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I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
Job 19:25
One need look no further than Job in the Old Testament to see someone around whom
floods rose and against whom winds raged. The Lord himself describes Job as a perfect
and upright man who fears God and shuns evil (Job 1:8). Job loses first his children, then
his wealth and finally his health. As he sits on a rubbish dump scratching his sores with
bits of broken pot he experiences estrangement from his wife, his friends and his God.
His wife wants him to dump his religion which she felt should have protected him from
such calamity; his friends insist that the reason for his hardship must lie in something he
has done and they bring him no comfort; and his God seems distant and uninvolved.
This experience is not unique to Job- perhaps you can identify with it or know someone
who does. How do we get to that place where from the midst of pain and suffering we can
make a statement of faith like Jobs: I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end
he will stand upon the earth.? Do you want to get to such a place, or are you at such a
place?
The good news is that every one of us can be in such a place in our faith walk. In fact
such a faith can be the norm for us, not the exception and it begins with knowing Jesus
the Redeemer as Jesus my Redeemer, a personal and intimate relationship. This
relationship is based on and made possible by the fact that this Redeemer, who has
become my redeemer, lives. He lives! This is our faith, that the One against whom the
floods rose and the winds raged, the One who died is the One who lives; the One who
seemed overcome was in fact the overcomer.
The redeemer Job looked forward to in faith is the Redeemer we look back to in faith and
the work He did in Job is the same work He longs to do in us. Believe that Gods
promises are true and for you and commit yourself to adjusting your life as God speaks to
you through His Sons Sermon on the Mount.
I know that my redeemer lives
And ever prays for me;
A token of his love he gives,
A pledge of liberty.
(Collection of Hymns Number 373)
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