The book of Job is about a righteous and an innocent man, who lives through an absolute nightmare. Every disaster that can happen to a man is falls upon Job. In quick succession he loses his wealth, his family, and his status within his community.
To compound his misery his ‘friends’ then tell him that all this is happening because he has been evil and God is punishing him.
Job cannot and will not believe this. He knows that he is not perfect, but he also knows that he is not a monster to be punished in such a way.
He believes, like his friends, that God does enact justice on each human being, but he knows that this process is neither mechanical nor sufficiently formulaic to be predictable. God remains a mystery to humankind, and His ways of working will always remain outside human comprehension.
Yet Job expresses his faith that ultimately, there will be justice for all.
In spite of all he is living through he still believes that ultimately the wicked will be punished for their wickedness and the righteous rewarded for their good conduct.
When he thinks about the wicked Job expresses their fate in the following startling words;
As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.
The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them;
the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree.[1]
Human life is described, somewhat shockingly, as a journey between womb and worm.
For those who choose to live an evil life, their wickedness erases their own existence; makes it nothing, like water vapour under the hot sun, their lives disappear with no trace left behind.
Their wickedness erases their own existence
The unexpressed contrast is with those who choose to live life well – to live lives characterised by goodness, kindness, love and compassion, and holiness before God.
Their good lives are affirmed by each act of goodness, made more real, underscored, and concretised.
Each positive action – no matter how small – affirms and makes more real their existence. Something Jesus Himself expressed when he said;
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.’[2]
As you have to be alive in order to receive a reward, this verse hints at the continued existence after death of those who have chosen to live well and do well.
So as we each make our journey between womb and worm we are presented with the opportunity to either affirm, to make more real, to validate, and to concretise our existence by acts of goodness;
or we can gradually erase our own existence by acts of wickedness.
Choose this day…
[1] Job 24 :19-20 NIVUK
[2] Matthew 10 :42 NIVUK
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