Everything can change in the blink of an eye. Except this: “I am the Lord, I do not change” (Mal 3:6).
As Job recollects his life before tragedy struck, he can remember the words that ran through his mind when he finally had made it to the top. “Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand. My root is spread out to the waters, and the dew lies all night on my branch. My glory is fresh within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand’” (Job 29:18-20). Generally speaking, it’s a hard slog to the pinnacle of success. Job had been responsible for a large family, a substantial coterie of servants, vast holdings in land and livestock. His estate was well handled, and he could spare time to be an advisor and small claims judge in the city gate. He had the heart and resources to help widows, the fatherless, and victims of unscrupulous actors. He was responsible for the overall management and marketing of his goods. His speech reveals a grasp of such subjects as astronomy, botany, zoology, mining, minerals and gems, hydrology and weather, and a host of others. He must have been an astute judge of human behavior as attested by his valued advice. So perhaps gazing with satisfaction across his fertile fields, this is what he thought. What a cozy nest! I shall be very content to live out my days here. Like the sand running through the hourglass, every good day is followed by another. It’s wonderful, as the psalmist says, to be “like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper” (Ps 1:3). That’s how it was the day before “there was a day” (Job 1:13). Everything that seems so sure can change in a moment. That’s why we need the Lord as the constant in life’s equation, the still point, the unchangeable fact in our lives.