Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.
In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then Job replied:
“How long will you torment me and crush me with words? Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me. If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone. If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me, then know that God has wronged me and drawn His net around me.”
“Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice. He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has shrouded my paths in darkness. He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. He tears me down on every side till I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree. His anger burns against me; He counts me among his enemies. His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.”
“He has alienated my family from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have gone away; my closest friends have forgotten me. My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner; they look on me as on a stranger. I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family. Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me. All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me. I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.”
“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?”
“Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes —I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
“If you say, ‘How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him,’ you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment.”
Job 19:1-29
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As we watch the things of the world happen around us, we can often get the feeling we live in a dark and evil world full of hardship and tragedy and suffering. In many cases, this is true as all are part of the human experience called life.
Yes, it would be enough to cause a person to give up hope…and to exist in despair and depression. And it does.
In the United States alone, nearly 1 million people attempt suicide every year and every 14.2 minutes, someone succeeds in taking their own life. I don’t understand fully what would lead a person down such a road that would have them see life without value or hope but I know that no one truly trusting in the care and love of God, submitting to His will no matter the circumstances, would allow themselves to go down that path.
We see a point in case with Job.
For consider how he describes his life in Chapter 19:
- Isolated and alone: “…my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have gone away; my closest friends have forgotten me.”
- Abandoned and estranged: “My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner; they look on me as on a stranger. I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth…; those I love have turned against me.”
- Physically offensive and emaciated: “My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family. I am nothing but skin and bones.”
- Humiliated and detested: “Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me. All my intimate friends detest me…”
We have read far more than this about where Job is in life and I don’t think anyone would want to trade places with him. In the midst of his despair, we have read where Job has spoken against his life, wondering why he was even given it in the first place. We have also read where Job wished that God would just end his life now vice force him to continue to live in the midst of his afflictions.
Yes, Job was going through some of the most difficult circumstances that life could bring but he never went down the road of taking his own life.
Why? Why didn’t Job just choose to do what so many people choose…to take their life into their own hands and end whatever pain and hardship they are experiencing?
He didn’t because He knew he had a Redeemer (capital R)…a living Redeemer. And in that, Job had a hope that allowed him to persevere despite the abject suffering and circumstances he was going through.
Now we know that Jesus had not yet come but we should ever realize - like Job - that redemption starts with God the Father, the Maker and Creator of all things. An old hymn proclaimed that our living, Redeemer God has the whole world in His hands, and that world includes us. Indeed, we are in the hands of the living Redeemer.
So what can you and I expect from our living Redeemer? Consider these things using Webster’s root definition of the word “redeemer”:
- We can expect freedom from what distresses us. This doesn’t mean we will never suffer in life for part of the Christian experience is sharing in Christ’s sufferings as much as it is in sharing in His joys and service. But through the Lord’s redemption, we will never lose hope for He and He alone brings us freedom and rescue…freedom and rescue from affliction, freedom and rescue from trouble, and ultimately freedom and rescue from death through His saving grace found in Jesus Christ.
- We can expect freedom from captivity by payment of ransom and an extrication from something detrimental. All of us were born afflicted with the disease called sin that grips our very hearts and minds. The penalty for a sin-filled life, short of pardon, is an eternity condemned in hell. We are all in captivity and need redemption or a payment to cover the ransom for our sins. Enter a loving God and Redeemer who loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, Jesus, as a living sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world (John 3:16). Jesus’ death on Calvary’s cross paid the price for us; His shed blood washed away our blame and made us clean in the eyes of God, bringing us freedom from captivity accompanied with the promise of eternal life. For we are given the promise in God’s holy word that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
- We can expect to be repaired and restored. No matter how hard of a time we are going through, a living Redeemer is ever ready to repair our brokenness, heal our spirits, and restore our physical, mental or spiritual health…even restore His relationship with one who has become estranged to Him. There are many prodigal children out there that the Lord is waiting for to return home.
- Finally, a Redeemer reforms and changes for the better. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain by turning willingly and in trust toward God our Redeemer. Know and trust that the Lord is ready to change your life forever if you would just invite Him in. For our living Redeemer doesn’t just reform but He transforms…and anyone who enters into a relationship with Him will never be the same again (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Job was in the midst of agonizing suffering and grief and yet he knew where his hope was and it wasn’t in the three friends who thought they knew how to fix his situation.
No, Job knew that he had a living Redeemer and longed for that day when he would see him face to face. His heart yearned for it.
Do you know your living Redeemer…the One who holds you in His almighty hands?
If not, I pray you will come to know Him today. Your very hope in this life and beyond is at stake.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment