Be sure of your destiny.

Job 14-16 Job listened and wisely reminded his friends that no one can know their appointed time of passing from this life to the next. No one knows the hour or the day of their departure to heaven or hell, but they can know their destiny. Job rightly knows that even if he dies, he will see the face of God.

Job explains that in death, we are not like the trees of the field that can spring back to life after being cut down if the circumstances are such that the seeds of reproduction which lay as if dead, spring to life. Instead, man is like a broken mountain that cannot be restored.

Job then responded to Eliphaz. You are not in my position; you have no idea what I am suffering! Instead of bringing words of sorrow, you ought to be pleading for my restoration. Why don’t you plead with God as one pleads for his neighbor? Indeed, when my time comes, I shall pass from here to eternity, and you will not see my face again.

Principle: Life is fleeting; death is certain. Once we die, we will be but a memory to others. But now, in the time of another’s suffering, may we plead to God for their healing. This is our time to encourage, not demean.