Down But Not Out
“My soul is weary of life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.” Job 10:1
Sometimes I feel a little like Job. I have not suffered as many and as gut-wrenching trials that Job did, but I have experienced some great losses in my life. It’s not just losing those near and dear to me, although they are not really lost, just gone from this present world and safe in the arms of Jesus in heaven, but I also grieve over the state of the world and her people. I think about that old gospel song, “This world is not my home, I’m just a’ passin’ through.” That does bring a certain relief to me to know that this sin-cursed world will not go on forever as it is now.
Just about everyday, as I journey down life’s highway, I see more and more evidence that people are separating themselves from their Creator, the One who made them and gave them life. Many folks are wrapped up in their own little worlds, never giving a thought to eternity as if they will live forever, and they will, but not on this present earth. Paul made it very clear in Romans 14:12 that “…every one of us shall give account of himself to God”. No one will escape the day of reckoning.
There was a lady that I used to work with who’s job entailed a fiduciary responsibility for several thousand dollars in cash. She began a little at a time taking money from the safe, likely thinking that she would get away with it or had planned to pay it back before it was discovered. However, one day auditors came for a surprise visit. She left at lunchtime and did not return. She was found later having committed suicide. Even though she didn’t have to face the auditors, she did have to face the Judge of all the earth. What a tragic way for one’s life to end.
What causes a person to believe that they can escape judgment? It saddens me to see so many so far from the Lord. I get tired of this old sin-cursed world. Like my Mother used to say, “Life gets tedious, doesn’t it?” Yes, Mama, life does get tedious and difficult at times. The good thing, though, is that those of us who know Christ as born again believers have a wonderful future ahead of us. All this weariness, sadness, and worry will all be behind us one day, never to vex us again. That is a good thing to think about when life gets us down.