Job 19:20

20 My bone [`etsem] cleaveth [dabaq] to my skin [`owr] and to my flesh [basar], and I am escaped [malat] with the skin [`owr] of my teeth [shen]. KJV-Interlinear

20 'My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth. NASB

Job has become extremely emaciated. His illness, from the disease, from the worry, from his inability to carry on in his daily activities as he had before, from the loss of appetite, and so forth, has resulted in a tremendous weight loss.

He is barely more than what you would find in a long term concentration camp victim.

He is on the verge of death, and yet he is still alive.

By the skin of his teeth, which means simply that he has brushed by death, and, thus far, has escaped it by an extremely thin margin.

One more blink and he would be gone. One more hair closer and he would be gone. He is that close to death, and yet he is still alive.

And so the fictitious journalist would ask the usual dumb question, 'To what do you attribute your long life and luck?' And any old dude would come back with, 'I had one cigar and one drink every day of my life.'

But of course we don't have journalists in this book, nor do we have a dumb victim. We have Job.

And though I have posed a question which is not in our passage, Job is going to answer it in the next few verses anyway.

By now we should have a pretty clear picture of Jobs condition.

He has been hammered as no one else, and yet he is still alive. Why haven't his major organs shut down by now? Why doesn't he have an infection from all of the open sores and blisters? Most people under major starvation, dysentery, extreme health conditions, die fairly quickly. Job has been under these conditions for many weeks now.

The skin of teeth consists of a very thin layer of enamel. Job is not exaggerating when he has brushed extremely close with death. There is a very thin layer separating life from death, and it is not man who controls that line.

It is not vitamins, not health foods, not exercise, not miracle medicines, nothing on this planet which separates life from death, even though we want to think that it does.

Now that doesn't mean that we shouldn't follow good hygiene, exercise and diet habits. You cannot test or tempt God. But, what we cannot do in life, is presume that we will live longer if we just eat right and live right. And that means to do so without regard to God in our life.

Job is deathly ill, and yet God keeps him alive. Any one of us could be extremely healthy, and yet die tomorrow in a heartbeat.

Our life depends totally and completely on the grace of God, and the pleasure of his historical purpose for us.

If you are alive and breathing now, then God has a purpose for you. When your purpose expires, then so do you. But as long as there is even the potential for a purpose, then God will keep you alive so that you can discover that purpose and fulfill it.

Nothing and no one can remove you from this world, if it is against Gods will for your life.

And guess what, your positive purpose, is directly related to your spiritual growth.

Grow up in your spiritual life and God will use you in some good fashion, even if it is to change diapers. But regardless of your purpose, your life will be infinitely better than otherwise.

However, ignore your spiritual life, and then you convert over to perhaps a negative purpose, and that means you become historical filler, fuel for the fires of trouble, garbage for the landfills. Assuming that you live long enough for that type of life.

Which purpose would you prefer?

Now is the time to post a prayer.