The View from the Upper Deck

Texas A&M is finishing their rebuilding of Kyle Field, their football stadium. It will be expanded to seat over 100,000 spectators! That means some folks are going to have seats in what is known as the “upper decks.” I’ve been in those seats before and it was a long way from the field of play. They do have the largest video screen installed of any other stadium, but still, that’s a long way from the real action. In chapters 13-14 of Job we see a similar dilemma exposed in life. It is a vivid expression of what is wrong with our view of life. Job is looking at life as a natural man, and he sees it as the world sees it, that everything is for now. This life is the wholly important thing, and the reason you were brought into existence is to make something out of this present experience, you never get another chance. We are reminded of that on television: You only go around once! If you are going to live, live with gusto. We are constantly exhorted by the world, with its distorted understanding of life, to seize the present moment, you will never get another one. If you don't make it now, it will be too late. This is one of the major reasons Christian couples are divorcing, sometimes after twenty-five or thirty years of marriage. People begin to feel the force of this argument, and they believe it. They think the only thing left, if there is to be any pleasure and enjoyment in life, is to seize the present moment. I have not been able to put it all together in all this time, so I'm going to leave and start over. It is a view too far away from the real action; it’s the view from the upper decks of life. What God is teaching Job in this book is that living for today is not what it is all about. This is not why we exist; this is but a time of preparation to get ready for the real life that lies ahead. Compare Job's view of life with the revelation of the New Testament and the view of New Testament writers as to what lies beyond death, and you see a stark and vivid contrast. They look forward to something so beautiful and grand and glorious breaking upon them that they could hardly wait to seize it! But here you get only the idea that everything must be done now. I think this is why we get upset with ourselves and with life at times. We feel life has been put together backwards. You have to make all the major decisions at the time when you know practically nothing, when you are so uninformed that you can hardly even see things right. This is what Job is feeling here; there is no way back. The truth is that God will always provide for us the answers we need when we need them. Just wait a bit and watch how he unfolds those paths to you. Yes, I’m talking about patience; but, it is not painful. Wait and you will be refreshed by His presence in ways you could not imagine!