Job 14:20

You assail them constantly,

   And they perish.

You alter their visage,

   And send them off.

 

I just completed Job 37:20 and I was pumped that I found something that fit the context, the words, and made more sense than the traditional renderings, or at least to me. This is the feeling I seek, that I have come to know God better through these efforts. This contrasts with the loss of abandoning God that I read of in Zechariah 11. It complements the steadfastness I read of in Habakkuk 3:17-18.

‘Constantly’ was ‘forever’ or ‘once for all’. I inserted constantly. ’Assail’ was ‘prevail’, ‘overpower’, ‘assault’, or ‘overwhelm’. Again, I inserted assail. ‘Perish’ was also ‘pass away’, ‘are gone’, ‘vanish’, ‘departs’, ‘goes off’, or related terms.

‘Alter’ was also ‘change’ and ‘turn dark’. ‘Visage’ was also ‘countenance’ or ‘face’. ‘Send off’ was also ‘send away’ or ‘dispatch’.

I also split each stitch into two lines for emphasis.

One of my goals of learning about God is to make my life better; the other is to make the lives of those around me better. With the election coming up, I keep thinking the phrase ‘the lessor of two evils’. Some have given this reasoning a negative review, but others also give the options of not voting or voting for someone who cannot win negative reviews as well. (ie. everything is wrong to someone.) The common response of ‘do it yourself’ does not apply for the presidential election as it is not a matter of good people not trying, but merely an outcome of a system controlled by other strings. I’m not running for any office, so I have to resort to picking between the choices available and following God’s call on my life. If we cannot agree the words of the Bible, much less the authority of them, how can we possibly agree the best application across our country and its position of leadership in the world?

This verse follows on the topic of dashing our hopes. Again, if looking at it positively, our sinful hopes are being overcome and replaced with a desire to do the will of God. I cannot transform my body into a worthy temple overnight. And there exists no magic formula to get it right. Instead, I must take every little step each day to treat it as the temple of God, and each day it will become a little more aligned with His intent.

I added some extra boots into the ‘estate’ auction we were having for those parts of the in-law’s things they could no longer use. At one point, only my boots were seeming to be of interest to bidders. I am sure they did not go for as much as I hoped to get if I put them on ebay, and I know the fees will be much larger than those for ebay, and we had to pay for labor separately, but the boots are finally off the closet floor. In trying to be a good steward, I wanted to get more back for them than if I simply gave them away. I seem to have been spending effort on pennies and losing pounds. I am setting up my new exercise spot and I almost bought two remotes for about $10 for an old tv stick. I had no idea if they would work and ending up buying a new tv stick for $40 that I know will work and saved myself untold effort in trying to make the old one work. Slowly, but surely, I am getting better at this stewardship thing. Now maybe I can get better about hording boxes and other things just in case I need them some day while I am trying to find space for all the family photos no one will ever look at.

Written 10/24/24, Posted 11/25/24, Job 338