Can you identify with Job?
Have your finances been pilfered? Is there a hole in your heart as you have lost a dear loved one? Do you have a body that is falling apart? Are your emotions getting the best of you? Is your marriage horrible? Is PTSD a real thing? Are you buffeted by Satan? Have you reached out for comfort and found friends merely pointing out your transgressions? Do you curse the day of your birth and long for the day of your death? Have your counselors and elders only contributed to your anguish? In all of this, has God been largely silent? If so, then you get Job as he screams:
Oh that you would hide me in Sheol …. (Job 14:13)
Yes, this suffering saint is ready for his tour of duty to come to a completion.
However, despite his miserable situation, Job proclaims a glimmer of hope. It is as if he says, “But what if there is a reversal of fortune?” Or, “What if a dead man could be born again.” Hear his own words:
If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come. You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands. For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin; my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity. (Job 14:10-17)
Hurting friend …
What if there is life after death?
What if there is a day of renewal?
What if there is a day of sweet communion?
What if there is a day where God delights in seeing us — the work he has performed with his own two hands?
What if there is a day when God watches over each and every step we take?
What if there is a day when God seals up, hides, buries, and intentionally forgets our sins?
Oh traumatized brother or sister, this is not a future fantasy. Job’s Redeemer really has come to earth, lived a perfect surrogate life, died a horrific sacrificial death, arisen from the grave, and ascended into heaven where he magnificently reigns in paradise today. And one day, all who are Job’s brothers and sisters in the holy faith, they get to bask with Job in Jesus’ presence and enjoy the land he has been developing and the home under construction.Yes my hurting friend, the “what if” is true. There really is eternal hope following your earthly hell.
Consequently, I understand why Job, others, and you feel the way you. There is great legitimacy in your desire to transition heavenward — for life hurts and heaven is glorious. Who, in their right mind, would not want to retire here and wake up in paradise?
Additionally, until the day when you see Jesus, face-to-face, here are a couple other encouraging thoughts:
1) Job’s story is not yet complete, so please keep reading. Then consider, perhaps your story is not over either. Your God does have a mysteriously sweet history of increasing joy after ordaining sorrow. (I.e. Joseph, Ruth, David, Esther)
2) Some of Job’s future benefits were also his present day benefits, and for you, the same is true. Today …
- God is watching every step you take.
- God is communicating through his Word, his friends, and the Holy Spirit.
- God is accomplishing his work — in and through you. His hands are busy.
- God has taken care of all your sin and transgressions. They are covered in Christ, sealed up in a bag, hidden, put behind his back, buried, cast into the sea, and they are remembered no more.
Therefore don’t believe the lies of your foolish religious friends, your devilish adversary, or your own very troubled mind. You are saints. You are loved. You are watched. You are prayed for by your Divine Priest. You are cried over by your Christ. One day you’ll see his face. Until then you are not abandoned. His eye has been on you from the beginning. You are his favorite despite what you and others think.
Unfathomable Grace 