Finding Hope in times of Adversity
Job 19:25-27
During a time of adversity, pain and darkness, Job speaks words like jewels of diamonds and apples of gold: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.” (Job 19:25-26)
How do you find hope in times of adversity? Where do you turn? What do you do? In the life of Job we find how we can find hope. Job helps us to keep life in proper perspective.
Job started out with riches and had vast wealth. He was the Bill Gates of his day. In one day Job lost everything and became like a homeless person, beaten down by Satan, and yet Job didn’t give up. Job 1:20-22, When Job heard all that happened to his family, the loss of his thousands of sheep, thousands of camels, hundreds of oxen, hundreds of donkeys, and his servants: “Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground in worship:
Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
Naked I’ll return to the womb of the earth.
God gives, God takes.
God’s name is ever blessed.
Not once through all this did Job sin; not once did he blame God.” (The Message)
Are you looking for hope? Look to the life of Job. Was Job a person of history? Sure he was. James 5:11 makes reference to Job as a real person in history, “As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”
I. Job affirmed his faith in a heavenly Redeemer.
Job 19:25 – “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.”
It took Job awhile to come to his assurance in a kinsman redeemer. When inflicted with painful skin ulcers he went into a pit of despair. Job 3:1-2, Job regrets the fact that he was born. “After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. He said: ‘May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!”
Job 14:12-14 Job expresses his doubts about his future and for a time experiences hopelessness. He responds to the smear campaign of his tormentors and seems to give in to their analysis: “But men and women? They die and stay dead. They breathe their last, and that’s it. Like lakes and rivers that have dried up, parched reminders of what once was. So mortals lie down and never get up gain – never. Why don’t you just bury me alive, get me out of the way until your anger cools? But don’t leave me there! Set a date when you’ll se me again. If we humans die, will we live again? That’s my question. All though these difficult days I keep hoping, waiting for the final change – the resurrection.” (The Message)
The first response we often have to sickness and death is a question: “Why did God allow this to happen to me?” Through a time of quietly waiting on God we grab hold of faith and realize that God is still with us and we have hope. It is that hope that gets us through the night. It is hope that gives us the assurance that we are not forever boxed in with no way to escape.
In his entire questioning Job does not blame God for his pain and afflictions.
Job 19:25 Job has emerged from his feelings of hopelessness and climbs out of his pit of despair with renewed faith. He sings out: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.”
The office of the redeemer was that of the closest relative. It was the redeemer’s responsibility to restore the fortune, liberty, and name of his relative, when necessary to correct injustices and avenge any hurts that came to his relative. Job was confident that although all earthly relatives disowned him, his heavenly kinsman redeemer would speak on his behalf and have the last word.
The words of Job in verse 25-26 still echo around the world today in Handel’s Magnum Opus – the Messiah, Handel quotes Job 19:25-26 and set the words to music: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”
Job came out of his fog of doubt and despair and clearly saw that God was still with him. He renewed his hope in the God of all creation. He knew that he would see God. Job affirmed the New Testament teaching that Jesus lives and will come again.
God did not create you to live in a constant fog. God gives you the ability to keep going until you get through the fog. It’s when you stop and dwell on the past and continually question the present that you fail to see the future.
In the March 14th devotional in “The Word for You Today,” the devotional writer tells about Florence Chadwick who in 1952 stepped into the Pacific, just off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the mainland of California. She’d already been the first woman to swim the English Channel – both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam for 15 hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water, her mother, who was in a boat alongside, told her she was close and that she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn’t until she was on the boat they she discovered that the shore was less than half a mil away. At a news conference the next day she said, “All I could see was the fog…I think if I could have seen the shore I would have made it.”
When going through times of testing and adversity, hold steady, set your sails of faith and affirm that Jesus your Redeemer lives. In time the fog will pass.
II. Job had assurance in the resurrection of the body.
Job 19:26 “And after my skin/body has been destroyed/decayed, yet in my flesh/body I will see God.”
Hundreds of years before Jesus became the Redeemer of human kind, Job gave the assurance that though a person die that person will rise again.
Who would have thought that the book of Job, written around 1,000 BC would help us prepare for Easter and the celebration of the resurrection of Christ?
When you take away the fact of the resurrection of Jesus you take away hope for living today. Take away the fact of the resurrection and your dark days have no end. There is no hope for a brighter future.
Imagine a single parent who gets a great job in Houston, Texas. She move with her three children all under 15 and goes to work for Enron. (Three years earlier her husband ran off with a much younger woman.) All is going well. The mother is making good money, good retirement funds, and great health benefits with super financial security. Then in a blink of an eye she gets a pink slip. She loses everything.
A couple of days later she notices a small lump under her left breast and a biopsy reveals she has an aggressive malignancy. She has to sell her house, and move in with her aging parents, neither of whom is all that healthy and their little home only has three bedrooms. Life doesn’t seem fair.
Welcome to Job’s world.
In his introduction to Job Eugene Peterson gives this insight to Job:
“It is not only because Job suffered that he is important to us. It is because he suffered in the same ways that we suffer—in the vital areas of family, personal health, and material things. It is not only the suffering that troubles us. It is undeserved suffering.”
Job came through his time of testing with renewed faith in God. He had the personal assurance that he would see God.
Whatever comes your way you have the assurance that God is with you. With the Psalmist you can say of the Lord: “You will strengthen them when trouble comes. You will help them make it through difficult times.” Psalm 37:40
Rev. L.B. Bridgers served as pastor of a church in Kentucky with his wife and daughters. Tragedy struck and he was called home from a winter meeting. His family had perished in a fire that swept through their home. Now he was alone. How could Bridgers cope with such sorrow and continue to serve the Lord? As he stood near his burned home he wrote:
“All my life was wrecked by sin and strife,
Discord filled my life with pain,
Jesus swept across the broken strings,
Stirred the slumbering chords again.”
Job was a man of faith, he honored God in his life, and yet he suffered pain and afflictions. As Christ followers we have no guarantee of a life of pain free comfort. But, in the midst of afflictions and life’s challenges we have hope. Our hope is in Jesus. Our hope is in the risen Lord. Because Jesus lives we can face tomorrow.
1) Job affirmed his faith in a heavenly Redeemer.
2) Job had assurance in the resurrection of the body
III. Job asserted that he had hope of eternal life.
Job 19:27 “I myself will see him/God with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me/how I long for that day!”
As Christ followers we don’t follow Jesus just for the reward of heaven and eternal life. We follow Jesus because he loved us and gave His life for us. But when going through times of adversity and when experiencing death in the family, it is our foundational belief in heaven and life after death that keeps us pressing forward.
Johnny Gunther was a handsome boy of sixteen when the shadow of brain cancer fell across his life. He majored in math and chemistry at Deerfield Academy and was a straight A student. During the fourteen months after the diagnosis, he endured two operations. Even after his second operation, he passed the grueling entrance examination for Columbia University. Two weeks after being accepted to Columbia, young Gunther died.
The character of this brave young man was revealed following the first surgery. The doctors explained the life-threatening seriousness of the boy’s condition to Johnny’s parents, John and Frances Gunther. “What should we tell Johnny about his condition?” they asked the surgeon.
“He’s so bright and so curious about all that’s happening to him” the surgeon replied. “He really wants to know everything that’s happening to him, so I think we should be honest with him.”
The Gunthers agreed.
The surgeon went to Johnny alone in his hospital room and explained to him the seriousness of his brain tumor. The boy listened attentively throughout the explanation, and then asked, “Doctor, how shall we break this news to my parents?”
From time to time we have experiences that remind us that our hope is not found in this world, our hope is in the future prepared by the Lord. We need to live everyday as if it is a gift from God.
Ann Chapman was employed at Michael’s arts and crafts store at the Northgate Shopping Center in Montgomery County, Maryland. At 5:20 pm on a Wednesday afternoon an angry man went on a shooting spree that killed five people near the shopping center. One of the bullets cut a dime-sized hole in the display window of the crafts store, nicked a light fixture, pierced two poster-board signs, and hit a metal rack holding rows of mini-books. Amazingly, it narrowly missed Ann as it stopped next to book called Inspiration for the Harvest near The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson. The cover flap on that particular book reads, “A simple daily prayer from the heart can inspire you to seek God’s constant favor, power, and protection.”
Have you had an experience that served as a wake up call? I’ve had several experiences that remind me of the brevity of life. Out of those experiences I have made new commitments to the Lord. I’ve looked at life through fresh eyes.
Acts 3 we have the story of a crippled man, 40 years old, who was carried every day to the temple to beg for money to survive. He could have stayed home and lived a hopeless life, but he was willing to be carried, humiliated and ridiculed. Yet he continued to sit at the temple gate day by day – he had hope for better days ahead.
When Peter and John came to the temple this man’s life was radically changed. As the lame man reached out for a donation, Peter looked at him and said, “Look at us.” The lame man looked at them expecting a gift. But Peter said, “I don’t have any money for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” The man stood up on his feet and began to walk! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them. Acts 3:4-8
Jesus gives us something to walk and talk about. He gives us hope. In that hope we leap and praise God.
Are you anxious about tomorrow? Worried about a loved one? Fearful about some personal challenge? Look to Jesus! He will lift you and give you a bright future. Because Jesus lives we can face tomorrow.
Luke 13:10-13 Jesus encounters a woman who was bent over from a crippling disease. Verse 11 says, “And a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.”
This woman like Job was being tormented by Satan. Job had to endure Satan’s attacks as well as the three Amigos tag team who tried to wear him down. Satan has so worn down this woman she was bent over and could not straighten up.
This woman is a picture of hopelessness. All she could see day by day was the dirt and ground at her feet. Many people are not bent over, but if the truth were known they are living lives of quiet desperation.
What is it that cripples you and sucks away the hope in your life? Whatever it is you can listen to the call of Jesus. Jesus called out to the woman, “Woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised and thanked God. Luke 13:12-13
Satan has no power against the touch of Jesus. Whatever Satan may use to cripple you, you can come to Jesus and receive His touch. His touch brings healing to mind, body, and soul. His touch can heal crippling emotions, physical diseases, and forgiveness of sin.
With Job we can affirm our faith in a heavenly Redeemer – Jesus is our Redeemer - Job 19:25 – “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.”
We have the assurance of the resurrection of the body, Job 19:26 “And after my skin/body has been destroyed/decayed, yet in my flesh/body I will see God.” And
We assert and proclaim our hope of eternal life. Job 19:27 “I myself will see him/God with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me/how I long for that day!”
May Job 23:10-12 be your commitment this morning:
“He knows the way we take;
When He has tried us, we will come forth as gold.
Our feet have held fast to His path;
We have kept His way and not turned aside.
We have not departed from the command of His lips;
We have treasured the words of his mouth
More than our necessary food.”
Closing Prayer of Commitment
