Job 14:21
Their children attain honor, and they never know,
Their children are humbled, and they are unaware.
For the Life Bible Study lesson I had this morning, I took some photos of things around the house that I could use to tell a story that I could work in something about Jesus. I decided I would try to do that for this verse of Job to see if my skills still held. For the oldest kid, I would have her tell me three ‘things’ and I would make up a bedtime story on the spot. Not sure it ever helped stimulate her imagination, but I tried.
‘Children’ was ‘sons’ on all but one verse. ‘Honor’ was also ‘grow great’. ‘Attain’ was mainly ‘come to’.
‘Humbled’ was also ‘brought low’, ‘fall’, and ‘dwindle’. ‘Unaware’ was also ‘unnoticed by’.
The first item in this trial is that painting of native American art that I bought for myself in Stillwater. I might have related the story before about how I asked the oldest to buy it for me for Christmas. The painting itself was only about $40, so it is either not very good or was painted by a no-name artist or both. But having grown up in West Texas I have some affinity for native American culture and having a like for original oil paintings, therefore I was intrigued enough to ‘invest’ the $40. So, whoever painted this painting put time and effort in and they will probably never know that I bought it and that I hung it over a work desk and like looking at it every day.
The humbled part is even easier. When I bought my 911, it already had one flaw, so when I rolled it into a concrete wall, I was not as distraught as one might imagine. The first time I found a cat claw mark in the paint was also taken in stride as however beautiful I or others might think the car is, it is still just a tool to get me from here to there in a fun fashion.
The third one I am just throwing in to have three. I recently completed a ‘rainbow’ of a particular baseball card. (One in each color that they make.) I went to post a picture, and I found I was missing one. I looked everywhere I could think of. I finally gave up after I realized it just didn’t matter. I found it this week when looking for something totally unrelated. It has just left me thinking that however important something else might be, having a saving relationship with Christ is the only thing that lasts.
When the class saw my collection of photos, they were thinking estate sale or grandmas or history. Other than the baseball cards, everything is or appears to be old. (Well maybe the cat is not old.) I told one person that if he had stuff that didn’t have a story, he needed to get rid of it.
I only have one more verse in this chapter, but I momentarily felt like the subject of children isn’t really fitting in. But it’s because I got so focused on the single verses that I missed the flow of the whole chapter. As I told someone Friday at Bible study, we are here to do work for the Lord or He would take us to heaven as soon as we acknowledge Christ as savior. A large portion of our work is for our kids and I pray that I get to see them progress whether they do well or struggle.
Written 10/27/24, Posted 11/26/24, Job 339