Job 7:1

Is there not an appointed time of hard service upon the earth for man?

   Are not his days to be those of a laborer?

(Written 3/25, Posted  4/8 )

We bought a new washing machine that was delivered today. The single aspect of putting up our clothes seems to be too great a chore for us most days. Not to mention the gathering, washing, drying, and sorting that have to come first. Whenever I get nostalgic for the past, I think of drying clothes out on a line in the back yard and those awful boards people used to hand wash their laundry. I apparently was born late enough to not actually wash my laundry with a board. Thank God, as that looks like a lot of work.

Among my eight sources, there appears eight ways to say essentially the same thing in stitch a. Three do not include the term “hard”, but one uses the term “indenture”. Interestingly, the only source with “appointed” leaves out hard service altogether. The poetic source had “Man’s life on earth is a term of indenture.” that I liked, as the goal is not a good life on earth but obtaining the good life in heaven after earth.

The second stitch was very similar across the sources with a little different word order and subtle word choices like “hireling vs. laborer” and “days vs life”.

Here and in many places in the Bible, God tells us that our lives are not to be carefree and without work and at least some of that work will be difficult. On one vacation, I purchased a little painting of a small boat tied to a palm tree at a beach. It hangs over my desk, off to one side, and reminds me of the carefree days of vacation that I like so much. But like golfers who cannot play every day, I do not like even consecutive days of doing nothing at the beach and always find something else to occupy my mind or keep me busy even on vacation.

My favorite verse along these lines goes something life “If one shall not work, he shall not eat.” God has built an incredibly logical universe for us to live in and these clear cut “If A, then B.” formulas really help me break things down to bite size chunks. “If you want to go to heaven, believe in Jesus.” “If you believe in Jesus, you go to heaven.” We all have our duties to perform and somedays they seem overwhelming. But God shall provide us rest through our labors. So get to work.