Job 24:24 – “They are exalted for a little while, then they are gone. They are brought low; they are taken out of the way like all others; they dry out like the heads of grain.”
This is a continuation from the verse before and a reiteration that God will not let the wicked reign forever. There will be an end to all things because we are all simply a vapor (James 4:14). But the question is what are we supposed to do with our time here?
The simple answer is to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves because as Jesus said these two commandments sum up the laws and the prophets, but I want to look at it a little more while keeping in mind that our life here is simply a vapor.
One day I was driving to deliver a meal to another family who had lost a loved one and I asked God what was the point of our short lives that are peppered with sorrow. He simply said “to serve Him and bring others along as we encourage them in Christ in their trials.” When we allow the hardships in life to consume us as I was on the path of doing, and we take our eyes off Christ, we become like Haman in the bible. Haman was the right hand man to king Ahasuerus and was given many honors in his career, but whenever he saw Mordecai, the Jew, all joy and contentment left him. Mordecai, the Jew, did not honor him as he desired because Mordecai put God first, and Haman would become consumed with the issue at hand and allow one man’s obstinacy to rule how he acted which eventually would cost him his position and his life.
As the story goes in the book of Esther, Haman became so eaten up with hate for Mordecai that he convinced the king to create and edict (law) that would reward anyone who killed a Jew on a particular day that was set as a genocide of execution. However, God had prepared a way of rescue (as is His way) by having Esther (Mordecai’s niece and also a Jew) as queen. Her identity was a secret because they were living in a land that was not their own, but through God’s plan and Mordecai’s leading, Esther begged the king for mercy for her people, Haman reacted badly toward queen Esther and then the king had him killed instead of the Jews.
Back to our lesson. We do not want to be like Haman and allow the opposition to consume us. We instead need to be like Mordecai who in spite of Haman’s opposition and persecution of him and his people continued in what was right, trusting in the Lord, and helping Esther to see her part in the saving of the Jewish people. Mordecai knew rulers would pass a way and their time was allotted just like ours. And that justice of the Almighty would not let them get away with it for forever. He also knew that in our short time here we are to help those around us and encourage them through their trials as he did with Esther.
When we know the hardship will only be for a little while we can endure better. If we only knew what God had for us, we would find our sufferings so worth it. When our eyes are focused on Christ, our fortress, we can be safe. When we look to the Lord, we are empowered to not return evil for evil, but rather we can return good for the evil we endure. Look to God and keep your eyes set on Him, this is how we will come out of trials victoriously. Build someone up today in Christ.