I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. Job 19:25-26
Recent mornings I have been reading my way through the Book of Job. I must have read it several times in my Christian life, but I am very aware that my understanding of it is extremely limited. Mind you, that doesn’t bother me too much, because, looking at various commentaries, it’s obvious that in that respect I am in good company. Does anybody fully understand this strange book?
Yet it never ceases to move me, and my conviction grows that it should be essential reading for any Christian who is remotely serious about getting to grips with God. If I were to offer advice I would suggest: Read this book right through once a year – no ifs, no buts, just read it! Don’t struggle to fathom out the precise meaning of every verse – no, just soak up the overall mood and feel of it, praying as you read, “Lord, what are you saying to me through this book? How do want to use it to change me?”
What sort of book is Job?
You could describe it as a dramatic poem – or, if you like, a poetic drama, for it’s mainly in verse, and it tells a story. It’s no wonder that down the centuries it has inspired other poems, plays and musical adaptations. For all its strangeness, it obviously exerts a fascination over many people, religious and non-religious alike.
Let’s ask a couple of questions…
First, what is the book about?
A simple one-word answer would be: pain.
Job suffers – boy, does he suffer! For no reason that he can understand, he is put through an agonising sequence of torments, physical, emotional and spiritual. Just look at these words from chapter 19, perhaps the central chapter of the book; they’re worth quoting at length…
13 He (God) has alienated my family from me;
my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14 My relatives have gone away;
my closest friends have forgotten me…
17 My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own family.
18 Even the little boys scorn me;
when I appear, they ridicule me.
19 All my intimate friends detest me;
those I love have turned against me.
20 I am nothing but skin and bones;
I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
for the hand of God has struck me…
What a pitiful plea there in verse 21!
We know next to nothing about Job, or even to what extent he is a real historical figure, but right at the start (1:1) he is described as “blameless and upright: he feared God and shunned evil”. And it’s precisely because he fears God that he can’t help but assume that all these torments are happening to him because God for some reason wills them.
And so the age-old question arises: Why?
The great thing about Job is that he refuses to accept the smooth, shallow explanations trotted out by his “comforters”. And he is even bold enough to accuse God of treating him unjustly: “God has wronged me and drawn his net around me” (19:6). Pain, indeed…
A second question: what can we, today, take from this book?
I suggest four essential lessons…
First, it encourages us to be completely honest in our praying.
Of course, when we come to God we should always be humble and respectful. But given that he knows our hearts anyway, is there any point in pretending to feel other than we do?
Second, it should destroy any kind of triumphalism in our faith.
There is a strand of Christianity which would have us believe that if we belong to Christ every problem is solved, every disease healed, and life is comfortable right up to death: the so-called “prosperity gospel” is a species of this strand. How anyone who reads the Bible can believe such poisonous nonsense is completely baffling. But there are those who do: let us never be seduced into such a way of thinking.
Third, it stirs up compassion for those who are suffering like Job, even if we personally aren’t.
Or should do, anyway! (Enough said!)
Fourth, it gives us hope.
The very fact that this book is in the Bible at all, with all its breath-taking, agonising honesty, must surely be a comfort to us when we feel low and perhaps even abandoned by God.
And let’s also spell out the obvious: the story of Job ends well!
It’s true that, in the final chapters, God has some pretty serious words to say to Job: but that doesn’t alter the fact that “the Lord restored his fortunes… the Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part” (42:10-12).
Which can only remind us that for the child of God, every story ultimately has a happy ending!
Even in that terrible, dark chapter, chapter 19, there is a sudden, wonderful blaze of light in verses 25-26, the verses I put at the top of this blog: “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God”.
Thanks be to God for his word!
Lord Jesus Christ, you suffered more than we will ever know. Please help me, when I feel pain, confusion and depression, to cling to you through thick and thin, and to find comfort and hope in your love. Bring me to the same place as your servant Job, confident that my “fortunes”, like his, will one day be gloriously “restored”. Amen.
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