“…he flees like a shadow and continues not…” Job 14:2
There is but one guarantee in this life. A shadow that follows all, a cloud that casts heavy over every single life that walks the Earth. A shadow that cannot be escaped with will, influence, power, or funds. That shadow is a physical death. For many, death comes at the end of a monumental journey, a lifetime of memories and countless days of love, family, and joy. But for others, the shadow comes as quickly as an exhale. Maybe at the hands of a sudden disease or illness, or maybe at the hands of one wielding anger enough to kill. The shadow comes when we know not, but it will come. This physical life is fleeting, the very moment that gives us life, soon begins to take it away.
Job chapter 14 finds Job in a surreal state, reasoning with the world which has so viciously attacked him. Job is in perpetual agony. He has lost all he knew, and what is left behind is a man that is struggling to see God through the fog of his pain. Job is eloquent in his language, colorful in his analogies and honest in his symbolism. Job knows that the shadow is eminent to overtake his fleeing, but what will come after his running? What comes after the perpetual shadow overtakes him? Much of Job’s language seems hopeless, his view of the afterlife strikingly void of a Savior. And rightly so, without a Savior, where is eternal hope to be found? When man’s reasoning with death can find no purchase, the fear of the shadow will steal the hope that can only live within a Savior…the only Savior, Jesus Christ.
But today, today is different. The shadow still persists, but God has granted the world and all those within it a true hope. A hope that pierces the shadow and allows the holder to walk not in the dusk of despair, but in the dawn of hope. God sent His only Son here to be that hope. God sent His only Son to this planet to live and walk as a man, God in the form of a human body. And that Godly body died just as man. Jesus walked in the very same shadow that we walk today. But God the Father defeated the shadow of death on a day that rocked the world. Three days later Jesus walked out of the shadow of that tomb…and because today He lives, all that call on His name as their Savior are bound for a destiny that rings eternal. Today, for the believer in Christ, Job’s shadowy monologue is very different. The shadow holds no power, it no longer steals hope and joy. For the hope of the believer in Christ is not found here on this planet, but in their true home, Heaven. If you are desperately trying to escape the shadow today without a Savior, stop running and call upon Jesus Christ to eternally save your soul. He is faithful to save all that call upon the power of His name. And as you do, you will experience a new life. A life of freedom, peace, and joy as you focus not on the shadow in which you walk, but the light that radiates from the glory of Jesus.
“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 25:8
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