“Remember that my life is a breath;
my eye will never again see good.
The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more;
while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone.
Life is a Breath
To understand the above passage we have to remember some things about the context of Job:
1. Job is suffering. He is suffering because God allowed Satan to touch Job’s life ad Job’s body.
2. Job is not in a good place. In chapter 3-4, Job was asking God to take his life. His suffering was, is, so bad, he does not want to live anymore.
3. Job is responding to his friend, Eliphaz, who, in the previous chapters was accusing Job of sinning so badly that this resulted in his current condition. Job disagrees with this assessment and wants to respond back. In chapter six he directly responds to Eliphaz.
4. In this chapter Job switches his thoughts and speaks out toward God, although his friends are nearby, listening to his complaint.
In the above passage, Job speaks about how short life is. He is confessing to God he realizes the brevity of life and that, once gone, no one will see him anymore. He has come to realize, during this time of suffering, that not only does he NOT want to live, he knows, that once he is gone, few will remember him. To say that Job has reached a point of fatalism, would be an understatement. Job is really at the end of his breaking point. He simply wants to slip off into eternity and be at ease. Perhaps this is the lesson we are supposed to learn from Job’s plight: Life is short and the suffering in life seems to make it much too long. Job wants redemption from the suffering. He is eager for the suffering to end. However, it might be wise for us to come to the same place, minus the bitterness. Life is, indeed, short. It is, indeed, full of suffering. Our suffering ought to point us to God for comfort, but also to simply want to be in God’s presence. Note what David said in the Psalms about something similar:
Psalms 16:8-11 (ESV Strong's)
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
We should rejoice that Job has God to turn to. His friends are not going to help him. Job turns toward God at the lowest point in his life. But, his pain is so bad, he can’t seem to say what David says in the above passage. We are to remember, that in the midst of our pain, we have God as our comfort. God wants to comfort us. Job knows that his life is but a breath. He has lost his comfort from God. This is the plight of Job. He will not find it for 30 more chapters. He will find it. But, in the process he has come to realize that life is brief. We should remember that before the suffering.
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