Job: My Redeemer Lives
“Then Job answered: “How long will you torment me and crush me with your words? Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me. Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone. If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me, then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
Though I cry out, ‘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 veiled my paths with darkness. He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree. His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies. His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.
He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me. My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me. My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight. I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth. My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family. Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me. All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.
My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped 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 persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book, by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever.
But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me! If you say, ‘How we will persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’ then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”
This is it! Job is completely fed up and now we are getting new insights into just how horrible his life has become. ““How long will you torment me and crush me with your words? Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.” Until now, Job has continued to hold out some hope that his friends would truly encourage him. But after being reproached ten times, Job realizes these friends are no friends.
“If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me, then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.” Job wants these men to realize that God is the One who has brought all these calamities on him and that he has done nothing to deserve them. When Job cries out, God does not appear to be listening. Job has lost his wealth, his family, and his standing in the community. Job’s physical problems have made him so repulsive that nobody wants to have anything to do with him, not even the servants or his wife. Even the street urchins mock Job.
“I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book, by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever.” Here is the amazing thing: Job’s prayers have been answered millions of times since he made this request! Until eternity comes, we will never know how many different ways God has used to tell Job’s story. And God Himself refers to Job as a righteous man twice in Ezekiel 14. Job sees himself as a miserable wreck of a man, rejected by all around him and suffering untold agonies. But God views Job far differently. Even as Job is suffering, God is nudging the angels and pointing to Job saying, “I told Satan that Job would make it!”
“But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger.” If you don’t gain anything else from the Book of Job, remember these words and the suffering man who is saying them! Even though Job is angry with God and feels that God has punished him unfairly, Job still believes that God will redeem him and that he will see God as a friend and not as a stranger. Amazing! Magnificent! Incredible!
APPLICATION: Two things really stand out in this chapter: Job’s faith and the unworthy motives of Job’s friends. Lacking all personal knowledge of God, Job’s friends are the kind of people who would reproach a homeless family for laziness, never mind the fact that their bread winner has lost his job and has been struggling to find work for months.
It is now obvious that many of Job’s family and friends actually have valued him only for the benefits he can confer. Now that Job is impoverished, they have no time for him. What is shocking is the attitude of Job’s servants. In Job’s culture, servants were expected to respond to their masters, no matter what. For servants to be this disrespectful means they have absorbed the community attitude that Job is worthless and has no standing as a human being. In the same fashion, women in Job’s day were expected to honor their husbands; now Job’s wife can’t even stand the smell of his breath.
Very few of us will ever endure the kind of isolation through which Job suffered. For years, we have served in a country and culture far different from our original ones. But in such a situation, some degree of isolation is expected. Job’s situation is much more frustrating and depressing because he is in his own culture and yet those around him are shunning him.
The question this chapter raises for us is this: How compassionate are we to those isolated by culture, race, financial position, etc.? How willing are we to get out of our comfort zones to help others? Among our friends are several individuals and couples who routinely minister in prisons, holding Bible studies and retreats for prisoners. We have other friends who volunteer at a shelter for battered women and children, doing routine maintenance and raising funding. We only know about these activities through our friendship; our friends do not advertise their efforts.
One day, a religious leader asked Jesus about God’s great commandments. When Jesus advised the man that he was to love his neighbor, the man asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied by telling the story of some poor guy who got mugged on a desert road. After two different religious leaders passed by, avoiding this victim, it was a Samaritan who stopped and rendered aid, demonstrating his compassion. (The Jews despised the Samaritans, feeling that they were a mongrel race of idol worshipers.) Imagine the shock of this religious leader when Jesus made a Samaritan the hero of his story.
Many of us have heard the story of the Good Samaritan, but would we have had compassion on the assault victim or would we have slipped by on the other side of the road, unwilling to become involved? If we had lived at the time of Job, would we have been willing to help dress his sores and tolerate his halitosis, or would we have avoided passing by his house? May God help us so that we are willing to reach out to those whose faith is being tested by physical, financial, or emotional suffering!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, give us eyes to see the needs around us and ears to hear the cries for help. Let our hearts break with the things that break Your heart! In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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