Sarah Beall
November 13, 2006
528 words
Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once I have spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
One life is only a speck on the timeline of eternity. What is sixty years to infinity? “For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14). And yet, those who have attained sixty or seventy years have seen so much of life, and have had so much experience, that younger people are well-advised to heed their wisdom. And here is something else to think about: In the days before the Flood, and even shortly thereafter, people lived for hundreds of years, not a mere sixty. Methuselah did not die until he was 969 years old. Can you imagine what an accumulated wealth of insight such a man might have? Even were he not a man who feared the Lord, a lifetime that reaches nearly a thousand years does not leave a man as ignorant as the day he was born. What new mind-boggling theories might Einstein have come up with if he had lived as long? What incredible feats of skill might Michael Jordan have accomplished if his basketball career had been extended by an additional several hundred years?
And yet, even such a lifetime is still only a blink of an eye in contrast to infinity. There simply is no comparison. If there were a man who had lived an infinite number of years, and still had the strength and clear mind of his youth—can we even begin to comprehend what knowledge and ability such a man might have? We would travel for hundreds of miles to be taught by him, and when he spoke we would not be quick to laugh.
Now think of this: there is such a person who was lived for all eternity, and who never grows any weaker day by day. That one is God. His years are beyond the grayest head among us. If youth is commended for heeding the wisdom of the aged, how much more ought the aged, and all men, heed the wisdom of the Ageless?
But what is more, this Ageless is not decrepit and unable. If God could lay the foundations of the earth while the morning stars sang (Job 38:4-7); if He owns the storehouses of the heavens where hail and snow and ice are kept (Job 38:22-30); if He created the Pleiades, Orion and all the stars in their glory (Job 38:31-33); if He causes the dawn to break every morning (Job 38:12-15)—is the created thing greater than the Creator? Is the pot greater than its Maker? Man is not greater than God—but neither is the lion, or torrents and thunderstorms, or a horse shod for battle, or even leviathan in all his terror. If all these things are more than we can understand or control, how much more is God beyond our comprehension? He is not weak. His arm is not short. And His wisdom stretches back to the foundations of the earth. If this be so, then we can rest in the knowledge and faith that God, in his wisdom and power, has not left His throne, and He still knows exactly what He is doing.