The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Tag: Job

April 1, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 19

Job 19 (click here)
Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! 24 Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God… (Job 19:23-26)

Reflection
If only Job knew… his words would be written in a book for future generations to read. His wish would come true in a way that he could scarcely imagine. Yet, for what purpose does Job want his words recorded? The answer is given in verse 25 which begins with the word “For…” indicating purpose.

Job wants his words recorded because his redeemer, his God is the living God who will stand upon the earth and Job will see him in his flesh. It is hard to know how much Job intends to communicate to us through these words, but as a Christian… we cannot help but see the promise of ultimate redemption through resurrection!

Our redeemer has stood upon the earth… Jesus Christ. He has paid the price for our redemption through his own death and resurrection so that even when our flesh is destroyed (we die) we will be raised again! And in our resurrection bodies we will stand upon a new heaven and new earth and we shall see our God (Revelation 22:4)!

At the very least, Job wants his words recorded because even if his flesh should ultimately be destroyed, he has faith that his living redeemer will give him victory beyond the grave! He wants all of posterity to remember that he did not die in defeat… that through his God, even death cannot win!

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 31, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 18

Job 18 (click here)
Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God.” (Job 18:21)

Reflection
Bildad is appalled that Job cannot see the “reality” of his situation, namely, that his dire circumstances prove he is being punished for sin somehow. The fact that Job cannot see this leads Bildad to conclude that Job must not even know God.

But, we know better than Bildad. We know that Job is not being punished and that he does know God. We must be very slow to connect external circumstances with unseen spiritual realities. We must be very slow to condemn someone based on their situation as we see it…actually…to condemn is never our place at all.

How often do we find ourselves talking about people and how we know what they should do in their situation? How often do we find ourselves passing along our expert advice to them. If they’d just do what we said, see it our way, act our way…then all would be well.

Yet, there is always more than meets the eye in any given situation. I’m not saying that we can never give advice or speak truth into someone’s life…far from it! What I’m saying is that we must be quick to listen and slow to speak. We must be steadfast in prayer, before we are steadfast in offering counsel…otherwise we may find ourselves telling someone they “don’t know God” when, in fact, they know him infinitely better than we do.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 30, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 16-17

Job 16-17 (click here)
My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, 17 although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. 18 O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place. 19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. (Job 16:16-19)

Reflection
Job is no stoic! Often, when we read the opening two chapters and see Job’s response to his immense suffering, we ignore how he tears his robe and shaves his head, we only see his worship and conclude that he must not “feel” things like we do in order to be able to respond like that.

False.

Job weeps. He weeps continuously… until his face is swollen and red from all his tears. His eyes have sunk into dark circles from sleeplessness and sickness. This man has experienced the deepest pain and has not bottled it up. He is broken and it is obvious… and that is ok.

All too often we think we need to “have it all together,” but brokenness, tears, grief… all of these things are right and good expressions of pain. Sure, there is a way to express grief that does not honor God (Job will eventually do that too and need to repent), but that does not mean that grief itself is sinful… far from it!

We are a people who weep and hurt and cry with one another. We are a people who mourn! The difference is that we do not mourn as if there is no hope! Even amidst his weeping and deep darkness Job has hope… hope that there is a witness in heaven who can testify on his behalf… hope that God himself will vindicate him before God. Job doesn’t know how that works (we do… through Christ), but he knows God is good and so he hopes in him.

We weep… but we also hope.


*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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