Wednesday: The Weaver’s Shuttle
Imagine the following conversation. Two people are bemoaning the fate of all humanity: death. That is, no matter how good the lives they live, no matter what they accomplish, it’s going to end in the grave.
Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com
“Yeah,” gripes Methuselah to a friend. “We live, what, 800, 900 years, and then we are gone. What is 800 or 900 years in contrast to eternity?” (See Genesis 5.)
Though it’s hard for us today to imagine what it would be like to live for hundreds of years (Methuselah was 187 years old when his son Lamech was born, and Methuselah lived 782 years after that); yet, even the antediluvians, facing the reality of death, must have bemoaned what could have seemed like to them the shortness of life.
Read Job 7:1–11. What is Job’s complaint? See also Ps. 39:5, Ps. 39:11; James 4:14.
We just saw Job seeking the rest and relief that would come from death. Now he’s lamenting how quickly life goes by. He is saying, basically, that life is hard, full of toil and pain, and then we die. Here’s a conundrum we often face: we bemoan how fast and fleeting life is, even when that life can be so sad and miserable.
A Seventh-day Adventist woman wrote an article about her struggle with depression and even thoughts of suicide. And yet, she wrote: “The worst part was that I was an Adventist who observed a lifestyle proven to help me live ‘six years longer.’” That didn’t make sense. Of course, at times of pain and suffering, so many things don’t seem to make sense. Sometimes, amid our pain, reason and rationality go by the wayside, and all we know is our hurt and fear, and we see no hope. Even Job, who really knew better (Job 19:25), cried out in his despair and hopelessness: “Oh, remember that my life is a breath! My eye will never again see good” (Job 7:7, NKJV).Job, for whom the prospect of death now seemed nearer than ever, still bemoaned how short that existence was, no matter how presently miserable it was at the time.
How should your understanding of the Fall, of death, and of the promise of the resurrection help you put into perspective the whole question of how fast life goes by?
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The older I get, the faster the years go by, the shorter life really is. The next 40 years will seem the shortest from past experience. Only if God finds out necessary to extend life here on earth that long so that more can be saved. I look at death as a wait over until He calls us home, we meet Him in the air, He takes us to our heavenly home beyond the gates of Orion. After a thousand years of eternal life we are taken on a ride through space aboard the Holy City, we come to rest in our previous home, that lay desolate for 1000 years, except for Satan. Sin is then wiped our for ever.
The New Earth is then cleansed right before our eyes with molten sea. Earth made new, recreated for us, and we live for eternity with Christ our Lord and King of Kings. I believe we will travel through the universe with our angel testifying what Christ has done for us. I doubt we will carry any bags on our travel. We will rely totally on Him. Even so Lord Jesus come quickly. 1Thessalonians 4:15-18. Revelation 20:1,2,5. Revelation 21:1-8. Revelation 22:20,21.
Job 14:1 "Man is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble." It takes not time to get a dirty dipper. And if it wasn't for someone's pity we would be in trouble for a long, long time. ?
As an octogenarian I have been blessed with a new day for quite a while,for which I am thankful. When we wake to a beautiful new day of clear blue sky and bright sunshine it is difficult to entertain thoughts of doom and gloom. I am thankful for every breath and heart beat. These blessings from God are taken for granted far too often. Live for the promised future, but live for the moment that is experienced here and now.
The weaver's shuttle is an instrument by which the weaver inserts the filling in the woof. It moves quick and fast. Job likens life to the rapidity with which the shuttle is thrown from one side of the web to the other. Soon the whole web will be filled up and our life will be over, like the weaver removes one web from the loom to make way for another. He speaks of the shortness of man's life which passes without hope of returning; in consideration of this he desires God to have compassion on him.
some people bemoan their life either the shortness of it or the lenght of it but we should all praise god for what we have every day think what this life has to offer then think of what we will get ,eternity for ever with jesus ,it will go by like a wink ,praise god
Have not understood the lesson about Weavers Shuttle..... plzzz help m to understand it more... thnx
Hi Kajoba, I hope my explanation helps!
A weaver shuttle is like the bobbin in a sewing machine, the thread rapidly5 unwinds as it sews the fabric; perhaps this is the most appropriate metaphor that job can associate with to describe his anticipated journey. According to James, "It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away (James 4:14).Essentially, the author is saying that life is short! life will eventually end. Knowing that life is short makes me responsible for how I life each moment. Do we live to glorify God or ourselves? Do we love each other as Christ urges us to do? do we share the gospel with people who are hungry for the word? A little more on the topic...... I would like my parents to enjoy longevity (with good health ) in this life, but this will eventually end. This is what puts human on common ground, in spite of our status, all of us will die. Thanks to God for this leverage. But I rejoice in the blessed hope, because our mortal bodies will one day become immortalized and we shall never taste death (1Cor 1553-55).