Job 14:11-12
As waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,
so a man lies down and rises not again;
till the heavens are no more he will not awake
or be roused out of his sleep.
Tag: Death Comes to All
In chapter 14 of this book Job is lamenting death and dying. When reading the chapter we have to remember that Job is in a very hurting place. Should we experience his circumstances, we may not even rise to the level he has ... however low we think that level may be as we read his response. Job is hurting. Job wished he was dead. Not everyone has reached that time in their life when things are so bad that they wish they were dead. Regretfully, many have. Job is at that point. In the above text we see a conclusion Job has come to. Job is confessing the thought that man will die and that death is terminal. This sounds funny to say because we all know this, but Job is going beyond the point. He wants his “friends” to know that he is at a place of completely NO HOPE. Later, in this chapter, he will write:
Job 14:19
the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of man.
He speaks to God and is crying out in pain that he believes he has no hope. Prior to this, in contrast to his lack of hope, he talks about a tree, having hope.
Job 14:7
“For there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
When we lose hope we are at the lowest portion of our life. God is the only one who can restore hope and give us lasting hope. Job’s friends in their wisdom, do not offer hope to Job. They continue to judge him. It is our job to listen to those on the verge of death (physical and/or spiritual) and give them hope. That is God’s work ... hope for a dying man. The truth is, accounting to the Gospel, we do have hope ... in Christ. We don’t just die a physical death. We live, in Christ, forever. So, in Job’s pain he makes a clear statement. But in reality, his pain has blinded his eyes to the hope we have in God. God’s plan is the hope of mankind. We need to be ready to offer that to a dying world.
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