Job 6:8

Oh, that I might have my wish,

   That God would grant my hope.

I like this verse in that I know God will grant my wish and my hope as “it” is to have everlasting relationship with Him. When we set these kind of “softball” goals, then we know they will be completed. I have a number of secondary goals, but in this discourse, Job just wanted to die.

“Oh that“ won out over “If only” and “would that”, but none were really wrong. “I might have” was chosen over “were granted”, “would happen”, “were fulfilled”. “Would happen” seemed not needing the divine and the other two were perfectly usable. “My wish” was selected over “my request”, “what I ask”, and “my petition”. None was really wrong, but I felt that the term “wish” had more of a sense of “without God as a source for my petition” than the others.

“Would grant” seemed best over “give me”. “My Hope” was utilized over “my desire”, “what I hope for”, “the thing that I long for”, and “wished for”. Wished for had been used and I did not want to repeat. The other three options all seemed equivalent, but some too wordy, and I just like hope.

When I was a kid, I wanted to play baseball. When I was a young man, I wanted to play baseball. Now that I am an older man, I want to play baseball. I do not have great eyesight, I do not have great fine motor skills, I do not have great upper body strength, and I do not really have any fantastic physical abilities. That just never stopped me from wanting.  

All my wishes that were grounded in the world were dashed in one way or another. Job’s wish for death was grounded on his worldly expectations. God has bigger plans for me that baseball, and God had bigger plans for job than to just continue on enjoying a great life. When we have spent enough time with God for our desires to change to be His desires, then we will have our wishes, and He will grant our hopes. It Is not so much that our desires to play baseball or have a nice life are bad, they just have to align with God’s will to be holy. I am sure Job eventually died, but not until after God used Him and gave Him all the blessings God wanted for Him. I will not play baseball, or basketball, or much of anything physical again, but God will grant me blessings as I continue to try and follow His will and that is all my hopes and wishes can dream of.