Job 19 – “Even In My Self-Pity, My Redeemer Lives”

“For I know my Redeemer lives,

and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.”

~Job 19:25 (NRSV).

We cannot keep Job down. For the first twenty-four verses of this chapter he is absolutely forlorn, lamenting how everyone is so down on him, and then remarkably, like the phoenix that rises from the ashes, he springs to his feet at the count of nine (in boxing terms) and reminds all who’ll listen, God’s going to resurrect him!

And so God will resurrect us also, on that final day—and even beforehand, in the Spiritual sense.

Spiritual Trickery

It’s almost as if Job runs through all the depths of thought and vocalises them before suddenly seeing, “Oh, I get it, this is a trick!” And though he’s a man of righteous character, he’s not beyond being duped.

And whether he’s duped or not is inconsequential. We know all too well we don’t see everything we ought to see when we ought to see it.

... Then Awareness

Whatever it is, it’s a lack of Spiritual awareness; it’s a loss of the sight of God that gets us there.

Although Job’s heart faints within him (Job 19:27c) and he’s seen to be utterly bereft of joy, peace and wellbeing, he still sees God at work.

Awareness is our key.

It’s awareness that gets us from A to B in the Spiritual life, for whoever has the heart for true Spirituality and is made aware will without doubt act on that awareness.

A Choice to Repent

Job repented. He changed the direction of his speech mid-sentence and turned about-face, marching straight back to God.

When things are crushing us and we also are forlorn, we too have the Job-opportunity. We too can see that the Redeemer Lives. We too can see we’ll be raised—at the right time.

That’s our vision and we stick with it, crowding out any of devil’s hellishly diverting software commands in the process.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.