Friday, September 18, 2009

Job 14

1 "Man born of woman
is of few days and full of trouble.

2 He springs up like a flower and withers away;
like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

3 Do you fix your eye on such a one?
Will you bring him before you for judgment?

4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
No one!

5 Man's days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed.

6 So look away from him and let him alone,
till he has put in his time like a hired man.

7 "At least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.

8 Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,

9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.

10 But man dies and is laid low;
he breathes his last and is no more.

11 As water disappears from the sea
or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,

12 so man lies down and does not rise;
till the heavens are no more, men will not awake
or be roused from their sleep.

13 "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!

14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my hard service
I will wait for my renewal to come.

15 You will call and I will answer you;
you will long for the creature your hands have made.

16 Surely then you will count my steps
but not keep track of my sin.

17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;
you will cover over my sin.

18 "But as a mountain erodes and crumbles
and as a rock is moved from its place,

19 as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy man's hope.

20 You overpower him once for all, and he is gone;
you change his countenance and send him away.

21 If his sons are honored, he does not know it;
if they are brought low, he does not see it.

22 He feels but the pain of his own body
and mourns only for himself."

Side Notes:

Job laments in his closing argument that life is brief and full of trouble. Sickness, loneliness, disappointment, and death cause Job to say that life is not fair. Some understand verses 14-15 to mean that even in his gloom, Job hoped for the raising of the dead. If this is true, then Job understood the one truth that could put his suffering in perspective. God's solution to believers who live in an unfair world is to guarantee life with him forever. No matter how unfair your world seems, God offers the hope of being in His presence eternally. Have you accepted this offer?

vs. 7-22 The Old Testament really does not say much about the resurrection of the dead. This comes as no surprise since Jesus had not come yet and Jesus had not yet been crucified to then in turn conquer death! Job's pessimism about death is understandable. What is remarkable is his budding hope (14). If only God would hide him with the dead and then bring him out again! If only he could die and live again! When we endure suffering we have an advantage over Job...we know that the dead will rise! Christ arose, and we have hope based on Christ's promise in John 14:19.

vs. 22 Job's speech in this chapter shows great truth: to have a right set of doctrines is not enough. To know what we believe is not all that is required to please God. Truth untested by life's experiences my become static and stagnant. Suffering can bring a dynamic quality to life. Just as drought drives the roots of a tree deeper to find water, so suffering can drive us beyond a superficial acceptance of truth to dependence on God for hope and life.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

It seems to me that the overrriding theme of this chapter is the reality of what suffering does. First of all, it tests our faith. Secondly, when we choose to draw closer to God in our suffering then God builds in us a strength that wouldn't be there othewise. We are not the same......we are changed for the better. That's a nice thought and it's true...........but who would ever choose to suffer in order for God to build in them more faith, more character, more Christlikeness........more of Himself in us? I do not believe that God ever chooses for us to suffer in order for him to build those things in us. I believe that all suffering is a result of the sin and evil in the world and it was not in God's design. God will not always remove the suffering from us, but he will give us tools to cope and survive through what would seem to be unbearable circumstances. That often seems like not a lot of consolation for us when we would rather be spared the suffering altogether. Nevetheless......it can be true for those who, like Job, choose to trust God in spite of their circumstances. And when God is allowed to do His work in us.......no matter how awful the circumstances..........we can knoow that God has kept his promise to bring good out of every situation to those who love him and are called according to his puproses. (Paraphrased).

Anna said...

I really like what the last side note has to say. I think that when things in life are going well it's easy to believe and trust in God. Sometimes it can almost be taken for granted. I think I've said this before in the earlier chapters of Job, but having my Morgan die really strengthened my faith... actually I think it made me realize how strong my faith really was. Not too much time had passed since I had found a relationship with God again, and as little as a year before, if something like my child dying would've happened I may have pushed God even farther away. Instead I trusted that no matter how much it hurt God had a plan.

Which brings me to vs 5... God knows how long each and every person is going to be alive on earth... no matter what we can't change this. As Ali mentioned in a previous chapter, I too believe when it comes to all the medical procedures etc He's certainly provided us with it. Yes sometimes it seems to "extend" or "save" someones life, but even that is all up to God. Because even with all the medical help available, it doesn't save everyone...

Brittney said...

Good thoughts guys. Another great chapter... just when I thought Job said everything there is to say about suffering he has more ways of putting his feelings into words.

I was reading this book on heaven and hell, and it said that in the Old Testament, everyone who died went to Sheol. Those who did not trust in God were in the hell portion, and those that chose to follow God under the Old Covenant went to the other portion, referred to as "Abraham's Busom." Then when Jesus rose and defeated death, those people were delivered from Sheol into heaven. I always had wondered what happened to the faithful patriarchs and others before Jesus' sacrfice, and why the OT refers to the afterlife as Sheol, whether one was faithful or not.

I totally see a hopelessness in Job today. He isn't hoping for death to see loved ones or spend eternity with God, like we do today. He is just looking at it as a rescue of the hell he's living in on earth. Even though he really doesn't know what will follow life, he is just ready to be done with life.

Yikes! Glad I'm living after the time of Jesus!

Feldman Family said...

Hey Ladies!

So sorry that I didn't get on here this weekend...the weekend got away from me! I loved what you all had to say and could not have said it better! And I loved this chapter...I think I've said that before on other chapters...it be hard pressed to figure out which chapter I like the best...anyway...I love when Job talks...he as such a way of describing how he truly feels. I liked his analogy of the water wearing down the rock...suffering does feel like that...it wears you down to become who you really are. Good good chapter. Anyway...hope all your weekends were good. I will get the new chapter on here yet this morning but I have to run a quick errand this morning...I will put it on as soon as I get home!