What are your thoughts when you’re feeling overwhelmed? Consider Job’s situation. Job felt abandoned – by his friends, family, and even his God. This is what he thought about his friends advice :

How long will you torment me and crush me with words? (Job 19:2)

The pain seems multiplied when we feel condemned by our friends. Although Job was discouraged by his friends counsel, he never lost his confidence in his God:

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. (Job 19:25)

What an amazing statement. It may be easy to utter theological platitudes when life is going well, but it’s much more difficult when we’re in the valley. We must realize that Job did not know the reason why he was suffering. He did not have the benefit of overhearing Satan questioning God concerning the reason for his faithfulness. Job also did not have the benefit of hearing God’s confidence in Job to withstand Satan’s attacks.

Job declared his confidence that God was his Redeemer. The word know indicates an intimate and experiential knowledge. His friends may have thought that Job was acting prideful by his bold claim. How could Job declare that God was his Redeemer when, from their perspective, God was punishing Job for his sin?

A primary strategy of Satan is to make you believe the reason that you are facing difficult times is because God has rejected you. Job did not fall for the enemy’s lie. Job confidently believed that God was his Redeemer and that God would ultimately bring about his redemption. Can you declare that God is your Redeemer? You may respond, “I could never claim God as my Redeemer, that sounds too prideful.” You must realize that humility before others may be unconscious blasphemy toward God. There is no sin that is beyond God’s redemption.

The word Redeemer has a technical connotation in the Old Testament. The primary meaning of this word is one who restores or one who puts something back into its original condition. We see an example of this word in the book of Ruth as the duty of a kinsman-redeemer was to take care of a relative’s widow and carry on the family name. Boaz demonstrated the duties of a kinsman-redeemer for Ruth by foreshadowing Christ’s redemption of mankind. Jesus has redeemed mankind from the penalty of sin. Do you know God as your Redeemer? Job’s confidence in God as his Redeemer enabled him to firmly believe that after he died that he would see God:

Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me! (Job 19:26-27)

Despite the suffering and sorrow that Job experienced, he never lost his faith and hope in God as his Redeemer.

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark

Professor of Discipleship, Columbia International University

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