Is your Soul "Ebbing away?"

Every once in awhile, you have to turn to the Book of Job in the Old Testament. 

We could easily say “poor Job.” (Job is pronounced with a long “o”)

Job had it all.  Wealthy, he had seven sons and three daughters, thousands of sheep and camels, and hundreds yoke of oxen.  The list goes on and on.

Then he lost everything.  He was faced with endless trials.  Set up as a back-and-forth conversation, the book is filled with speeches and replies, until finally, in the last chapter, it all comes to an end.

Job’s determination to be faithful in the midst of trials makes reading this book worthwhile, but it is the conclusion that provides real comfort.

Here’s what he says to God in the end:

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered . . . . I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you.”

Even though Job speaks of his confidence in God in the final chapter, he had his moments. 

In Chapter 30 he says:

“My soul ebbs away from me; days of affliction have overtaken me. My frame takes no rest by night; my inward parts seethe and will not be stilled.  I go about in gloom, without the sun . . .”

How many people today, in the midst of this pandemic, intensely feel the way Job did?

But feeling overwhelmed does not mean we become hopeless and give up.

A few verses later, Job says, “Let God weigh me in the scales of justice; thus will he know my innocence!”

When it comes time for God to weigh us in the scales of justice, hopefully, he will find us faithful, and, like he did Job, fully restore us and bless us even more in our “latter days.”

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.blogspot.com
janetcassidy.blubrry.net (podcasts)