Life on Planet Earth is short

 Job 16:15-22

 

“I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my strength in the dust.  My face has grown red with weeping, and darkness covers my eyes,  although my hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure.  Earth do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place.  Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is in the heights!   My friends scoff at me as I weep before God.  I wish that someone might arbitrate between a man and God just as a man pleads for his friend.  For only a few years will pass before I go the way of no return.”

 

The putting on of sackcloth was a way of humbling yourself before God and Job did so while being in great sorrow over the death of his children and the evil that had come upon his family and wealth.  He has cried so much that his face was red, and his eyes swollen so much that he could not see clearly, and he had determined his life would soon be over.  If we could put ourselves in Job’s sandals and we can’t for more than one reason, and you and I should be very thankful that we can’t.  Would you not wonder as Job why has this fallen on me, would you not say as Job, I’ve been pure before man and God?

 

Though Job’s mouth has spoken words that were out of place about God in this time of great sorrow and pain, he knows that if he stood before God his integrity would be his defense and who would be his advocate, was it not God alone that Job put his trust and hope, not in his three friends.

 

In the final verse of this chapter, it’s clear that Job understands that all life on planet earth is short and that at best his are short at this time of life and then death, and man does not return from that.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice