Do you know the pain of death? Job 14

Job 14:20-21 (NASBStr)

“You forever overpower him and he departs;

You change his appearance and send him away.

 “His sons achieve honor, but he does not know it;

Or they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it.

Death eventually overpowers all of us.  In the story of Job, he has seen death first-hand.  Everyone of Job's children have been taken from this world; something we are often, should never happen to a parent.  In chapter fourteen of Job we see him unfold many aspects of death and the termination of a man's life.   Specifically, in the above verse we see that Job attributes the death of man kind to God's activity.   Paul would later tell us that the wages of man's sin is death (Romans 3:23), so what we see is that God simply "pays" man for what he has earned in life: Death.   Outside of God's intervention in our life and providing salvation, man will, without hesitation, received his wages in the form of death.   But, in the above passage we see even more in regard to the end of mankind.   Death not only is at the very end of our lives it is affecting us now.  The "aging" we experience is all part of the death process.   What Job reminds us in these two verses is that as we approach the final steps of death, climbing stairway to the abyss takes its toll on us.  Not only will we eventually draw our last breath someday, but from the day we are born we begin to die.   The older we become the more that "beginning" to die shows itself.   God has ordained that the process of death will show itself on our face and in our body.   If this were not all, it would be drastic.  However, Job also tells us that when our children outlive us, we are left with the thought that we will not know what becomes of them.  Those that receive the wages of their sin in the way of death have no assurance that their children will receive honor or become completely insignificant in their lives.   That is the plight of all mankind; believers and non-believers alike.   Believers can be assured that God's grace will be watching over their children as they have been sanctified by the believing parent (1Corinthians 7).    Death is a certain and right payment for our sin.   However, we can ward-off some of the pain of death and certainly the victory of death as we put faith in Jesus Christ.   Death has no sting and no victory when we put our faith in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:55-56).   Job, in chapter fourteen, is confessing that his pain is bringing him close to death. He is warning us that death is real and painful.  We can escaped the eternality of death by faith in Christ.  Now is the time to fight death through faith.