DOES YOUR 'BREATH' STINK?

Twice in our text (Job 5-7) Job says that his life and his days are nothing more than a breath (7:7, 16)...brief, short, transitory.  The psalms echo this reality (Ps. 39:5 & 11, 144:4) and James in his New Testament letter calls our life ‘a mist’ (James 4:14).

The phrase used often of the beginning of our lives is something related to ‘when we took our first breath’ and the end of our life will find others speaking of when ‘we took our final breath.’ Between the beginning and end of our lives the use of our ‘breath’ is exceedingly important.  In fact, Job will hear from his friends as they use their ‘breath’ in the following chapters to confront him regarding what they perceive to be his wrong perspective.  They will speak words to Job that will cause him to eventually call them all ‘sorry comforters’ who have ‘windy words’ (16:1-2).

Today, we live in a culture where ‘windy words’ are regularly typed into blogs and social media accounts.  Objective truth and biblical grace have seemed to take a back seat to ‘my perspective‘ and ‘my rights.’  In light of the brevity of this life, the biblical injunctions to properly use our ‘breath’ (whether spoken or typed) to build up others and in light of the fact that we will all give an account of every idle word spoken (Mt. 12:36), commit to using your ‘breath’ in 2021 to speak of things eternal and which build up and do not tear down.