Job 14:14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my hard service
I will wait for my renewal to come.

Reading the English, I saw that there was a footnote on “renewal” that said it could be translated “release.” Then when I read the Japanese my mind was blown, because it says, “I will wait for the one who will take my place.” If the Japanese is a reasonable translation, then this is a strong foreshadowing of Jesus’ atonement on the cross. We forget that God knows the end of everything from the beginning, being outside of time, so from the moment He spoke the universe into being He knew that mankind would sin and need a Savior, and was willing to go through with that. We simply don’t have that frame of reference. I really think that the closer we come to grasping that, the more peace we will have. Instead, we tend to get all uptight about what is happening when, as though we were somehow in control. We are accountable for how we respond to what we experience, and our actions certainly affect our outcomes, but we are not in control, because we are in the flow of time. Sometimes that flow seems like a gentle stream, and sometimes it feels like a waterfall or a tsunami! Job had the right idea, that we’ve got to wait to see how things will turn out, but at the same time, those who are in Christ have the hope and assurance that the final outcome will be glorious. God has been telling us that throughout history, (Jeremiah 29:11) but few have really had the faith to accept it. Like the father of the epileptic boy, we cry out, “I do believe! Help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

Like everyone, I think, I am a bundle of contradictions. I am in general a fairly patient person, but I have times of severe impatience. I know that I am on earth to relate to others, yet I can at times be very jealous of my time. The longer I live, the more I am aware of both my impotence and the consequences of my actions. I’m not in control, but what I do matters. Several years ago the Lord very graciously told me to rest, relax, and rejoice. I’m still learning to do that! At times I feel like my labors have been in vain, but at other times I discover that something I did, that I perhaps don’t even remember, had a huge beneficial effect on someone. God alone is the Judge! Unlike Job, I know that this body dying is just the beginning of my eternity, so I don’t need to be anxious about that. Actually, Job’s faith is all the more admirable because he had so much less information to go on. Like Paul, I need to be assured of Whom I have believed, and walk in faith and hope. (2 Timothy 1:12)

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me indeed release my time to You, spending it doing Your will on Your schedule, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!