Job 20:5

That the triumphing of the wicked is brief,

   The happiness of the impious lasts only an instant?

Almost every day, I am tempted to begin this with “I”. My goal is to balance that this effort is all about me and the desire for it to help others as well. We are reworking our accountability meetings to focus on why we are there and move from sharing our lives to making sure we are making progress on becoming the men God wants us to be. Similar to the Post Malone song about I had some help, we are trying to get that help we need.

‘Triumphing’ may not be a word, but my sources had ‘exulting’, ‘mirth’, ‘joy’, ‘gladness’, and several instances of ‘triumphing’. ‘Brief’ was also ‘short’, ‘short-lived’, and ‘fleeting’.

‘Happiness’ was also ‘joy’, and ‘pleasure’. I am reminded of the conflict between what happiness and joy mean. ‘Impious’ was also ‘godless’, ‘hypocrite’, ‘bad’, and ‘tainted’. ‘Lasts only an instant’ was also ‘but for a moment’ and ‘fleeting‘.

I got confused thinking one source reversed the stitches and practically revised the whole verse once I figured it out. I’ll have to remember to update the Amalgamation with this change. If I knew I was going to publish this as a book, I would leave all these changes up to an editor, but since I am not clear of the outcome, I continue to try to keep up with all this myself. Somehow this makes me think about all the tasks I have left undone. They seemed important when I added them to the list, but they never seem to be important enough to do.

My friend has a long-term project he wants to complete and pass the result to his son. I have always struggled with the concept of a long-term project and the need to leave each day up to the call of God. I know there is a balance somewhere, but I seem yet to have found a target. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places.

Without looking at context for this verse (which is important), my initial reaction to it is to recognize that any activity not based in glorifying God will be only fleeting in the positive emotional outcome. I do strongly like the idea of ‘lasts only an instant’ over ‘lasts but for a moment.’ But I think that applies to things the wicked do and to the things everyone does that do not flow from God.  I had tea this morning to avoid the fake sugar in a soda. It was hard choking down the grit at the bottom of the cup and almost ended in a less than optimal outcome, but I felt I was at least making the effort to follow God’s call to be healthier.  I still feel I am chasing joy and not happiness, and that is better.

Written 1/14/26, Posted 3/1/20236, Job 463/~1070