20141017 Friday, October 17 2014
Job 07: The Appointed Time

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"Is there not an appointed time to man upon Earth? Are not his days also like the days of an hireling?"

A key element of true wisdom (unlike carnal "wisdom" which is merely about survival in the physical world) is to know what to do when the time comes to do it. King Solomon's famous "a time for everything" contrasted, not mere extremes, but the cycle of life - exactly as the LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ - see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) designed and created it.

"3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

3:5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

3:6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 KJV)

The LORD gives everything to everyone - beginning with the "breath" of life (see By Him Were All Things Created and the Fact Finder question below). Humans are commanded to work (the first half of the Fourth Commandment is "for six days you shall work"), but everything that they come to rightfully possess ultimately belongs to the LORD.

"24:1 A Psalm of David.

The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 24:2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods." (Psalm 24:1-2 KJV)

Job "lost everything" that he had earned because the LORD permitted Satan to take away what Job would have lost anyway at the end of his natural life. The target of Satan's attack wasn't Job's property, but to provoke Job into blaspheming the LORD, exactly as Satan had done, by claiming what belonged to the LORD belonged to him (see How Did The Devil Challenge Job To Commit A Satan?). Grief is a lament of a physical loss - which is a necessary condition of the eternal spiritual life that will overcome it.

"7:1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling? 7:2 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work: 7:3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. 7:4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. 7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome. 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. 7:7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.

7:8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. 7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. 7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. 7:11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

7:12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? 7:13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; 7:14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions: 7:15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. 7:16 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.

7:17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? 7:18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? 7:19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? 7:20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? 7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be." (Job 7:1-21 KJV)

Fact Finder: What makes physical life possible?
See What Makes Physical Life Possible?