DailyLesson for January 8, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Job chapter 19 verses 23 through 27:


“O that my words were written down!
    O that they were inscribed in a book!
24
O that with an iron pen and with lead
    they were engraved on a rock forever!
25
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
26
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    then in my flesh I shall see God,
27
whom I shall see on my side,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

The “Redeemer” Job speaks of here might also be translated “Vindicator” or even “Avenger”. This was often a relative or kinsman who would come to avenge the death or redeem the capture of another. For Job, who has lost all his family save his wife who has turned against him, a “redeemer” now can only be God, who Job says he shall one day see “on [his] side.”

We see now headlines and feeds debating whose side God is on. Some say God is on their side. Others push back and say God is on nobody’s side.

Job tells us God is on the side of the suffering, the bereaved, the downtrodden, the poor of spirit, and the unjustly accused and condemned. God is on Job’s side.

Job has given up on justice in this world. He has given up on peace. He does not believe he will live to see his fortunes turned. His losses cannot be regained. He believes he will die in grief and contempt.

But he also believes in a Redeemer. And he believes that at the last the Redeemer shall stand upon the earth, and that even in death Job will see him. Job will see Him at his side, and all else of the world will see also . . .

NOTE: I am trying to read the the whole Bible this year. Read along!  Tomorrow’s Lesson will come from Job chapters 21 through 23.