I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;–Job 19:25, 26
THE JOY OF HOPE
A good definition of hope is, “The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.” As we move deeper into 2007, the hope that we had on January 1 may be a little less bright today than it was then. With new years come renewed hopes that things will be better in the future than they were in the past. But already, just 6 weeks into this year, there are many of us who are experiencing a loss of hope that things will indeed get any better. Loved ones have been lost, expectations have been un-fulfilled, relationships have deteriorated, confidences have been broken, disappointments have mounted one on top of the other. For many of us, hope is already dissipating; for many of us, we are already settling in to the same emotional and spiritual rut that we were in at the end of 2006.
But if that describes your situation, let me suggest something that may be of help to you in maintaining your joy: Your joy need not be dependent on circumstances. In the book of Habakkuk, the prophet gives a lengthy explanation of what’s wrong with his circum-stances and the circumstances of his people. He tells God that destruction and violence are before him and that strife and conflict abound; he says that the law is paralyzed and that justice never prevails; he says that the wicked hem in the righteous so that justice is perverted. Habakkuk goes on to complain to God that righteous and obedient servants like himself are made to suffer great affliction and humiliation, while unbelievers and heathens prosper at their expense and lord over them as rulers and dictators. And under such circumstances, it’s understandable that Habakkuk would have a hard time maintaining his hope. But in response to his complaint, God says two things: He says that circumstances will get worse before they get better. But God also says that at the appointed time, He will rectify the situation. And even though the circumstances didn’t change, Habakkuk’s hope was revived because he knew that God had heard him. I hear him say, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my Strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights.”
For a lot of us today, our lost hope is because we’re depending on circumstances, which are things that are out of our control. But for those who are in Christ, we know that our hope transcends our circumstances, for our hope is in the one who controls all circum-stances. And even when circumstances aren’t what we want them to be, we can maintain hope in the One who holds us and all circumstances in His hands.
But then, we would also suggest to you that God should not only be the source of our hope, but He should be the object of our hope. For Habakkuk, God’s reassurance was the source of his hope, but in our text today, we see God serving as the object of hope for a man named Job.
Most of us know Job’s story. He was a man who seemingly had everything and lost it all. The Bible describes Job as a blameless and upright man, one who feared God and shunned evil. And because of his devout character, God had greatly blessed Job. He was extremely wealthy and he enjoyed a wonderful progeny–7 sons and 3 daughters. He had a fine home and a loving wife. But in a moment, all of those things were gone.
The Bible says that God, for His own reasons, permitted Satan to take away from Job those things the God had blessed him to enjoy. In one moment, Job lost his wealth; in a second moment, he lost his children; in a third moment he lost his health; in a fourth moment, so-called friends came and falsely accused him of some unrepented sin; in a fifth moment his wife had renounced him and rejected him.
Church, that’s the way life is. One moment, everything may be fine, but in the next mo-ment, your world may be turned upside down. That’s why you can’t get too caught up in the moments of your life, you have to take the whole thing into account. If your entire life were measured by your worst moments, then there would be no reason to ever have any hope. If your entire life were measured by those times when you weren’t at your best, then you could never have any hope. And you know, I’ve found that there are people who want to judge your life by your worst moments; there are people who want to label you a failure because they’re only looking at your worst moments. And I’ll be the first to admit that my life doesn’t look too good if all you consider are my worst moments. At my worst, I’ve said things I shouldn’t have said and done things I shouldn’t have done and thought things I shouldn’t have thought. At my worst, I’ve let conditions so get to me that I broke down and cried. At my worst, I’ve let conditions cause me to even question the fairness of God. But I thank God today that while man measures life by your worst moments, God will cause you to see things from a different point of view. When Job faced his worst moments, the God in Job caused him to have a different perspective. He didn’t look at his life from a moment-by-moment perspective, but he did an all-encompassing account of his relation-ship with God to that point. And when he did a survey of the whole situation, he said, “Naked, I came into the world and naked shall I leave. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Church, if you want to know the joy of hope, then you need to be able to bless the Lord in every moment of your life–knowing that every moment won’t be the same. You’ve heard me quote David a lot on this point. David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times, and His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Well, David knew something about changing mo-ments. In one moment, David was a shepherd boy, tending to his father’s sheep in the hills around Bethlehem, and in the next moment, he was being anointed the king of Israel. In one moment, David was a delivery man of food for his brothers on the battlefield, and in the next moment, he was the warrior who felled the Philistine giant Goliath. In one mo-ment, David was the prince of Saul’s household and in the next moment he was the object of Saul’s wrath and vengeance. In one moment, David was a man on the run for his life, and in the next moment, he was the new king of Israel. In one moment, David was dancing before the ark of the covenant, and in the next moment he was laying with another man’s wife and conspiring to kill her husband. In one moment, David was mourning the loss of one child and in the next moment he was running from another child and in the next mo-ment he was blessing another child. In one moment David was building cities and in the next moment David was told that he couldn’t build a Temple to the Lord because there was too much blood on his hands. And yet, through all of the changing moments of his life–through ups and downs, through victories and defeats, through laughter and tears, through successes and failures–David sums it all up by saying, “At all times, I will bless the Lord. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” “Well, why David?” And I hear David answer, “It’s because I’ve been young and now I’m old, and I’ve seen many things. But one thing I’ve never seen is the righteous forsaken, nor his seed beg bread.”
Church, hope is not in the moments of life, but hope is in the One who sustains you through your moments of life. The moments will change from one day to the next; the moments will change several times within each day. But Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Job had found himself in a tough series of moments in his life. But for a long time, he had been able to keep his hope strong. But as we find him in the 19th chapter, he’s answering yet another accusation from his friend, Bildad. If you look at chapter 18, Bildad had just accused Job of suffering a curse from God because of his wickedness. Before that, Bildad had previously reasoned that Job was suffering because of some sin that his now-dead children had committed. Before that, Zophar–another friend–had concluded that Job’s suffering was justified because he had not repented before God. Before that, Eliphaz–still another friend–had said that Job had been irreverent toward God and that was why these things had happened to him.
Church, sometimes it’s not conditions that inhibit our hope, but it’s people. And when it’s people, more often than not, it’s somebody who calls himself a friend. That’s why Micah said, “You need to be careful who you trust. Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words. For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies are the members of his own household. But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”
People can be dream-killers if you let them; people will drown all of your hope with despair and negativity if you let them. That’s why you need to be sure that you’re anchored in the right foundation. The hymn writer has told us, “There’s not a Friend like the lowly Jesus–no, not one. None else can heal all the soul’s diseases–no, not one. Jesus knows all about our struggles. He will guide till the day is done.” So when the moments of your life have turned sour, be sure that you turn to the right source to renew your strength. It’s not friends, and it’s not conditions. But help is available to you if you just trust in the Lord.
Job listened to what his friends had to say. Job was keenly aware of how desperate his situation was. Job’s friends and Job’s condition had just about brought him to the breaking point. In chapter 19, I hear him lament, “Though I cry, ‘I’ve been wronged!’ I get no response;though I call for help, there is no justice...my kinsmen have gone away; my friends have forgotten me...my guests and my maidservants count me as a stranger..my breath is offensive to my wife, I am loathsome even to my own brothers...Little children scorn me and my intimate friends detest me. Those I love have turned against me. I am nothing but skin and bones.”
That sounds like a man whose hope is gone. But I’m so glad that Job didn’t stop there. In this most dismal moment of his life, I hear Job speak a word of hope into a hopeless situation: “I know that my Redeemer lives and that, in the end, He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.”
Church, when you know that God is not only the source of your hope, but that He’s also the object of your hope, then even in the most dreadful moments of your life, you can still stand on your faith in God. Job was in the midst of a very hard time in his life, but in that moment he maintained his faith in God. And as I close today, I just want to point out 3 things that Job revealed in this word of hope.
First, Job said, “I have hope because God is my Redeemer.” “My life may be in a mess right now, but I can still live in hope because I have a Redeemer. I have Someone who can put the pieces of my life back together again. I have Someone who can restore my soul and bring my life back from the brink of despair.”
Church, the joy of hope comes from knowing that we are redeemed. Job was talking about God the Father, but my Redeemer is His Son, Jesus Christ. I heard Him say, “The Son of man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” That’s why the hymn writer said, “I am Redeemed, bought with a price. Jesus has changed my whole life. If anybody asks you just who I am, tell them I am redeemed.” And when you know that you’ve been redeemed, no matter what moment you face in life, re-demption keeps the joy of hope growing inside you.
Then, more than claiming a Redeemer, Job also says that He shall prevail. He says, “In the end, He will stand on the earth.” In an all-out fight, the one who’s left standing at the end is declared the winner. Well, there’s an all-out war taking place on the earth between God and Satan, and the battlefield is in the hearts of men. I heard Paul say, “In my inner being, I delight in God’s law. But I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” But then, I hear him answer his own question by turning his attention to the source and object of his hope: “Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord. [In Him, I shall prevail!]”
Church, Satan may win a battle in our lives every now and then, but if we keep our hand in God’s hand, the promise from Job is that our God shall prevail. In the end He shall stand on the earth.
And finally, Job says, not only will God prevail, but He will bring me through. I hear Job says, “Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.”
That’s the great hope for all of us, that no matter what we’re going through right now, God will bring us through. What I’m going through may be rough, but it’s not enough to pull me away from God. What I’m going through may even kill me–kill my reputation, kill my good name among people who say they love me, kill my desire to try when nothing I do seems to do any good–but it’s not enough to pull me away from God. I can say like Paul, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” And if I stay with Him, He will bring me through.
And so, I affirm from my heart that, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.”
