Hey Maggot!

Maggots. Few things trigger revulsion like the sight of
maggots writhing through rotting food or decomposing road
kill. While they perform a need function in helping in the
decomposition of dead things, they still leave a negative
impression.

Why begin a Sabbath thought with something repulsive such
as maggots?

We find the answer in Job 25 in a comment to Job by Bildad
the Shuhite. Job in the chapter contends that he is righteous.
Bildad doesn’t accept Job’s contention. He says, “How then
can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who
is born of a woman? If even the moon does not shine, and the
stars are not pure in His sight, how much less man, who is a
maggot, and a son of man, who is a worm?" (Job 25:4-6).

Bildad's view of God's dominion and majesty in the heavens
causes him to devalue mortal man as a maggot or a worm. His
conclusion is that man is so disgustingly sinful, like maggots,
in God’s sight there is no possibility of self-justification like
Job.

While Bildad is right in making the point that human beings of
themselves, corrupt and impure, are morally unworthy to have
anything to do with God, he is wrong in making it seem that
mankind is essentially worthless in God's eyes.

However, as we consider Passover, we are reminded that man
has great value in God’s sight. Mankind has value in God’s
sight not because they are righteous and deserving of God’s
positive valuation. God looks positively on men and women
because each one of them has the potential to become a part of
the family of God.

Men and women have the potential to become spirit beings,
living forever, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (1
Corinthians 5:7).

The Apostle John was inspired to express our value to God in
John 3:14-17, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved.”

It is true that by our sinful conduct we are no better than
maggots or worms. But through looking to the Lamb of God,
sacrificed for the sins of the world, we can be cleansed of all
unrighteousness and mature to the very stature of Jesus Christ.

Thank God for His grace and mercy in sending his Son to die
for our sins.

Have a most enjoyable Sabbath.

Gary Smith