He comes out like a flower and withers. He flees like a shadow and continues not.
– Job 14:2
This verse here talks about the brevity of life in a way that the Bible talks about how life is short in other places.
Job 14:2 is a clear exhortation to realize our lives are short.
I think about James. Your life is a mist. It appears for a moment and then is gone. That’s what Job is saying. “He comes out like a flower and withers. He flees like a shadow and continues not.” And then I think about where Moses prays in Psalm 90. “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” So there’s a relationship between wisdom and recognizing our days are numbered. There’s a clear exhortation from God in his Word to realize that our lives are short. They’re here for just a little while. We’re a vapor, a mist here for a moment, like a flower that withers, like a shadow that flees.
And as a result, I want to encourage you to think about your life today in light of its brevity. Not one of us is guaranteed tomorrow. We’re not guaranteed to make it through today. And even if we live 80, 90, 100 years, that’s still a mist in the grand scheme of things. So what does it look like to make this mist of a life count? What does that look like to make your life count today for what matters most in eternity?
Job 14:2 reminds us to make the most of our short lives for the glory of God.
If we’re not careful, we can get caught up in just going through day-to-day life and not stop and realize what a gift the breath I have is. God, help me to make the most of it while I have it, which is not going to be for long. God, help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength with this breath you’ve given me. And God, help me to love others as myself. Help me to live today, to enjoy you, and to exalt you with the breath you’ve given me.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. So let’s pray that together. God, we know our lives are not going to last very long, and we know that for any one of us this day could be our last. So God, we pray with this mist of a life that you’ve given us, this shadow of a life that flees. God help us to make the most of it today. God, help us to love you with all of our breath today. We pray that every breath we take, every thought we have, every desire we have, every word we say, everything we do, God, we pray that you would help us to praise you with it, to honor you, to glorify you with our every breath that you have given us.
This verse reminds us to live wisely.
God, help us to enjoy you to the full. We know we were made for life in you. God, help us to enjoy you to the full today and to exalt you among others through the way we live today. Help us to point others to you. Help us to be a blessing to others. God, help us to share the good news of eternal life with others. Help us to build up other brothers and sisters in Christ. God, we pray that we would gain a heart of wisdom by numbering our days. Lord, help us to live wisely today and to make this mist count for what matters most in eternity. God, help us to live this way. We pray. And God help us to realize that the people around us are not guaranteed tomorrow. Help us to share the gospel with urgency knowing their lives are amiss.
Prayer for the Wiwa People
God, we pray for people who’ve never heard the gospel, for the Wiwa people of Colombia, the small people group with hardly any followers of Jesus in this remote part of Colombia. Lord, we pray for the spread of the gospel to them knowing that they’re not guaranteed tomorrow either, knowing as we pray for unreached people around the world that there are people who are dying today and entering into a Christ-less eternity without ever having heard the good news of the gospel.
God, help us to change that as your people. Help us to make the most of this mist you’ve given us and to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth while there is still time for people at the ends of the earth to hear it, people who’ve not been reached with the gospel to be reached with it. God, we pray all of these things according to your Word in light of the brevity of our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
