August 25
Job 16:1-19:29 | PS 40:1-10 | Prov 22:1 | 1 Cor 16:1-24
When pure faith is on display it is beautiful to behold. There are so many things that we don’t fully comprehend personally and in the world that we live in. We don’t know why we came down with that illness, why our relationships are strained, why our business failed, why our world is in such miserable shape. We may know parts, but often can’t fully comprehend totally. When we find ourselves in this place, we have a couple of choices. One is to focus completely on the task of understanding and mastering the situation in order to find the solution. The other is to focus on God, knowing that He alone has all the answers. He is real. He is so real, we, sadly often forget this.
Out of the deepest pits of agony, we read one of the most beautiful pictures of faith in all of Scripture in Job 19:23-27, ““Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Job did not guess, he knew. Yet, up to this point we have nothing from the narrative which reveals that he had any personal encounter with God yet (he Will towards the conclusion of the book). Abraham had his encounter with the Angel of the Lord, Jacob had his wrestling match, Moses had the burning bush, Joshua had the Commander of the Lord’s Army, etc. Job seemingly had none of the above but declared “my Redeemer lives”.
We read in Hebrews 11:1, “ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith can triumph over our darkest times. It requires turning our eyes from the situation and onto God. We read in 1 Corinthians 10:11, “ Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” We might think our situation is somehow unique or worse. God gave us Job as an example for us, today. As we go through difficult times we can either sink into self-pity and as we focus more and more on ourselves we become more and more miserable. Or we can cast our eyes on our Redeemer, in faith, and find hope.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: