READING: Job 8-10, Acts 8:26-40
“He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.”
Job 8:15
Several years ago, Pam and I lived in a home with a crawl space, and unbeknownst to us, water that had been in the crawl space long-term had caused much of the flooring to rot. By the time we discovered the damage, the floor on which we walked was so wet that it was possible to stick your finger through it in some places! Needless to say, we quickly enlisted a company to come in, lift the entire home with hydraulic jacks, replace all the flooring and braces, and fix the long-term water problem. The expense was substantial, but you have to do what it takes when the general foundation on which you walk every day is weak.
That picture reminds me of the weak foundations on which non-believers walk. They live their lives for the temporary, often failing to think about the reality of the afterlife. They gather “stuff,” but that stuff can bring neither joy nor security – so they keep gathering more stuff. Sometimes they live for pleasure, going from one physical relationship to another while discovering no lasting love. Others try all these options, yet nothing brings lasting peace. Their lives fit the description of Job’s friend, Bildad, as he described the ungodly: “Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the godless will perish. His source of confidence is fragile; what he trusts in is a spider’s web. He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm. He grabs it, but it does not hold up” (Job 8:13-15).
Though Bildad fully misreads Job’s situation, he does help us to see the folly of ungodly living. So much in this picture of the spider web is poignant. What the ungodly trust in like a spider’s web; you grab hold of it, but it has no strength. It can provide no security, for even the weakest wind can blow it apart. The smallest finger of the tiniest child can tear it down. That web simply cannot provide any sense of security for the ungodly life, yet people live their lives based on foundations that are equally weak and unsustainable. That truth ought to grip us as we watch non-believers around us strive and toil for stuff that really doesn’t matter.
It also ought to force us to ask, “For what am I living today? Am I building my life on the rock of Jesus Christ, or on something else?”
ACTION STEPS:
- Answer the question above for yourself. For what are you truly living today?
- Focus your prayer on a non-believing friend or neighbor who seems to be leaning on a spider web today.
PRAYER: “Father, I want to live for the things that last. Help me to live fully for You today.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Job 11-13, Acts 9:1-21