Job 19:25

New International Version

I know that my redeemer lives,
    and that in the end he will stand on the earth

For Meditation

The groans of the afflicted soul! How deserted they are!

Their habitation is as isolated as a ruined fortress—a defenseless place to occupy. In such a wilderness of affliction, nobody remembers the good you did for them when things were going well for you. They only see your misery and turn away, shaking their heads in disbelief. Then they draw the curtain on you. 

The people who engage you neither understand nor care to know. They believe to know the cause of your troubles and what you must do to draw on God’s mercy and grace. Yet, their ignorance towers above the heavens. Their arguments sound persuasive sometimes, and they may say some true things. However, they miss the mark with their presumptions. They know nothing about empathy, only their high horses to ride. Some good friends indeed!   

Pathetic friends they are because they do not have the mind of God. Though they presume with their worldly wisdom to have it, their folly goes before them. In their delusion, they sit in the seat of judgment and deliberate on spiritual matters they are too carnal to perceive. 

Tell it not to Job. He received enough of it from his three friends, who turned his groans into hell with their piercing accusations and insinuations. They came to comfort, but they saw too much of Job’s failings and demanded repentance. But there is hope for the afflicted in Christ Jesus, as Job affirmed.

“I know that my redeemer lives,

    and that in the end, he will stand on the earth. 

 And after my skin has been destroyed,

    yet in my flesh, I will see God;

 I myself will see him

    with my own eyes—I, and not another.

    How my heart yearns within me!” (Job. 19: 25-27).

Paul looked beyond death and saw Christ Jesus—our Kinsman Redeemer—waiting in heaven to award him with the victor’s crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:6-8). That, my friend, is your confident hope in Him, which grace must carry you across the torturous conditions of this world into His Presence.

So, do not worry when men revile you. Hold on to your confidence in Christ and live blamelessly for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). Though you may suffer for yet a little while, rejoice because your “light and momentary troubles are achieving for [you] an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17).  

Let your heart yearn for that day when glory will burst forth before you in His Majestic Presence, amen!