“In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps 16:11).
“Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.…Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters” (Job 42:10, 12-13). I might know what you’re thinking; I’m thinking it. So glad to hear about the camels and donkeys. But now, about these sons and daughters… It isn’t quite the same, is it? Yes, we know Job still had the first ten, waiting for him on The Other Side, so no need to double the number of children, as with the animals. Wouldn’t it have been ideal if the Lord had resurrected the ten children that had died? But the fact is, the Lord WILL raise these children too, and Job knew it. This is the hope that sustains us at the graveside. “I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God” (19:25-26). God’s people rarely lose everything in a day or two, as Job did, but just as surely they feel life slip away. Loved ones die. The limbs and the mind slow down, incapable of what they once could do. We downsize. Opportunities pass, and dreams and expectations fade. At last, the wrinkled husk is laid away. But wait! There’s more! For us, we have not yet seen “the end intended by the Lord” (Jas 5:11). We are still to discover what it means to be “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). Talk about twice as much—twice of everything! Heaven awaits. Yes, and we shall see God! Glad reunions, glorified bodies, gargantuan opportunities. “Having… your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life” (6:22)! The end is just the beginning!