"From Womb to Tomb"

Job 10.18-22 NASB

“Why then hast Thou brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been, carried from womb to tomb.

Would He not let my few days alone? Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer before I go — and I shall not return — To the land of darkness and deep shadow; the land of utter gloom as darkness itself, of deep shadow without order, and which shines as the darkness.”

Have you heard about the luckiest baby alive? According to an ABC channel 4 news report in Ogden Utah, Isabella Rose Mecham was born on July 7th, 7:07 a.m. at Ogden Regional Medical Center in Utah and weighed in at, you guessed it, 7 pounds, 7 ounces.[1] On 7-7-07 at 7:07 and 7 lbs, 7 oz. That’s more than seven 7’s! Even if you don’t believe in luck, still you have to admit, Izzy’s birthday stats were pretty lucky for for the Mecham household.

Job wasn’t that lucky. For Job, life was a short gulp of fresh air between two bottomless oceans of dark nothingness. He begged God to leave him alone so he could die in peace. “Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer before I go… to the land of darkness and deep shadow.” Both Job and his advisers agreed…

“Life is but breath… When the cloud vanishes, it is gone.”
“Our days on earth are a shadow.”

Job 7.7-8; 8.9

In his despair, Job hoped God would shorten his hard life on planet earth. He actually wished he had never been born. If Job had his way, he would have been stillborn, carried directly “from womb to tomb.”

Have you felt like Job: “I should have been as though I had not been?” Like the rebellious teenager who argued with his dad, “I didn’t ask to be born!” and the exasperated father’s response, “If you had, the answer would’ve been ‘No!’”

Life is not always easy for anyone. No one gets out of here without a little (or in some cases a lot of) suffering. Young and old, rich and poor, male and female, present and past, natural born and aliens. Everyone suffers. Some think they’d be better off dead or never born. Stats on suicide range from 500,00 to a million annually. One noted author has stated, “At least a million people are estimated to die annually from suicide worldwide.” [2] Even Job felt forced to admit “...my soul would choose suffocation, death rather than my pains” (Job 7.15).

What we know about Job, however, is that while he may have wished himself dead, Job did not choose to end his life. He waited patiently for the mercy and compassion of God to alleviate his suffering and, ultimately, that’s exactly what God did.

“You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of
the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”
James 5.11

None of us, including Isabella Rose, the luckiest baby alive, had the option of selecting our own birth date, time, or weight. Nobody ever asked to be born. It was not our choice. The option of heading directly “from womb to tomb” was never ours to select. In times of suffering, we can only acknowledge our pain, then pray and wait for the mercy and compassion of Jesus. It came for Job. It will come for you and me.
______________

[1] I originally found the story about Isabella Rose Mecham and her birthday experience at http://www.abc4.com/content/features/story.aspx?contentid=647acdaa-ffd8-4e0e-b4bf-73378b5fbbd1 on July 13, 2007. It is no longer posted there.

[2] "Global suicide rates among young people aged 15-19", World Psychiatry, Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), June 2005, 4(2): 114-120 quoting from Bertolote JM. "Suicide in the world: an epidemiological overview", 1959-2000. In: Wasserman D, editor. Suicide - an unnecessary death. London: Dunitz; 2001. pp. 3–10.