NOTES for Job 14:1-3

Here we can also recall the Gospel words about the equally brief beauty of the lilies of the field, which serves as an argument for God's care for people: "if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith" Matt. 6:28-30. Job sees no way out of the situation in which he finds himself, and this no longer concerns only his personal situation. Job's troubles have sharpened in him the sense of the unbearable tragedy of existence, and he constantly returns to thoughts about the desirability of ending earthly existence, and with it suffering. Job can no longer think about anything else. He is nothing but pain, his flesh aches upon him, and his soul within him suffers.

Acceptance of life is inseparable from acceptance of the Giver of life. But Job, before our eyes, is losing trust in Him. Job does not look beyond earthly life, and life itself appears to him so unbearable that it seems equally hopeless to him on both sides of the line of death. And this is a terrible moment for any person who is deprived of the Revelation about Christ crucified and risen.