Reflections on Job 14

 Job 14 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Life is short and sorrowful for every living soul.
2. We are flowers that fade and shadows that vanish.
3. And so, I ask you, God, why pick on me?
4. There's no way a human can be completely pure.
5. Our time on earth is brief; the number of our days is already decided by you.
6. Why don't you leave us alone and let us find some happiness while we toil and labor?
7. When a tree is chopped down, there is always the hope that it will sprout again.
8. Its roots and stump may rot,
9. but at the touch of water, fresh twigs shoot up.
10. Humans are different-- we die, and that's the end.
11. We are like streams and lakes after the water has gone;
12. we fall into the sleep of death, never to rise again, until the sky disappears.
13. Please hide me, God, deep in the ground-- and when you are angry no more, remember to rescue me.
14. Will we humans live again? I would gladly suffer and wait for my time.
15. My Creator, you would want me; you would call out, and I would answer.
16. You would take care of me, but not count my sins--
17. you would put them in a bag, tie it tight, and toss them away.
18. But in the real world, mountains tumble, and rocks crumble;
19. streams wear away stones and wash away soil. And you destroy our hopes!
20. You change the way we look, then send us away, wiped out forever.
21. We never live to know if our children are praised or disgraced.
22. We feel no pain but our own, and when we mourn, it's only for ourselves.

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Throughout Job's speech he fluctuated between confidence in his case before God and a lack of hope in his situation. After all, what chance did he have against One so mighty? He remained confident that he had done nothing to warrant his suffering and yet that seemed to make no difference. Life has a way of honing our theology. Prior to these circumstances, Job may have had leanings theologically with his friends in thinking all suffering was punishment for sin. But he knew he had not sinned so this thinking did not apply in his situation. What then? He held solidly to the idea of God's sovereignty so whatever was happening was a result of God's handiwork. When life throws us a curve, we cannot be quite so smug about our theology. But if we will hold firm to God's sovereignty, as did Job, God will teach us through our circumstances.

In his despair, Job was overwhelmed with the shortness of life and longed to enjoy what life he had left. He questioned why God even took such notice of one whose existence is so short. Job had no choice concerning the length of his life. It is God who sets the limits on life. So why not let man live out whatever time he has with a measure of peace?

These thoughts led Job to raise the question that is often quoted from this passage: "If a man die, shall he live again?" (14:14) Job's imagination carried him away as he dreamed of dying and going to the grave for a period of time during which he would have no awareness of suffering and pain. Once God's anger was past, then he could return to this life and enjoy what time he had left. The inspiration for these thoughts came from nature. A tree, for instance, can be cut down and then a sprout will shoot up from the stump and the tree returns to life. Why can't a man be restored to life after he dies? That might solve Job's problem.

As his imagination continued along this line, he envisioned God summoning him from the grave once His anger was past. For God would long to reunite with Job who was the work of His hands. In this renewed relationship God could take notice of Job's life without giving attention to his sin and thus becoming concerned again with causing him pain.

But, alas, this was just a fantasy. In reality, man's decay was as inevitable as was erosion in nature in which a stone is worn away by the constant flow of water. And so man returns to dust, from which he came, without hope of return.