Life's tough...and then you die!

My kids have heard me say this often. Usually I said it when they were moaning about some task that they had to accomplish, but didn't want to.

It sounds rather pessimistic and cynical, but I think it's biblical.

Consider Job.

He lost everything. His family, his possessions, his business, his retirement - all in one day.

His wife turned on him. She couldn't even stand his breath.

He was the laughingstock of the neighborhood children.

Tormented by nightmares and physical pain.

Criticized by his friends.

Even God seemed distant.

Life's tough.

Job had no hope that his life would get any better. There was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. No bright light at the end of the tunnel. No hope of turning the corner to have it all disappear.

Life's tough.

But then you die.

Job's hope was not in this life, but in the future life.

"For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!" (Job 19:25-27).

Job believed that God was alive. He hadn't been abandoned.

Job believed that God would rule the earth. He would set things right.

Job believed in a physical resurrection. His body was just temporary. It will rot away, but he will be given a new one.

Job believed that he would stand in God's presence. He would see God with his own eyes.

It was this hope that sustained him.

It was this hope that overwhelmed him. "My heart faints within me!"

In the midst of the suffering, he could rejoice because he knew what the life after death brought.

Standing in the presence of God! Wow!