Yes, I Read...

10.28.12

Job 19.23 23 “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! NASB

Well friend Job, they are! And here I sit many centuries later in my comfortable little house with my cup of coffee at hand, wrapped in a comforter, while my dog snoozes over by hallway waiting for momma to come downstairs and fill her food dish, reading your words. Yes, Job your words are written… and mine are too. It seems God has something for books.

How sad it is that there are those who insist life is nothing more than a series of random events that happen randomly to random creatures; and they live and they die, and that is that. How stupid. Life has meaning and purpose. Life has its joys and surely its pain. But life has meaning.

To the one who believes life is only random, it appears their belief is more like a denial of the facts: a steadfast refusal to accept the presence of God (and a frustration over their lack of control). To them, books are written about important people with interesting stories and interesting lives. (Of course if life has no meaning then what’s an interesting life?)

It appears that in this “meaningless” life we are blessed with the ability to go through experiences and learn from them. That’s not to say everyone learns. Some, it seems, go through life and don’t learn a darn thing – they keep making the same mistake over and over – and call it progress! And we are blessed with memories, if we choose to remember. Job wanted someone to remember him and his life and maybe learn from it or at least say, “Yep! I’ve gone through the same thing.”

Why record our words in books somewhere? I’ve been told that Facebook has a permanent record of every word and picture you’ve ever posted there (if you’re into Facebook). Why tell the stories of our lives? Two reasons I can think of right off the bat…

One, there will be no denial of who we are and what we done, said, and thought. I don’t think the words of our lives will be used to club us over the head or as a weapon. The other reason is a permanent record of how we lived with what we’ve done, said, and thought. What we’ve done and how we’ve lived. How have we lived? What have we done? Have we been part of the solution or part of the problem? It’s all recorded so we can know because someday, I’m told, we’ll all give an accounting of our living and our doing. Will the accounting match the writing?

So, have I lived intentionally? Have I done things in my life for meaning and purpose? Have I been a contributor or a consumer – or both? Have I worked to make this world a better place? When I leave will I be remembered as someone who cared? It will all be spelled out for me in language I can read and understand, just how I lived my threescore and ten.

Yes, Job, your words were written; they were inscribed in a book so that all who chose to, could read and see how you dealt with the uncertainties of life and in the end, Whom you chose to serve. Yes, friend, your words were written down so I could read them and learn from them And I’m glad. My prayer is that my life will in some way match up to yours; and in the conversations in heaven when the question is asked, Have you considered My servant Paul? that someone will answer, “Yes, I read he served the Living God!”