TRUST EQUALS ENDURING HOPE
Opening Prayer
Powerful God, I thank you for your powerful, bold, reliable presence with me today and every day.
Read JOB 19
Job
19 Then Job replied:
2 “How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
3 Ten times now you have reproached me;
shamelessly you attack me.
4 If it is true that I have gone astray,
my error remains my concern alone.
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
and use my humiliation against me,
6 then know that God has wronged me
and drawn his net around me.
7 “Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response;
though I call for help, there is no justice.
8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;
he has shrouded my paths in darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He tears me down on every side till I am gone;
he uproots my hope like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me;
he counts me among his enemies.
12 His troops advance in force;
they build a siege ramp against me
and encamp around my tent.
13 “He has alienated my family from me;
my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14 My relatives have gone away;
my closest friends have forgotten me.
15 My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner;
they look on me as on a stranger.
16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
though I beg him with my own mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own family.
18 Even the little boys scorn me;
when I appear, they ridicule me.
19 All my intimate friends detest me;
those I love have turned against me.
20 I am nothing but skin and bones;
I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.[a]
21 “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
for the hand of God has struck me.
22 Why do you pursue me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
23 “Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,
24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on[b] lead,
or engraved in rock forever!
25 I know that my redeemer[c] lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.[d]
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet[e] in[f] my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
28 “If you say, ‘How we will hound him,
since the root of the trouble lies in him,[g]’
29 you should fear the sword yourselves;
for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
and then you will know that there is judgment.[h]”
Footnotes
- Job 19:20 Or only by my gums
- Job 19:24 Or and
- Job 19:25 Or vindicator
- Job 19:25 Or on my grave
- Job 19:26 Or And after I awake, / though this body has been destroyed, / then
- Job 19:26 Or destroyed, / apart from
- Job 19:28 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts me
- Job 19:29 Or sword, / that you may come to know the Almighty
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
One day faith will be overtaken by sight and death swallowed up by life. Rejoice in these truths today and give thanks.
Think Further
There is magnificence here. I can almost hear the strains of Handel’s Messiah in the background: ‘I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end, he will stand on the earth (v 25). I have spoken these words hundreds of times in funeral services and thank God for their timeless truth. This personal testimony rings down the ages as a witness to the faith that can surmount even Job’s suffering. This is saving faith.1
Job’s listing of how desperate and difficult his journey has been, and still is, comes suddenly upon an oasis of hope. He leads up to it with insight into the sovereignty of God. Letting go of his righteous anger about the attacks from his friends, he looks for and finds the hand of God at work in his circumstances (v 21). We know from chapters 1 and 2 that this is a moment of revelation. Recognizing the sovereignty of God at work in our trials can become a precursor to even greater understanding of his redeeming grace in Christ.
This amazing unveiling that Job receives concerning his future state after death is more remarkable given the age of this book. Long before Christ, he glimpses the hope of bodily resurrection (vs 25–27). He is way ahead of his time, but holding on to that hope of coming glory is precisely what each of us needs to do in times of trial. The same power that revealed it to Job thousands of years ago can open our eyes too. Today we have God’s Word and Spirit to help us. For a moment Job’s attention was taken away from his gaunt, wasting, offensive body, to a day when it would all be destroyed. He declares that through the Redeemer’s appearance, he would see God for himself, clothed in a brand-new body.2
Apply
What keeps you going through tough times? Consider Job’s faith and thank God for our hope today.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, you conquered by dying, you led by serving, and you lifted me up by lowering yourself. Hallelujah, what a Savior.
1 Rom 10:11–13 2 Cf 1 Cor 15:53,54
Book and Author Intros
Last Updated on August 20, 2022 by kingstar
