Job 19:25-27
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth;
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
The aria is one of the high points of the second half of Handel’s Messiah, and the words and music have echoed for centuries. “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” As a child, I remember my mother singing that solo in church many times, and when my mother died in 1980, I made sure that our organist played this music as part of her funeral. But where did these words come from in the first place?
The first man to speak these words had lost everything in a series of disasters and was now sitting in rags, scraping at running sores with a pottery shard to relieve the itching and burning. To make matters even worse, the very friends who were supposed to be consoling him had begun attacking him, certain in their self-righteousness that this man must have committed unpardonable sins for which God was now punishing him. The Book of Job clearly documents just how scathing these criticisms were and how much Job had to struggle to answer them. Eventually, God stepped in, rebuking Job’s false friends and commending Job, even as He brought Job to a new realization of his limitations as a person. But before that deliverance, back during the criticisms, Job suddenly spoke one of the strongest affirmations of faith ever recorded.
Right now on our Male Ward, there are three patients for whom I am laboring in prayer. Each one of these men has a severe illness. One of the men has so many medical problems that I fully anticipate a phone call at any moment telling me of his death. These men are only typical of patients throughout the world who suffer as their medical problems inexorably multiply. These men are waiting for God to deliver them from their sicknesses. My constant prayer is that God will make Himself known to them so that they will be able to repeat Job’s statement.
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth;
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God…
When facing such situations, I must remind myself that God has known each of these men since before they were born and that God knows the day they will die. God loves these men far more than I possibly can, and He wants each of them to trust in Jesus so that they will have eternal life. Please pray with me, that God will make Himself real to our patients, and that they will know Him in all His love and His glory.PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, we praise You for being our Redeemer, our Savior, and our Friend. Help us to trust in You and to tell others about You as well. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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