Day Fourteen – Chapter 14

“Man, who is born of woman, is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain. You also open Your eyes on him and bring him into judgment with Yourself. Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one! Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; and his limits You have set so that he cannot pass. Turn Your gaze from him that he may rest, until he fulfills his day like a hired man. If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait until my change comes” (14:1-6, 14).

Can you hear the frustration in Job’s words? He has ceased debating for the moment with these ‘friends,’ and begins now to direct his words toward God just as he said he would do in the previous chapter. His frustration is palpable even as your own would be had you been through what he has been through. What he cannot understand is why it seems to be continuing. His plea is for an end to his suffering or at least a rest from it, but as it stands it is the gift that keeps on giving. He understands that turmoil is a part of life but this is too much. He would rather be buried alive than to continue to suffer in this manner. But even as he speaks about the finality of death, in stark contrast to his current experience, he refuses to turn his back on God. In fact, his attitude is quite the opposite.

There are those times for you and me when it appears that the end of whatever we are going through is nowhere near. There are even those times when it appears that more and more is being piled on top of whatever we experience making the suffering more intense and painful. Like Job we wonder why there seems to be some type of relief, some type of restoration for others, even for parts of creation but nothing for us. If we are not careful we risk slipping so deeply into self-pity that we lose ourselves.

What do we do when life has pronounced itself so powerfully in our lives? The answer lays in what Job did. In verse fourteen he declares that he is going to wait until his change comes. Eugene Peterson, in The Message, puts it this way, “All through these difficult days I keep hoping, waiting for the final change—for resurrection!” Our confidence, our hope is not in our circumstances or in anything else but the Lord, particularly when you know the promises that He has made in your life. If God’s Word is true then He cannot lie. Whatever He promised will come to pass, we have to wait actively hoping and trusting that we will come through. Don’t throw away your confidence. Keep hoping and trusting in God and see Him bring you through!

O Heavenly Father, You are so awesome in all Your ways that no one can fathom what You do or what You allow. You have always brought us through dangers, seen and unseen, and we know that You can and will bring us through our present struggles. Give us the strength and the courage to face this hour and to wait until our change comes. We marvel at Job’s strength of character and grieve that we are not more like him. Help us to be true to whom You have made us. Help us to persevere so that we can be a witness to others and bring glory and honor to Your name. Amen.