Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Hope
A Fleeting Shadow
“Shout that people are like the grass.
Their beauty fades as quickly
as the flowers in a field.
The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the Lord.
and so it is with people.
The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of God stands forever.”
ISAIAH 40:6-8 (NLT)
When Job found himself in the middle of his calamities, he cried out, “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.” (Job 14:1-2)
Our bodies are frail things. I remember that every time I look in the mirror and see empty space where my left arm and shoulder ought to be. Our bodies are fragile – not a terribly encouraging thought is it?
Yet this is the very reason we can depend upon God for His help. As the psalmist said, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14)
Never forget that while God knows we are “dust,” He treats us as His “children.” Rather than sweep us out of His house, He has promised to sweep us up in His arms.
And we believers also groan,
even though we have the Holy Spirit within us
as a foretaste of future glory,
for we long for our bodies
to be released from sin and suffering.
We, too, wait with eager hope for the day
when God will give us our full rights
as his adopted children,
including the new bodies he has promised us.
ROMANS 8:23 (NLT)
On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky
