“If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till
my release should come.” Job 14:14
“I would wait,” Job said. The Book of Job is full of unanswered
questions, of frustrating riddles, disappointing shortcuts. Job is in misery, and he cannot understand
why. His friends offer advice that rings
hollow. They blame him for things he
knows he never did. They claim logic and
justice in God that Job cannot see. Job
has lost everything, he is at the point of death, hopeless and desperate. But he will not give up. He wants an answer, a trial where he can
present his case, and a fair judgment will follow. He wants to face God and know, once and for
all, why all of this has come upon him.
And in his quest, he runs head on
into the great cul-de-sac of life. Man
is mortal, we all must die. “We are of
few days, he says, and full of trouble.”
We fade like a flower, we are cut down like a tree, we dry up like a
pond. God has allotted us a few days,
and after that there is no more. We will
never rise, even if the whole created order falls to pieces. After death, there is nothing. No man gets his answer.
