Discover His heart: He is our Light and our Redeemer
Whether we’re moving through a mountain of laundry or walking through a difficult situation in life, we live for that moment when we see the light at the end of the tunnel, when the tunnel becomes an illusion, and the light becomes our reality. Of course, there will be the pessimists who see it another way – The light at the end of the tunnel is just the light of an oncoming train, or perhaps the quote that has special meaning for us today, “Politicians are people who, when they see the light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.” Ugh. However, I choose to side with Job who delivered an optimistic statement of hope in our reading today – he saw the light!
@ Job 19
“I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me… God has blocked my way so I cannot move. He has plunged my path into darkness… His fury burns against me; he counts me as an enemy… My relatives stay far away, and my friends have turned against me.” And to add insult to injury, “My breath is repulsive to my wife.” (7-17) Job once again rehearsed his miserable condition, but through his pain in a moment of clarity, he went on to declare, “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and He will stand upon the earth at last.” (25) Job saw the slight glimmer of light at the end of his agonizing ordeal.
Job was looking for God to be his mediator in Job 9:33, and then his witness in Job 16:19, but now he saw God as his Redeemer, his vindicator, his Savior. As we read in the Book of Ruth, the redeemer was a relative who paid the debt of those held captive to bring about their freedom, but Job’s family and close friends had deserted him. His Redeemer would be his God, who, regardless of Job’s miserable circumstance, still lived and would one day stand on the earth. What a statement of faith!
“And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought! (26-27) In his day with little knowledge of life after death, this was quite a declaration. David and a few others referred to it in the Old Testament, but Job was the first to answer his own question in Job 14:14, “If a man dies, shall he live again?” Job made it clear that he won’t see God in a vision or dream or represented by someone else, but he would see Him, his Redeemer, with his own eyes.
Through the benefit of time, we can better understand the concept of eternal life and have come to know our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Few have ever experienced all the tragedies of Job, but regardless of what difficulty we may be walking through today, how can we declare anything less than Job’s pronouncement, Job’s light at the end of the tunnel, “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives!”
Moving Forward: Instead of what I see in the present, I look to the future, to my Redeemer, the One who is alive, and to the mighty works He will do on my behalf.
Tomorrow @ Isaiah 51-55
Phyllis Benigas 