Job 13:27

27 Thou puttest [suwm] my feet [regel] also in the stocks [cad], and lookest narrowly [shamar] unto all my paths ['orach]; thou settest a print [chaqah] upon the heels [sheresh] of my feet [regel]. KJV-Interlinear

27 'Thou dost put my feet in the stocks, And dost watch all my paths; Thou dost set a limit for the soles of my feet, NASB

Job is addressing God, not his friends or anyone else who might be present in his home.

God has shackled his feet. God watches his every possible path in life. God is the one who creates limits or boundaries beyond which Job cannot go.

In His control over history, God leaves nothing to chance. He watches mans every move. He hears mans every thought. God knows the heart and motives of man. God knows the thoughts and plans of man. He has known everything about the human race, and every person individually, since before man was created.

The stocks describe the environment in which man will live. For the most part, planet earth will be our home for the entire history of the human race. Sure since the 1960's man has been exploring outer space. We have sent satellites to the distant planets, even to the edge of the solar system. We have people working in orbit on a space station.

But where does everyone call home? Here on the ground, here on the planet we call earth.

But Gods limits are not restricted to this planet. Man has limitations in his life span, in his intellect, in his physical abilities, even in his imagination.

God has given us a promise of vast blessings when we get to eternity, blessings that exceed our imaginations. That means that there are things, thoughts, ideas, concepts, which will exist in eternity, which we cannot even begin to imagine. And if you have ever watched some of those science fiction movies, mans imagination can go a pretty long way.

Some limits, we can see quite easily. Continents have their limits from coast to coast. Oceans have their limits, from shore to shore, and to their depths on the sea floor. Mountains have their limits. They are only as high as they are.

Life spans are fixed and today average around eighty years for most folks. Death is a limit. No one can go beyond death, which is a permanent separation of the soul from the body, and cause themselves to come back to life.

If you are an adult and five feet tall, you cannot make yourself six feet tall. If you can't sing, then you can't sing. Keep your vocals confined to the shower. If you cannot understand the intricacies of rocket science, then chances are, you'll never figure them out.

Life requires that we have food to eat, water to drink, air to breathe, even gravity to keep us from floating away.

But so much for our physical limitations, the stocks, the shackles of a prisoner, confined to a place where he can function, but also can be watched.

The paths of humanity are controlled by their thoughts, motives, decisions and actions. Man has been able to invent everything from the wheel to stealth technology, everything from the campfire to microwave ovens, everything from fig leaves to cotton clothing, everything from medicine man shakers to body organ transplants.

Man has walked across continents, sailed the oceans, and stood on the moon. Man has been successful in discovering the characteristics of disease, and countered them with inoculations.

As the life spans of humanity declined from many hundreds of years back in ancient times, to the low twenties of years in the dark ages, man has been able to restore and even lengthen his life span with hygiene, diet, medicines, and various advances in health care. Now we have a general average life span of around eighty years in the modern world.

Some parts of the world have life expectancies, which are lower, but in time, I am sure that, that will change for the better.

Can man go beyond his life limitations by discovering more and more technology? No. There is a limit. Can man invent artificial organs that will let him live indefinitely? No. Even the brain wears out sooner or later, and man will never be able to transplant the soul.

Will man ever live on Mars or on some planet in a nearby star system? No. They are too far and mans history itself has limitations. Limitations, which the Bible calls dispensations.

And finally, Job states that there is a limit for the soles of his feet. There is a limit for just how far he as a human being, can go in life.

That limit applies to us all. There is a limit as to what we can do, what we can accomplish, what we can define as to our destiny.

Man has but two possible destinies, the Lake of Fire, or heaven. Apart from these, man has no other options for life beyond death.

Man will not remain in this life forever. Everyone dies. We are all born into this life, which is a temporary life, for the purpose of preparing ourselves for the next life. The next life is an eternal one.

Though our days and years seem to drag on indefinitely, our lifespan is but a blip on the timeline of eternity.

And as we saw from our study of yesterday, man is nothing. Man has nothing to offer creation. And yet God spends an extraordinary amount of time containing, controlling, nurturing, and monitoring humanity.

Why?

Now is the time to post a prayer.