Bring it on!!!

Bring it on!!!

I was watching "the emperor's new groove" with my daughter the other day. There is this great scene where the two main characters (emperor Kuzco, played by David Spade (who has been turned into a llama) and John Goodman's character Pancha) are lashed to a log floating down a river. There is the expected "oh no" from Pancha which is followed by Kuzco's prediction, "let me guess there is a huge waterfall, with massive sharp rocks at the bottom...bring it on!"

I feel like this is exactly what Job is doing in Chap 21. In Chap 20 Zophar (great name by the way) is explaining to Job the way it has always been, from the beginning of time he says, "the wicked only get pleasure for a short amount of time and then they are snuffed out. Their children have to pay for their wickedness, they are poisoned from the evil that is hiding in their mouths, their desire is never sated, etc. etc."

I love the first line of Job's response in chap 21,"“Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you give me. Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on." I love that! OK guys just let me speak here listen for a little while as I speak my piece and then...mock on! Bring it on! He then goes on to tell it like it is. The wicked prosper all around him they see their children established and they go down to the grave in peace. But that's not all Job has to say. Both the man who is well fed and healthy and the man who is skin and bones when they die they lay down in the same earth and the same worms come to eat them.

In other words there are no favorites in this world. Righteous or evil the same fate awaits us in the dust. The wicked are just as likely to get rich and happy as are the righteous in this world. The life circumstances in which we find ourselves has very little to do with whether we are righteous or wicked and much more to do with fortuitous opportunities and hard work.

So what reason do we have to be righteous??? It goes beyond the wealth of this world. It goes into heavenly treasures. Jesus told us not to store up treasures here on earth where moth and rust destroy, but store up treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy nor thief break in and steal. We end up with the same lot here, whether righteous or wicked when it comes to the grave and the worms.

But after the grave when Jesus returns and the grave is open, then the results are so much different. The wicked to be burned as chaft and righteous to rule in heaven.

So Zophar kind of had it right, he just had the time line wrong. The pleasure of the wicked is short in the span of eternity, but in this little time we have on earth suffering is not a gauge we can use for who is righteous and who is not.

I remember hearing a story once of a missionary who was coming home after 40 years in the mission field. On the same plane was a soldier boy coming home from the war. When they landed there was a huge welcoming party there for the soldier, but there was no one there for the missionary. No fanfare, no banners, no T.V. cameras. The missionary felt a little cheated. What's the deal God, I serve you for all of these years faithfully and I receive nothing at my home coming? Then he heard a small voice say, "You're not home yet."

May we remember today we are not home yet and may we look at the people around us, rich or poor, as people. People who need Jesus and who have the chance for a much better life after the grave than the best this world has to offer. Then we will go home. Even so Lord Jesus, Bring it on!