 By James H. Cagle |
“Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?” (Job 3:11 KJV).
Most people live their entire life without knowing their purpose in life. They work and make a living but never make a life. A person loses out on living if they don’t make a life. Life is discovering to what end we were born into this world, which is to glorify God, and then using every means available to do just that.
God has a purpose and plan especially for the saved. A person will never know God’s purpose or their God–ordained potential until they come to know Christ as their Savior and then surrender themselves to following His will.
Job questioned why he didn’t die in his mother’s womb. He questioned why he didn’t give up the ghost, which is the spiritual part of us, when he came out of the womb. This lets us know that at the moment of conception the unborn has not only a body but also a soul.
The Traducian doctrine teaches that the body and the soul, both the material and immaterial, are propagated by the parents at conception. It teaches that parents propagate entire human beings, not merely bodies.
When things are going well we do not question the validity of life. It is when things begin to go badly wrong that we begin to question the validity of life.
Job knew that men only live a few days and those days are full of trouble (Job 14: 1). Job is known to have been a rich man with ten children and to have been in good health before his trial.
But we do not think of those things when we think of Job. We think of Job as the man who lost everything, was falsely accused by his so-called friends, who was longsuffering and patient (James 5: 11), and through everything stayed true to God, who in the end blessed Job for his faithfulness (Job 42: 10ff).
So why did Job live and not die? It was so God could magnify Himself through a simple yet faithful man and defy the scorn of the enemy and leave an example for you and me to follow today.
The Christian today should live for the same purpose; to magnify our Lord Jesus Christ in any and all situations (1Cor. 10: 31) no matter what the cost.
