Job, in his miserable condition on the ash heap, wishes that his trip from the womb to the grave had been an immediate one. Whatever the time in between, this is a journey we all make. Physically speaking, we all come from the same place and we all go, sooner or later, to the same plce. How vividly Job's words paint this stark truth.
Some years ago, when my father was dying, Jack and I sat in the hallway at the hospital just a few steps from where my father was lying unconscious. As we talked, a door opened nearby and we hear babies crying. I turned to look, and I remember thinking it odd that Mateniity and Intensive Care would be on the same floor. I turned the other direction to look toward where dad's room was, and Jack and I looked at each other. We were both thinking the same thing. This short hallway represented this fleeting thing that men call life. At one end life is beginning with tears and just a brief walk away, at the other end, life's final breaths are counted down.
For a man who lives a relatively long life this space between the womb and the grave is full of many events, but how much of real importance actually takes place? We learn to crawl, then walk; we lose our teeth and then grow new ones. We skin our knees and cry. We go to school. We get in trouble. We fall in love. We get a job. We get another job. We get marned. We have children. Our hearts break, We cry, We laugh. We lose our hairs and don't grow any new ones, We get another job. We retire. We hurt. Our hearts break again. We cry again. We die. What is all this for, and what mark does it all make on etemity?
Ah, here is the meaning of it all. Somewhere between all the trivial events and passions of this drama, we are visited by our Maker, Gal. 1: 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, 16 To reveal his Son in me... Then all the laughing, crying and loving has a reason and becomes beautiful. Our sin and guilt are replaced by His righteousness and joy by the redeeming power of His blood atonement! With the weight of our debt removed, even the hurting and heart-breaking we see to be for our good. What a wonderful thing life is when it is lived by the faith of the Son of God,' who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20).
Otherwise, without this gracious visit from the God of all grace, this experience called life is really just prolonged death. It is nothing but a fruitless journey from the womb to the grave, and then the judgement! I want to be where He will meet with me.