Our Redeemer Lives!

Job 19:25-27: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him . . . . How my heart yearns within me!"

If there is one person recorded in Scripture who experienced tragedy and heartache, it was Job. His sons and daughters had perished in an torrential windstorm. His impressive possessions either were stolen by Sabean and Chaldean marauders or were lost to fire. Job then was afflicted with painful sores all over his body and was in constant agony from his affliction. So overwhelming was the observable pain of Job's physical malady that three of his supposed friends sat with him for a week without saying a word.

Eventually Job's friends concluded that Job must have perpetrated some heinous sin for the wrath of God to be poured out upon him and his family. Job had lost family, fortune, and fame. Many of Job's friends abandoned him in his time of need; presumably, they did not want to be associated with such a loathsome person who was the recipient of such misfortune. These "friends" feared that Job's fate might visit them as well. As Job called out for his friends in his time of need, they would not respond.

Even Job's wife found his physical disposition offensive to her and encouraged him to give up on his integrity by cursing God. Job had become the recipient of corporate derision and rejection. No one was willing to minister to him in his time of need, and little boys would jeer him in the street. No one was there for Job; even God seemed to be noticeably absent.

Yet with all of this, Job found strength in these truths:

1. GOD lives!
2. GOD is Job's redeemer
3. GOD is in control [He will stand in the end]
4. GOD is good to those who are obedient to Him as Lord
5. GOD would receive Job into His eternal fellowship

And from these truths, Job's heart yearned for the day of his deliverance. His hope in God sustained him through this perilous time. Job concluded that his earthly purpose was not to experience happiness or success, but to glorify God . . . . even if that glorification meant his personal suffering and pain.

Of course Job did not have to wait for death to see the blessing of the Lord, for the end of the book of Job records that God rescued his servant from his misery and blessed him with a long life, a large family, and material prosperity twice as vast as he had owned before.

Although we will never experience the degree of misfortune that Job himself experienced, we all will be visited with disappointment and tragedy. This tragedy will be packaged differently for each of us, but it will nonetheless be very real and very painful. What we must reinforce in our lives today in preparation of the difficulties of life are the truths of God affirmed by Job. No matter what comes our way, we must remind ourselves that Our Redeemer lives, that He is in control, and that He ultimately will reward us with His eternal presence. We MUST hold on to these truths, so that we may weather the storms of life. Our hope must be anchored in the goodness and mercy of a loving Lord, whose love is even better than life itself (Psalm 63:3).