Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 19 NASB, Ch. 20 CEB

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Thoughts

As chapter 19 opens, Job is responding to Bildad’s recitation of what happens to the wicked.

He feels tormented by his friends’ words; by their insults and by their wronging him. I can’t say that I blame him, can you?

And then he vents on how he feels abandoned by God. About the calamities that he feels that God has brought to him. He feels trapped. He feels like his good name has been ruined. That God has sent his troops against him. That his family has deserted him. And on and on and on. 

Job feels completely defeated and alone. 

And then he says to his friends, “21Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me. 22Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

But even now, at the depths of his despair, Job rallies with these words, “25As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another.

Oh, beloved. Each one of us will go through times of darkness and despair. The life of the believer is not immune, because we live in a fallen world. But we have to hold on, like Job, and say, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives!”

If you have gone through a time like this and have come out the other side victorious, you know the truth in that statement. I know I do. And if another time of darkness comes, I not only have Job’s story to reference, but I also have my own.

If you are young and have not yet faced a trial that brings you to your knees, believe me that I would never wish it on anyone, but I have discovered that God uses these times to strengthen us. Know this: Your Redeemer lives, and you can say with Job, “And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another.”

We are not abandoned. We are Redeemed by the One who holds the universe in his hand.