Hope

"What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?”

-- Job 6:11 (NKJV)

Darkness enfolds me like a cold, damp blanket. Despair settles in. I can see no way out, no means of escape. No matter what I try, things only get worse. Injury is heaped upon injury, illness upon illness, disaster follows disaster. Each turn presents a new wall to surmount, each twist a different blocked alley to confuse my way. My strength fails me. No one understands, no one cares. My friends left my side, one by one. I feel betrayed. Lost, cold, alone, I blindly stumble through each day as if walking through a dense fog, simply waiting for the next trip and fall, having forgotten even the sense of dread. Hopelessness overwhelms me as if waves crashing over my head. I awake each morning to the desolate landscape of my spirit. Where is my rest, where is my relief? Why won't the end just hurry up and come?

Job knew this feeling well. Satan pointed to Job as an example of the kind of fair-weather worshipper mankind is. As long as everything was going good for him, as it was for Job at that time, then man would worship God and praise Him. But man is only driven by self-interest, Satan says. Let things suddenly go sour, let him lose all that is important to him, and man will turn from God and curse Him. Satan dared God to let him carry Job off into the darkness of despair and see just how quickly he abandons God. God accepted the challenge, and so began perhaps the most remarkable experiment recorded in the Bible.

Job literally became the battleground for this conflict between God and Satan. Satan started stripping Job of everything he had accumulated over the years. All of his livestock are taken or destroyed in a drawn out series of events. All of his children are killed in one stroke. Job pretty much accepts all of this in stride, knowing he brought nothing into this world and would carry nothing out of it. In Job 1:21 he says that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. This reaction is not what Satan expected, or wanted, so he pressed God to allow him to go further in his torment of Job, inflicting physical pain and suffering to go along with the emotional distress and loss of possessions. Boils cover Job from head to foot. Miserable, confused, Job waits them out, still holding fast to his trust in God. His wife loses her faith finally and asks why doesn't he just go ahead and curse God and die, to get out of the agony. Job now has to stand alone, but remains faithful to God.

Then come three friends, determined to talk some sense into Job. Their intent is to examine and answer the question, "Why do senseless tragedies afflict men?". Most of the book centers on this discourse. They sit back and smugly address Job and his woes, assured that Job's problems all arose because he had committed some awful sin. They compared their own cleanliness to his afflictions. They noted how none of them had lost livestock or children, none of their wives had turned on them. They had not sinned, so God was still good to them. Since God was treating Job so horribly, he must have sinned in some terrible way. They argue that if God is indeed just, then the righteous are always blessed and the wicked always suffer.

Job's despair deepens. He does not know what to think or do, for it seems God no longer hears his pleas, his prayers. Confusion, bewilderment, anger, hurt, frustration all play within him in turn. Yet throughout it all he remains honest, he blurts out what is in him, the truth that he knows. He refuses to admit to what he cannot accept. Even as he feels God has abandoned him, he never loses his faith in God. This is clearly evident in chapter 19, verse 25, when he proclaims, "For I know that my Redeemer lives". He cries out for someone to mediate for him, to go to God on his behalf. In this bitter, blackest hour, Job sees a point of light far off in the unknown future. He has no name for this Light, but we know that Job sees the coming of Jesus Christ (Job 19:25-26). In this he takes his hope and his comfort. Jesus is that Mediator Job pleaded for, the only One who can stand beside us, stand for us, when we face God.

And finally, God answers Job, responds to his prayers. God takes Job on a grand tour of creation, showing Job just how unqualified he is to debate God on any subject, let alone on why God would do this or not do that. As the overwhelming wisdom and power of God becomes more and more evident, Job falls on his face and begs forgiveness. Basically, God is saying that life is far to complicated for simple answers. Man is not capable of dealing with the complex issues that Job is raising. Bluntly, God's message is that only God has the right to use His creation for whatever reason or purpose he desires. Man was created by God, not the other way around. God does not exist for man, man exists for and because of God. Only God has the wisdom necessary to the task of running all of creation, and God is always in control. We must trust God to work out these complicated problems of life, knowing that He will keep all in balance, and in the end our wonderful Savior will mediate our case for us.

And then God did a remarkable thing: He showed Job His grace. First He asked Job to pray for his friends, that their hearts might be softened and opened to the truth. And then God returned to Job twice what was taken from him. God doubled the livestock lost, and gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters to match the seven sons and three daughters now living in heaven. But perhaps the greatest gift was that glimpse into the future, where Job could see his and our Salvation.

So what about that question of why do senseless tragedies befall men? It is answered fairly early in the book of Job. All human suffering can be traced back to Satan constantly challenging the authority of God. God may not always answer our questions, primarily because we may not be able to grasp His response. But He is always in charge, He is always in control. And in the end Satan will no longer be around, but God will remain at our side.

Job asked "What strength do I have, that I should hope?". God answered by showing him the coming of Jesus our Mediator, the One of whom the Apostle Paul speaks when he proclaims, "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) In Christ we gain strength, in Christ we have hope. Job wonders "What is my end, that I should prolong my life?". He was shown that end: being with God and Christ. It is by God's hands we are brought into this world, it must be by God's hands we are taken from it, not by our own. Glory awaits us.

In the blackest night, in the depths of despair, when strength fails and hope flees, look for that pinpoint of Light gleaming through the darkness. Look to the Lamb who washed you clean of your sins. Reach out for the Mediator who will stand in your defense when you face the ultimate Judge. Look to Christ, and know that our Redeemer lives.

Amen.