Contemplative Bible Reading

Job 21:22-26 (New International Version 2010)

²² “Can anyone teach knowledge to God,
since he judges even the highest?
²³ One person dies in full vigor,
completely secure and at ease,
²⁴ well nourished in body,
bones rich with marrow.
²⁵ Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having enjoyed anything good.
²⁶ Side by side they lie in the dust,
and worms cover them both.

Here Job is lamenting his condition. Sometimes I wonder if his physical condition was better or worse than the tongue lashing dealt him by his friends, but back to the verses above.

Job discusses the condition of our physical bodies after death. Some people die fulfilled while others die bitter. Regardless of their emotional state at death, their physical condition after death is the same:

Side by side they lie in the dust,
and worms cover them both.

Not much of an endorsement for cosmetic surgery. What’s the use? We all lie in the dust with worms covering us.

I am struggling to draw a conclusion from this. Perhaps that is the conclusion. There is no need to conclude anything as one day my body will lie in the dust with worms on me. I draw great hope, however, that my soul will not suffer such a fate. I draw great hope in that I have a soul, and that this life is only a precursor to another one. Christ acted and gave me a way to spend eternity in a right relationship with the Lord. I won’t be worrying about the worms that will turn my body into more dust for the next fellow’s body.