Job 14

From this chapter comes a famous Bible passage which has been the subject of much music, mostly choral works: "How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear." (vs 1-2) One in particular I remember from my college choir days, John Rutter’s Agnus Dei, included a repeated musical motif in the middle: In the midst of life, we are in death.

I can’t think of anything else that we need to constantly remember, and I can’t think of anything else that is so seemingly-impossible to keep forefront in our minds. This world—as it is now—is not what we were made for. We were created for the eternal, not the temporary. As Job said, sin has made this world and this life very temporary and full of trouble, yet we so often go through our lives expecting sunshine and security. We are still surprised and caught off-guard by hardship, tragedy, and suffering.

There was one group of people in history who weren’t surprised by suffering. There was one group of people who expected, even embraced, suffering. That was the disciples—post-resurrection. When Jesus came out of that tomb, when they realized that they had actually been in the presence of Almighty God for more than three years (and when they realized what kind of person He was!), nothing else mattered to them any longer.

The only thing they cared about was telling as many people as they could that they had been with God. Imagine—He had actually shown up on the planet! They didn’t work hard to further their careers, put down roots, afford a better car or larger home. They didn’t care when someone insulted them, abused them, or threw them into jail. Everywhere they went, every person they saw, they considered an opportunity to do their temporary job. And they suffered hardship, abuse, and awful deaths with joy, knowing that they would soon reach what they were created for.

If you are on the path of trouble today, remember that the path of trouble is the way home. Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him (Heb 12:2), and we can find the same joy in every "unexpected" tragedy and crisis. Are you laboring hard to "secure" a better life for yourself in this world? Don’t be surprised if it falls apart... because it can, so easily. Our possessions, our health, and even the very people we love the most—all of these are temporary and fleeting.

The great Charles Spurgeon once wrote, "Let each man surrender his own longings to the glory of Jesus, and feel, 'If my lying in the dust would elevate my Lord by so much as an inch, let me lie still among the pots of earth. If to live on earth forever would make my Lord more glorious, it should be my heaven to be shut out of heaven.'"

I want that to be my attitude. Whatever today holds for me, I know it is temporary. And I can trust that the God who created me for the eternal is well able to accomplish what He knows is best in and for and through me in this day!