Job 15:30

Never will they turn away from the darkness,

   Their shoots shall wither in hot wind,

      Their fruits by the breath of God.

 

My youngest went to a party in what was obviously not a master planned community. The number of turns to get to the final location was disorienting, and beyond the constant dodging of cars parked in the street with little room to pass and fearing for kids running out from behind them, it was exhausting. I did drive a car I have thought about getting for three quarters of an inch, so the day was not a total loss. Despite my protests over the current cost of vehicles, they are fundamental to success in this town.

‘Turn away’ was also ‘escape’, ‘depart’, and ‘get away’. ‘Never’ was also ‘will’, ‘shall’, and ‘does’ not.

‘Shoots’ was also ‘branches’ and is not understood by Microsoft ‘Word’. ‘Hot wind’ was ‘flame’ the other seven times. ‘Wither’ was also ‘dry up’, ‘dry out’, ‘sear’, and ‘shrivel up’.

‘Fruit’ was also ‘blossom’, ‘self’, and ‘branch’. ‘God’ was sometimes not directly identified as the source of breath and it could be interpreted as the wicked’s own breath. Something similar to ‘they are blown away by their own breath’.

For the I do not know how many times now, we have again decided to repair an old car and keep the three of them going for as long as we can. This repair was not as expensive as last time, but it still was more than 10% of the value of the car. In a few years when the youngest goes off to college, we might actually buy a newer car, but we have once again overcome our doubts. Some of this is driven by liking the cars we have, but some is just how uncomfortable we are with the cost of vehicles.

We did buy the girls cars, and we bought them new or at least much newer than intended cars, but we felt we got a great deal on both. The first was just before Ford figured out how much the market could bear for the Bronco Sport, and the second was just at a soft point in the barely used car market in general. Having the two cars with minor trim differences for each of them is kind of funny, but at least they are two different colors.

We have visited places where owning a car is not only unnecessary, but an outright challenge. The beauty of such a place is not having to worry about parking, maintenance, gas, and depreciation. The ugly is that you have to walk or ride in someone else’s car, or in a public vehicle.  I am not saying owning a car is the same as darkness, but there is a lot of darkness that can be fallen into with cars.

This verse tells me that not only are the wicked not walking with God, but that they never will, and that in the end, all they work for will not endure as it will not glorify God. We are called to focus on doing things that will endure beyond the end of the world and impact eternity. The hard part is understanding when the task before (buying a car) is a need to be met, a want to be weighed, or a distraction to be walked away from. I learned that the car I have long thought about is only to be walked away from, replacing the car we have a want to be turned down, and yet sometimes, the need is to buy something and God will provide a suitable replacement. (The oldest’s fiancé is definitely facing the need to buy situation and it was fun to walk through all this at once.)

 

Written 2/15/25, Posted 6/20/25, Job 370