Job 14:1-22
14:1-5 Unaware that God was not exacting harsh judgement on him, Job felt too fiercely scrutinized. He felt that life was too short and humans too weak to measure up to the perfection of God. But God does not require perfection and Job was wrong to assume that He does.
14:6 Job requested an unimportant, routine life but such a dull life is never chosen for a righteous child of God. God's children's lives are orchestrated by Him to be important, impactful, both planned and spontaneously unique. Had Job received a yes to that particular prayer, he would not have been able to exemplify to Satan that a soul's connection with God can be true and steadfast.
14:7-9 Job contemplated that even trees have more continuity than the human body. Even fallen, trees reform, rejuvenate, re-bloom. The resilience and eternal life of nature is a reflection of our soul but Job did not feel connected to spirit; Satan had succeeded at almost totally isolating Job.
14:10-12 Humans, Job lamented, lose their wisp of existence. That's true for the body of humans, but not for the soul. Because Job felt dejected, his soul separate from the spirit of God, he felt the finite nature of his body. He was wrong to do so, to focus so intently on termination, because the life of our soul does not culminate in death.
14:13-17 Desperate as he was, Job committed himself to God. He promised to be receptive to God's voice, should he hear it once again. He trusted that God remained intently aware of the circumstances of his life. He also trusted that if there was a possibility God could revive his spirit, he would welcome it.
14:18-22 However, Job's relationship with God needed a lot of work. Job forgot the compassionate and fair judgement of God. He mis-assigned Satan's work to God. As God's children, it is imperative that we are able to distinguish God's fingerprints from anyone else's.
