August 27, 2022
Daily Devotion:
“Astounded…”
Job 14:14-15
New International Version
14 If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal[a] to come.15 You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made
Although for the Jews in exile the concept of resurrection was vague, it is clear from passages such as today's text that the idea of life after death was firmly entrenched in hearts of faith. Indeed, even pagans took the afterlife seriously, as best evidenced by the Egyptian tombs. But if there is almost universal acceptance of life after death, rarely do we spend much thought on that profound reality. To get a better handle on the dynamics of why we will live again, we would do well to put Job's words into God's own mouth. After all, it is God Who is speaking to us through this literary masterpiece. So it's as if God himself were saying to each one of us personally: "I will call, and you will answer. For I desperately yearn for you." Can there possibly be a more astounding thought than God eagerly awaiting my death, longing to hold me close!
The perplexing question is: Why do I fear death so much when God is yearning to welcome me home?
