'the skin of my teeth'

'I have escaped by the skin of my teeth' complained Job to his unfriendly friends, Job 19.20. You may be familiar with this popular expression, which means to have a narrow escape. Job had lost everything - his children all died in a freak accident, rustlers came and stole his camels and his oxen and his sheep were killed by lightning - all in one day. Shortly after that his health broke and he sat by the fire, grieving that God had judged him. He lost wealth, health and family, apart from his wife, and I think he even lost her too as she did not seem to show him much compassion. Instead of supporting her husband in his confusion and grief, she told him to 'curse God and die', Job 2.9.

In this speech recorded in Job chapter 19, Job tells his friends he has lost everything, even respect in the community. 'He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me. My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me. The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes. I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy. My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother. Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me. All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me', Job 19.13-19. In those days they really did believe that calamities came from God and there must have been secret sin in the life of Job for which God was openly judging him. He feels he has almost lost his own life too, escaping only 'by the skin of my teeth'. Interestingly enough, teeth don't have skin, although they can feel a little rough if you don't brush them often enough!

There are several examples in the Bible of people who had a narrow escape. Chiefest of all, I suppose, is the thief on the cross. He was saved (the expression means to be saved from the eternal judgment of God for sin and wrong-doing in our lives) at the very last opportunity - 'by the skin of his teeth'. And any one who keeps postponing turning to the Lord - 'O, I'll get saved one day, I'll repent and turn to the Lord, but not today,' and leaves it to the last moment, could be like that thief. We are told only one of the two thieves crucified with our Lord was converted, so that we must not give up hope, but only one, so that we should not presume. Not everyone is given the chance to repent on a death bed; not everyone gets a death bed. Many a person has been killed in a motor accident, had a massive and sudden heart-attack, whatever. 'Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation'. Those who do not yet believe on the Lord Jesus should not assume they will be able to escape His judgment in the end, even if it is 'by the skin of their teeth'.

But what about those of us who are believers, who have repented and trusted the Lord? Our salvation is guaranteed because it depends on Christ, and not on ourselves, on His promise and not on ours. But how about our sanctification? When we sail so close to sin, when we flirt with it, when we go out of our way to court it and then we finally manage to resist it, you could say we escape it 'by the skin of our teeth'. Solomon reminds us of this. 'Can a man take fire into his bosom and not be burned?' He talks about the foolish young man who knows where temptation lies, and deliberately passes through the street, going to the temptress's house. 'At the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness'. Proverbs 7. 6ff. In this instance, however, he does not escape. 'He goeth after her straightway, as an ox to the slaughter', v22. She was a married woman, her husband was away, the young chap walks past her house in the evening - he is asking for trouble and gets it.

Do you have a particular weakness, a troublesome habit, a besetting sin? Don't we all? Don't flirt with it, don't deliberately look for it. You may escape 'by the skin of your teeth,' but on the other hand you may not. 'My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent... do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths', Proverbs 1.10-16. Don't sail close to the wind. Take care what company you keep. 'Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the Lord and depart from evil', Proverbs 3.7.