January 7 - Job 10:20-22

"Let me alone,

that I may find a little comfort 

before I go, never to return,

to the land of gloom and deep darkness, 

the land of gloom and chaos,

where light is like darkness."

Job 10:20-22

 

Job is having a bad day -- needless to say. And needless to say, this is one of scriptures most vivid pictures of hell. The two phrases that grab me most here are:

 

"Where light is like darkness" -- Imagine standing in the middle of a maggot infested room. When the lights are off, you can pretend that the swarms of filth are not there, but what happens when you strike a match. The solid surfaces move. They crawl with infection.

 

In the hell of a swarming, polluted room -- as in the horrors of hell -- "the light [is actually worse than] darkness." Why? Because it illumines the terrors.

 

Do you like that vivid picture? Here's another ... "Never to return."

 

Now, in the face of this, Job -- and way too many people in our world -- say, "Leave me alone." The words just before this passage are, "the days of my life are few." Time is short. Who would you like to invite into a light that illumines even greater hope?

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who usually doesn't think like this

... but maybe should