Monday, April 2, 2007
Job 14:7-17
“For there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
Though its root grow old in the earth,
and its stump die in the soil,
yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put out branches like a young plant.
But a man dies and is laid low;
man breathes his last, and where is he?
As waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,
so a man lies down and rises not again;
till the heavens are no more he will not awake
or be roused out of his sleep.
Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath be past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my service I would wait,
till my renewal should come.
You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
For then you would number my steps;
you would not keep watch over my sin;
my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity. (ESV)
by Dale E. Rood
This reminds me of Psalm 55:6, where David says, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest.” Job is going further here in wishing he could just die. The trouble is that death is so final. When a tree is cut down, it will begin to sprout again around the stump. But when man dies, that’s it. Job realizes that in verse 14, and resigns himself to wait out the days God has appointed for him, anticipating a change from his present circumstances. He is expressing trust in God. How about you? In your hard times, are you still trusting in God?
Copyright Information
Daily Bible Meditations are taken from The Helping Hand,a Sabbath School student quarterly for youth and adults. Copyright © 2008, Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service .
dbm