MY LIVING REDEEMER
Opening Prayer
“I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth” (25). Thank You, God!
Read Job 19:1–29
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.
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 lead,
or engraved in rock forever!
25 I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in 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,’
29 you should fear the sword yourselves;
for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
and then you will know that there is judgment.”
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.
Reflect
What do you hope for today, more than anything else?Job has become even more desperate. God still seems to be against him and treats him like an enemy (1–12), and Job is more isolated than ever before (13–22). God has attacked him personally (16,19) and turned everyone against him. God and men all seem to be against him.
But Job’s hope is for a mediator, a Redeemer (25; 9:33; 16:19). The Hebrew word is sometimes translated “kinsman-redeemer,” as when Boaz married Ruth, because this redeemer is someone related to you. They act as your champion or savior. They take up your cause and vindicate you. They fight for the weak against the strong. Who is it that can help Job against God? Only God can stand before God. Only God can redeem Job. But how is God related to Job? Will God really become a man? Will he bear his own wrath for our sake?
And God gives Job this remarkable insight. Job has a Redeemer who lives forever and will stand triumphant on the earth and over the grave (25, see NIV footnote). And Job will see him with his own eyes (26,27). And though that will happen after Job’s death, the thought that Job will be with his Redeemer draws from him an emotional, personal outburst of yearning.
Apply
Ponder on that truth—God bore the wrath for our mistakes in his own flesh. He became man to be your Redeemer. Write a prayer of praise to God for this amazing truth!
Closing prayer
Praise God that Jesus has brought you into the family and will one day present you to his Father, faultless and full of joy (Jude 24).
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