Job 11-14: What is Man

“Man born of woman
   is of few days and full of trouble.
He springs up like a flower and withers away;
   like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
Do you fix your eye on such a one?
   Will you bring him before you for judgment?
Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
   No one!
Man’s days are determined;
   you have decreed the number of his months
   and have set limits he cannot exceed.
So look away from him and let him alone,
   till he has put in his time like a hired man. - Job 14:1-6 NIV

'Leave us alone', Job is saying. 'Why are you watching us? What is man?' Job poses this question over and over again.  What is man?  This question was not unique to Job.  It has been asked by man down through the ages.  We have cried out in our frustration at the seemingly randomness and arbitrariness of life.  What is man?  Even the Psalmist, David asked the same question.

O LORD, what is man that you care for him,
   the son of man that you think of him?
Man is like a breath;
   his days are like a fleeting shadow. - Ps. 144:3-4 NIV

Sometimes it's good to get all of life in perspective.  It's not about us.  There's a greater cosmic picture that is going on all around us.  We are only a small part.  But, we are an intentional part.  The same power that created the universe, created us and loves each one of us individually.  Our lives may be fleeting shadows, but they are part of something much bigger, something we can not even imagine. 

2010 Post - Job 11-14:  Zophar's Accusation