Job 9:25

Sending letters fast goes back to early times. Job said, "Now my days are swifter than a post." Job 9:25. When Hezekiah announced a Passover for all Israel, he sent letters of invitation by runners from city to city. 2 Chronicles 30:6, 10. The couriers who carried the decree from the palace at Susa rode horses, mules, camels, and fast young camels. The king's command hurried them and pressed them on.

Job puts himself among the innocent sufferers whose passing away God laughs at. He describes his own utter weakness, and how short his life is. He has forgotten all his former wealth, and draws pictures of how fast life fades from earth and sea and sky. His days are like the fast postman who runs with his message. They are like ships passing along the horizon. They are like an eagle dashing out of sight after its prey.

Job felt his days rushing past with nothing accomplished: "they flee away, they see no good" (v.25). Could he force himself to put off his sad face and wear a smile? How could he, when his painful sufferings left him in fear? He feels that God does not hold him innocent or he would not be suffering as he was (v.28).

He could not defy the God of heaven, and he could not clear himself. So should he give up hope, drop his search for the answer, and hand himself over to a careless chase after pleasure? Human nature has not changed. Many of us have followed the very line of thought Job shows here. But he threw the idea out at once, seeing how empty it was. If we carelessly forget, God does not forget. The sinner will not escape the judgment of God by refusing to face the question.

"For He is not a man, as I am, that I might answer Him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us." That is what Christ became. Christ became the mediator between God and men. And not just a mediator, but a mediator who is as fully divine as the God before whom He acts as mediator for us… If you are resting on yourself, you are resting on ground that God does not approve. If you are resting on Christ, you have the only solid ground that can never be taken from you.

So the conclusion is this. If we are living at the height of our heavenly calling, we will not regret how fast the years fly. Nor will we grieve at the thought of death, if the Lord delays. If we are not on our guard, the close of a year, with its reminders of times and seasons, may soon drag us down to the level of the Old Testament believer. May the Lord help us instead to live in His presence, and to have Himself filling our hearts.