In a world increasingly challenged to recognize the intrinsic value of every human life, Job’s lament, ‘my days have no meaning,’ is our reminder that our bodies are not commodities with a best before date.

“I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning” (see Job 7:16). These are the words of Job, who lived around 2200 BC during the days of Abraham. A man who suffered greatly, Job in his suffering cried out to God for death. His honest lament, “my days have no meaning,” resonates with the despair many feel today.

Thank God, Job did not have access to Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAiD), a piece of legislation that since 2016 has provided nearly 50,000 individuals with assistance to die. These individuals believed their remaining days had no meaning, no value, and no purpose.

The mindset of MAiD is profoundly disturbing as it reduces people to human commodities, implying that each person has a “best before date.”

After God speaks to Job, he responds, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).

This acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty contrasts sharply with our Canadian society that evaluates existence based on contributions, disregarding the intrinsic value of life, even in one’s suffering. When did society shift to evaluating the existence of a person, based on what they “contribute”? And when did society adopt the mindset that suffering is not valuable to the human condition? How did the Canadian way of life become a real-life version of Squid Games?

Monotheistic Faith and Intrinsic Value

It is unethically indefensible for us to exterminate a human being because we think their very existence is without value. Our Canadian society has slipped into a dangerous mindset reminiscent of the chaos described in the Old Testament’s Book of Judges: “And they did what was right in their own eyes.” (see Job 21:25)

The Israelites, after being led by Moses from Egypt into the Promised Land, neglected the foundational truth their ancestors, like Job, came to know, understand, and experience – “Yahweh alone is God”. In other words, the Israelites’ view of life shifted away from a monotheistic worldview.

A monotheistic worldview presupposes that God is the perfect Creator of life. If all of life is authored by a perfect God, life must be perfectly created and what is perfectly created must then be created with purpose; and if life is perfectly created with purpose, life – no matter the purpose – has value.

A monotheistic faith presupposes that God is the perfect Judge of life. God is one, and the Creator of life, as such, by default, God is the owner of life, and therefore the only capable Judge for life. A society which ignores Yahweh alone as God, is a society that has no ultimate authority, causing what is morally and ethically right to be subjective – or a society that does “what is right in their own eyes”.

Response and Action: Living with Allegiance

What then can and should our response be? How can we live with allegiance and in obedience to Yahweh?

The answer is found in Jesus’ reply to the religious leader’s question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus’ reply: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (see Matthew 22:36-40).

A cure for MAiD is desperately needed. And it will not be found in more legislation, medication, or therapy. It is a return to recognizing the intrinsic value of every life, grounded in the belief that “Yahweh alone is God.”

A person’s value is not determined by what one does, but by who one is. Humanity is the very part of creation that Yahweh breathed life into – we are all created with purpose; valued and loved by our Creator.

There is no best before date.