*Scripture: Job 14:1-22 (NKJV)* 1 "Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. 2 He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue. 3 And do You open Your eyes on such a one, and bring me to judgment with Yourself? 4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! 5 Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass. 6 Look away from him that he may rest, till like a hired man he finishes his day. 7 For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease. 8 Though its root may grow old in the earth, and its stump may die in the ground, 9 Yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant. 10 But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last and where is he? 11 As water disappears from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up, 12 so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep.
13 "Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! 14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes. 15 You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands. 16 For now You number my steps, but do not watch over my sin. 17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and You cover my iniquity. 18 But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, and as a rock is moved from its place; 19 As water wears away stones, and as torrents wash away the soil of the earth; So You destroy the hope of man. 20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away. 21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; They are brought low, and he does not perceive it. 22 But his flesh will be in pain over it, and his soul will mourn over it." *Devotion* The Psalmist asks in awe, "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?" (Psalm 8:4) Job asks similar questions in agony. Why should God care enough about man to punish him? Job wishes that God would just leave him alone, just let him "hide in the grave," because he sees no end to misery in this life. But as much as Job has come to despair of this life, as much as he wants to die, he will not end his own life. His life remains in God's hands. He pleads with God to end it, expecting that one day his "change" will come, when God will call him from the grave. "And I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands." Why should God care enough about man to punish him? A better question would be, "Why did God care enough about man to become one and to share in our suffering?" Why indeed would He take the suffering of our entire race upon Himself, so that by the power of His resurrection we may be freed from sin and from the bondage to decay? Why? Because He so loved the world. For now, there may be misery and pain, but redemption has come, and Job was right. Our "change" will come too, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." (1 Corinthians 15:52) The voice of the Son of God will call us out of our graves, even as His voice has already penetrated our misery and called us to life in the midst of death.
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