No man can dream dreams lofty enough to touch the fringes of God’s ultimate plans for us in Christ.
When assessing humanity, perspective is essential. The experts say we’re halfway between the subatomic particles and the supernovas. When David came to Goliath, the giant asked, “Am I a dog?” (1 Sam 17:43), to be chased away with stones. But when David was hunted by Saul, he asked, “After whom has the king of Israel come out?…A dead dog? A flea?” (1 Sam 24:14). Here Job goes even further than fleas. “Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro? And will You pursue dry stubble?” (Job 13:25). Like the long-gone glory of autumn’s display, or the remnants of a once-bountiful harvest, to Job, humanity seems without value or purpose, blown randomly by the wind of chance. In fact, he says, “Man decays like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten” (v 28). But man isn’t just useless and rotten; he’s also “full of trouble” (14:1). Job has a point. We’ve caused more trouble than the rest of the universe! Man’s days are few, like fading flowers or fleeting phantoms, and full of trouble (vv 1-2). To turn alliteration into onomatopoeia, our existence sounds like this: f-ff-fph-ft—like a now useless balloon releasing its contents at the party’s end. Thus Job’s enigma. Why “do You open Your eyes on such a one, and bring me to judgment with Yourself?” (v 3). Why bother with us? We’ll be dead soon enough. Could You not “look away from him that he may rest, till like a hired man he finishes his day” (v 6)? The answer is found in the purpose and passion of God. He wants us! He loves us! Once rescued, redeemed, and remade into Christ’s own image, in the words of Gerhardt Tersteegen, we’ll be “Meet companion then for Jesus, From Him, for Him, made—Glory of God’s grace forever There in me displayed.”