Homilist Job 13:25 Will you break a leaf driven to and fro? and will you pursue the dry stubble? I. A PICTURE OF LIFE. It is a "leaf driven to and fro." The words suggest four ideas. 1. Insignificance. "A leaf," not a tree. 2. Frailty. "A leaf." How fragile. The tree strikes its roots into the earth and often grows on for many years. But the leaf is only for a season. From spring to autumn is the period that measures its longest duration. 3. Restlessness. "Driven to and fro." How unsettled is human life! Man is never at rest. 4. Worthlessness. A leaf that has fallen from the stem and tossed by the winds is a worthless thing. On its stem it was a thing of beauty and a thing of service to the tree, but now its value is gone. Job felt that his life was worthless, as worthless as a withered leaf and "dry stubble." II. A PROBLEM OF LIFE. "Wilt Thou break a leaf driven to and fro?" This question may be looked upon in two aspects. 1. As expressing error in sentiment. The idea in the mind of Job seems to have been that God was infinitely too great to notice such a creature as he, that it was unworthy of the Infinite to pay any attention whatever to a creature so insignificant and worthless. Two thoughts expose this error. (1) To God there is nothing great or small. (2) Man, however worthless, is infinitely influential. 2. As capable of receiving a glorious answer. "Wilt Thou break a leaf driven to and fro?" Wilt Thou torment me forever? Writ Thou quench my existence? Take this as the question of suffering humanity, and here is the answer, "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost." "I have come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly." (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?WEB: Will you harass a driven leaf? Will you pursue the dry stubble? |
    |