So You Think You Have It Bad?
--Job 19:25-27
Today we honor the memory of those who were part of our Church family or recipients of the ministry of our Church that God has called home within the past year. It is a time to remember and honor those who were loyal to God and His Kingdom, but are present with us in body no more.
The personal devotional guide those of us use who are part of our ACTS, Academy for Christian Training and Service, Accountability Group is the Upper Room Books publication A GUIDE TO PRAYER FOR ALL WHO SEEK GOD compiled by retired United Methodist Bishop Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck. The theme for the daily readings this past week has been “Denying Our Mortality.” It is only human nature for all of us not to want to have to think about death and dying, but God’s Word affirms in Hebrews 9:27, “everyone is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” Until Jesus returns it is inevitable that all human beings will one day die.
We not only do not like to think about our own death, we also struggle when it comes to not wanting to give up our own loved ones in death ahead of us. Peter is a good example from Scripture. Jesus began to prepare His disciples for His imminent suffering and death, but Peter could not bear to accept such teaching or think about such possibilities concerning Jesus. Matthew 17: 22 tells us “But Peter took Him aside and corrected Him, ‘Heaven forbid, Lord,’ he said. ‘This will never happen to you!’” Peter did not want Jesus to die just as we do not want our loved ones to die.
Since at least January of 2008, we have all seen daily television commercials for the annual “Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.” One young lady, walking in memory of her Mother, who was a breast cancer victim, laments, “I really didn’t have any say so about my Mother’s death, walking in her memory these past two days, I believe I’ve finally had my say.” This young woman regretted loosing her Mother to breast cancer in similar fashion as Peter did not want to think about Jesus having to suffer pain and death.
So often when we loose a loved one through sickness and death or have to deal with the reality of our own suffering, pain, and death, we are tempted to lash out at God, point our finger at Him, blame Him, and say, “God, You are totally unfair. Why are you making this happen to us, to me?”
I have long appreciated Job’s testimony in Job 19:25-27:
“For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last He will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”
Maybe you are a family member of one of the eleven we remember in our Memorial Service today. Maybe you feel just like that young woman in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer commercial. You too want to say, “I had no say so how I felt in the death of my Mother, my Father, my son, my daughter, my brother, my sister, my husband, my wife, my friend.” Maybe you are facing sickness and death yourself today, and you are saying, “God, why did this have to happen to me? It seems so unfair. God, do you really care; are you there for me, for our family?”
All of us have to face pain, suffering, sorrow, sickness, and eventually death. The book of Job is thought to be the oldest story recorded in Holy Scriptures. Job most likely lived around the time of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, somewhere around 1800 to 2,000 years before the coming of Christ.
Job was neither a Jew nor a Christian. Technically we would refer to him as a Gentile, but he was a devout follower of the true and living God. In chapter one of the Book of Job we are told that he was “blameless, upright, feared God, and shunned evil.” God Himself keeps reminding Satan that Job is a man of holy integrity.
Satan is sarcastic in his response to God. “Yeah, sure God; he’s been faithful and true to you, but it’s because You’ve put a hedge of protection around him, you’ve blessed him with a large family and tremendous wealth. Remove that hedge of protection, ‘but stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face’ (Job 1:11).” So God allowed Satan to test Job.
Job had everything. He was a very rich man with a wonderful family. God had blessed him with seven sons and three daughters. 2000 years before the Coming of Jesus material wealth was usually determined by the number of live stock one possessed. We learn that Job had 7,000 sheep; 3,000 camels; 500 yoke of oxen; 500 donkeys. He had a large number of servants and was considered to be “the greatest man among all the people of the East.” Job did not lack for anything.
But on two succeeding occasions all of that was quickly lost. In one day Job lost all his livestock and all of his children became causalities of “a mighty wind swept in from the desert.”
Yet Job never questioned God’s love, goodness, and grace in the midst of all these trials. He never once “cursed God to His face.” Chapter one closes by affirming: “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.’ In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing (Job 1:20-22).”
In Chapter two God removes even more of His “hedge of protection” from Job by allowing Satan to attack his body with the stipulation he could not take his life. Now Job’s physical condition begins to quickly deteriorate. He is covered with boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.” Still Job was not bitter towards God, but his wife certainly appears to be. Her attitude is “Poor me. You’ve caused us to loose everything. Job, give up, and call it quits. ‘Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die’ (Job 2:9). Even still Job “did not sin in what he said.”
“So you think you have it bad, do you? You think God and life have been unfair to you! You protest that “life has dealt you a bitter hand!” Well, none of us have had to face the trials and sorrows Job faced. Although he remained faithful to God, three well intentioned friends, “Job’s Comforters,” keep insisting that no one suffers such misery as Job with committing grotesque sins against God. Before all his trials end, Job suffers from insomnia, depression, impaired vision, horrid halitosis, tooth decay, scorching fevers, and emaciation. The later is so intense that if we met him face to face we would think he was a victim of anorexia or bulimia. You think you’ve had hardships, sorrows, pain, and grief, do you? Job truly knew what suffering.
Yet his faith remained steadfast and sure, it was while going through these valleys that Job victoriously declares, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last He will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God. . .”
Life is not always fair; each of us will face our own hardships, sorrows, sickness, and pain from time to time; and eventually all of us will experience death.
Job looked to the Cross and empty tomb of Jesus from the other side of these historic, eternal, redemptive events of grace assured “that His Redeemer lives and at last would stand upon the earth.” Even though he realized his physical body would decay and return to dust, looking to Jesus He had assurance “after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God.’”
This is the confidence and assurance of all the saints throughout the ages. This is the confidence and assurance we celebrate for our friends we remember today who also put their faith and confidence in Jesus trusting Him as their personal Saviour and Lord to forgive their sins and prepare a place in heaven for them.
Do you walk in such faith and confidence today, my brothers and sisters? Can you truly testify, “I know that My Redeemer lives, and that at the last He will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God?” Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck not only provide Scriptural readings for each day in their book A GUIDE TO PRAYER FOR ALL WHO SEEK GOD, they also share reflections from various writings from the saints of the ages.
I especially like the passage they included this week from the book TOWARD GOD by Michael Casey. Casey shares: “Jesus has gone before us. In the words of John 13:1, He has made the crossing from this world toward the father and summons us to come after Him. We will do this definitively when, at the hour of our death, we will have to summon up whatever resources we have in order to cast ourselves into the arms of God.
“To the extent that our decisions have centered on feeding self, we will find it very hard to change course in that awesome hour. On the other hand, if life and providence have taught us to reach beyond self to other persons and to God, then the grace of God will empower us to follow Christ and so enter into glory.”
Job and all the company of saints throughout the ages truly “reached beyond themselves to God and to others.” Only born again, Spirit filled Christians who are fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ can live such holy lives like Job. Only disciples like these can truly be said to be “blameless and upright” before God and have divine power to “fear God and shun evil.” It’s a matter of priorities. Will I live for Jesus or live for self? Center all your decisions on Jesus, not on self, and you will live in the same joy, confidence, and assurance of Job. You will know that when Death comes for you “the grace of God will be there to empower you to follow Christ and so enter into His glory.” AMEN!
