“If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.”
Job 14:14
Take a Moment to Ponder
Recently I had to deal with the death of a friend and also a member of my family. This posed a challenge to me (even as a Priest) because these were persons that I knew personally and had a relationship with them. This experience reminded me of Job’s lament when he asked the question in today’s passage. In the midst of his own suffering that was his central question “If a person dies, shall they live again?”
The very setting of Job’s question is instructive. We know that he had fallen upon hard times. He had lost everything. He had been a man of wealth, all of which he lost. He had seven sons, three daughters, all of whom were killed at the same time by a storm, as they were feasting. Job even lost his health and friends. It was out of this context that Job raised the question “If we die shall we live again?”
Job’s situation was so depressing that death seemed a better option than living. Job felt bereft of all that seems to be good in this earthly life. His plight appeared so irredeemable that he wondered if we die shall we live again. However, Job grasped the truth about God’s enduring faithfulness even in the midst of earthly turmoil, thus he was able to say “though he slay me I shall trust him for I know that my redeemer lives”.
Many of us may be feeling like Job today, bereft of hope, desperate for a change in our circumstances. Our circumstances might be painful, emotionally and physically, it might be overwhelming that we wonder if it is better to die than live. Like Job we too, have to lay hold on the promises of God in and through Jesus Christ. Jesus promised us that he will never leave nor forsake us. He has shown us in his death, resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit the Comforter, that he intends to keep his promise. God in Christ Jesus, through the Holy Spirit is always present with us no matter how desperate our situation becomes.
Our faith centers on that trust knowing that Christ delivers what he promises. There is no situation too bad for God to handle. He will always deliver us, in this life and the greater life to come in the nearer presence of Him.
Practical Action
1. Write a list of the things that are causing you pain now and commit them to God in prayer.
2. Ask a trusted friend – confidant to pray with you about them.
Contributed by: Rev. Kirk A. Brown