If you are over 40-ish and reading this, maybe you can relate like I did to verse 2: “We blossom like a flower and then wither.” In my younger years, I can remember not relating AT ALL to what older people were telling me about their bodies and their minds. But let me tell ya, I’m getting it now! And Job certainly was feeling his age. Only Job – just a few weeks before – had been in pretty good shape for however old he was. (I’m not sure, but he had several children, so we can assume he was past his 20s.) Sometimes our lives feel the same, though, don’t they? Wasn’t it just yesterday, I was complaining about a size 8 being a little too snug? Pathetic. Wasn’t it just yesterday, I was dancing the night away and not feeling a sore muscle one the next morning? No way could I do that now. We feel our age, and Job wants to know why. Except he’s feelin’ it way more than we probably are. Still, he begs God for an answer, and he continues in this chapter, as in past chapters, to ask question after question. Job’s agonizing tirade is pulling on my heart strings like crazy. How about you?
I locked in on verses 7-9 this morning, and after reading them, I so wished I could reach out and tell Job he was wrong! Look at what he writes: “Even a tree has more hope! If it is cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches. Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump reacts, at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling.” Now, move down to verse 14: “Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle.” YES, Job! YES! I feel like in all his anguish and confusion, God is cheering Job on because in all his questioning and asking and begging and pleading, he is about to stumble upon the answer that will bring him out of his pit and into the most glorious place in the whole universe.
Writing prompt: alive
Write a letter to Job reassuring him that there is life after death.
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