Job 14:1 thru 6 (TNIV) Job, the first existentialist philosopher, complaining to God.
“Mortals,
born of women, are of few days and full of trouble.
They spring up like flowers and wither away;
like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
Do you fix your eyes on such as these?
Will you bring them before you for judgement?
Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
The days of mortals are determined;
You have decreed the number of months
and set limits they cannot exceed.
so look away from us and leave us alone,
till we have put in our time like hired laborers.
If you think this is depressing, read Chapter 7! Amidst all the negativity, Job still affirms in Chapter 13: 15, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” (TNIV)
God took everything that Job loved from him, wealth, relationships and like minded believers who then became critics and Job was pissed at God bigtime. As one reads the existential writers and thinkers of our time, one can feel the same anger, the sense of injustice that God, if there is a God, could dump us in this hellish world. It makes no sense. Then this God threatens us with eternal damnation for being who we are, designed by God from the dirt (Genesis 2 : 7). Some God, right?
I respect the Job kind of spirituality. The TNIV translation uses the word hope instead of "trust" as in the KJV. Trust or faith can easily be intellectualized and the entire book of Job screams at us to say, just thinking is not enough. God wants a wholistic spirituality with us, hope is a better choice of words because hope comes from the gut, not just the head.
The best part of this verse is, "I will surely defend my ways to his (God) face". One way of describing eternity is that eternity is the only place or condition with ultimate freedom and the God given safety in which that freedom can be expressed. Job wanted an argument with God, what a man! What a God!
G.Goslaw
Landers, CA
