No longer content to talk about God with his friends, Job addresses God directly (13:20), pouring out his bitterness, frustration, and pain. This becomes the opportunity to drop pretense.

Reflecting on human mortality, Job likens people with flowers that do not endure (2). Job envies the flowers: God doesn't bring them to judgment! If only God would look away from people and leave them alone, like the flowers! Job also envies the trees, who have hope because they continue to sprout, year after year, but people die and are no more.

Job even envies the grave, where he might be free from God's anger. His rhetorical question: "If someone dies, will they live again?" allows him a moment to long for such renewal, where God would answer, and not hold sins against him. But since no one who dies lives again, Job's hope is destroyed (19), leaving only pain and mourning (22).

In Jesus we are given a different answer to Job's question. Yes, there is One who has died and lives again (Mark 16:6)! Rather than judgment, his death brings forgiveness, and his resurrection gives us living hope. We need not envy flowers, trees, or the grave, but rather embrace this living hope.


Application: Father, thank you for giving us the answer to Job's question in Jesus. Help me today to press into this living hope, awaiting renewal.
One Word: Jesus is Risen, our Living Hope