Job 7:1 – ARE NOT HIS DAYS OF AN HIRELING
Job 7:1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days of an hireling?
Job has expressed his desire that God take his life. Job has suffered much and has lost hope that God is going to do anything to change the situation that Job finds himself in. Job is ready to just go home and be with God.
In this passage, Job justifies his petition that God end his life. Job states that God has appointed to each of us the time that we are here on the earth. If God is in charge of how long we are on the earth, why should we not be able to ask HIM to lengthen or shorten that time. Many people ask for longer lives, Job had lived a good life and his suffering was causing a lot of people to lose faith in God. Job did not think that God was about to change his circumstances so Job thought that the best thing was for God to simply take his life.
Job analogizes man’s time here on earth to that of a man who is hired to help bring in the crops. Everyone knows that the harvest is only for a very short period of time. Everyone knows that once the crops are in, then the workers will be released to go find other employment. The employment is only for a season just like our lives here on this earth are only for a season.
However, not every worker is entitled to the same period of time to work for the master of the field. A bad worker may find himself terminated rather quickly while a good worker may find that he is working beyond the harvest to help take care of other needs that the master has.
Just like a master of the field had control over his employees, so God has control over our appointed time here on this earth. Hardly anyone sees a problem with a man who asks God for a longer life here on this earth. Granted, if a person was asking for a longer life so that they could enjoy the lusts of the flesh, we would be surprised if God answered that request.
Even in the midst of Job’s suffering, he understood that God was in control. Job understood that God had numbered his days here on this earth and Job was so consumed with his suffering that he wanted his life to simply be over.
Are we as focused as Job? Do we understand that God is in control over our life? God designated when and where we were born. Furthermore, God also knows when and where you will breathe your last breath. God knows if your last breath will be in a horrible car accident or if you will live to be 102. Job understood that God was in control and all Job was asking God for was that God just end the suffering by taking his life.
You may not be facing a trial like Job, but most of us will face many trials during our life. We can become absorbed in our trials that we start asking God to do stuff that is contrary to HIS will. God has a perfect timing for your life. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time to be born, a time to die, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to get, and a time to lose, a time to love and a time to hate. God has a perfect timing for everything.
We need to be patient with God and learn to understand the season of life that we are in. Job had bad health but God would soon restore it. Joseph was in prison but he was soon going to be a great ruler. Abraham had no child, but soon God was going to give him a promised son. Hannah had no child but she prayed persistently until God gave her a son. Whatever your trial, trust in the Lord for HE knows HIS perfect timing for when the trial shall pass.