Faith in a Poem

What is faith to you?  We often ponder this very thing.  If we read the Holy Bible, does that mean we have faith?  If we read the news and find some horrific tale, how do we see it in the light of our faith?  If we are burdened, or victorious, where does our faith come in?  When faced with the prospects of death, how does our faith touch us?

It's not easy to define man's faith in God.  But man dwells on it anyway.  The Bible is filled with men's thoughts on his faith and his God. and one man in particular -- Job -- spoke so ardently of his faith.  His tangled thoughts, emotional fluctuations, deepest longings, ardent hopes and fears are voiced in a beautiful poem about his faith.

Read on, and be mesmerized by the beauty of Job's faith in his omnipotent God.


“Man, who is born of woman,
Is short-lived and full of turmoil.
Like a flower he comes forth and withers.
He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

You also open Your eyes on him
And bring him into judgment with Yourself.
Who can make the clean out of the unclean?
No one!

Since his days are determined,
The number of his months is with You;
And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.

Turn Your gaze from him that he may rest,
Until he fulfills his day like a hired man.
For there is hope for a tree,
When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And its shoots will not fail.
Though its roots grow old in the ground
And its stump dies in the dry soil,
At the scent of water it will flourish
And put forth sprigs like a plant.

But man dies and lies prostrate.
Man expires, and where is he?
As water evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up,
So man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens are no longer,
He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep.

Oh that You would hide me in Sheol,
That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You,
That You would set a limit for me and remember me!

If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my struggle I will wait
Until my change comes.
You will call, and I will answer You;
You will long for the work of Your hands.
For now You number my steps,
You do not observe my sin.
My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And You wrap up my iniquity"

- Job 14:1-17