, giving way to aging and a reduction in the ability to do as much, the happy-go-lucky days of youth many times gives way to the inevitability that life is winding down and could end anytime. Since you can’t frolic like you did earlier, you are resigned to play out the string until death finally comes and life ends for you. You may still have aspirations to do things. It seems more and more we hear of people making up their bucket lists with the hope of completing things they have always wanted to do before they die.
This is a sad attitude to have, believing there is nothing beyond this life…living without a hope of life after death.
In Job’s words in Chapter 14, we get a sense he doesn’t feel like there is anything beyond death. Perhaps this gives us some insight as to why his attitude is the way it is. Each day Job sits, terribly afflicted by sores, becomes a day that he is losing in life. His biological clock is ticking away and we sense he is frustrated by losing valuable time. Let me revisit some of the things Job said and translate his thoughts:
“A person’s days are determined; You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.”
Translation: God places us here on earth just to labor away until we drop dead in accordance with the number of months of life He has decreed. He should not bother us but just let us put our time in until it’s all over.
“At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.”
Translation: A tree experiences the gift of resurrection even if cut down but man has no such experience. Death is the end and there is no coming back from it.
Or is it?
For Job asks a critical question as this chapter begins to close:
“If someone dies, will they live again?”
Indeed, this is a question that many people ponder, many times accepting that the answer is “no” because they know of nothing that can save them from death’s grip…no one to offer them hope of a life after this worldly one finishes.
If only they knew Jesus.
For we all would be mired in Job’s situation, feeling like death was the end of life, if it weren’t for us having a Savior. None of us can save ourselves or each other from God’s wrath and judgment over our sinful nature. This is why God sacrificed His only Son Jesus for us, so that the price for our transgressions would be paid in full by Him. And through the sacrifice of Jesus and His subsequent resurrection, God made the way for death to not be the end…but just a transition point to a new eternal life with Him forever for those who would place their belief and trust in Jesus as their personal Savior (John 3:16).
Job said one more interesting things in this passage:
“All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.”
Job wanted to have some sense of hope to hold onto. He yearned for God to do something to bring renewal. God delivered what Job was waiting for in Jesus…and thanks be to God He did.
Question: What do you believe?
Option A: Do you believe that death is the end of life?
Option B: Do you believe that renewal through eternal life is possible by believing and trusting in Jesus, the One who is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)…the only One who can bring us to God the Father forever?
My prayer is that you will pick Option B…for life is so much more than what we have in this world. The best lies in our eternal lives yet to come.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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