The Brevity and Uncertainty of Man's Life
Job 14:1-2
Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.…


Man's life is short.

1. Comparatively. Our fathers before the flood lived longer. Compared with the duration of the world. Compared with the years that some irrational creatures live. Eagles and ravens among birds, stags and elephants among beasts. Compared with those many days that most men abide in the grave, in the land of oblivion. Compared with the life to come.

2. Absolutely. It is a great while before he really lives, and he is a long time alive before he knows it, and understands where he is. When he comes to five, the whole work of life has to be dispatched in a short compass. Man is made of discordant elements, which jar and fall out with one another, and thereby procure his dissolution. So that it is no wonder that he drops into the grave so soon.

3. Man's life is thus short by the just judgment of God. By reason of Adam's sin and our own.

4. Man's life is abbreviated by the mercy and favour of God. Apply —

(1)  Be thoroughly convinced of this truth, and often revolve it in your minds.

(2)  Complain not of the shortness of life.

(3)  Make this doctrine serviceable to all holy and religious purposes.Seeing life is so short and uncertain, how absurd a thing is it for a man to behave himself as if he should live forever! Do not defer repentance.

(J. Edwards.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

WEB: "Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.




The Brevity and Troubles of Human Life
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