The caregiver in hospice asked Job, “Is there anything I can get for you?”
Job, an almost ghost-like figure, responded, “Do you mind getting my Nicole C. Mullen CD, ‘My Redeemer Lives’ and turning on my CD player?”
The presence of God still seemed to be a million miles away and for a long time Heaven gave the impression that a “No More Prayers Will Be Answered!” sign had been hung outside the pearly gates. Yet, fighting back tears and feelings of bitterness and abandonment, in faith Job raised his hands to worship God. His disease ridden body struggling for any amount of energy, Job began to sing, “I know my Redeemer lives!...”
19:19 "All my associates abhor me, and those I love have turned against me. 20 My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth. 21 Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me. 22 Why do you persecute me as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh?”
Job’s abandonment by family and friends and his physical suffering seemed to be all encompassing. Hartley writes, “Just as his alienation is total, so too his physical suffering is complete.” In verse 20 Job marvels that he is still alive (“…I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth”). The Message puts verse 20 this way, “I’m nothing but a bag of bones; my life hangs by a thread.” While lying on his ash-heap hospital bed, he asks his friends to have just a little pity upon him (the imperative tense implies a sense of urgency in his request to the comforters). Everyone who has ever been close to him seems to abhor (abominate) him. The New Living Translation puts the last part of verse 22 this way, “…Haven’t you chewed me up enough?”
19:23 "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! 24 That with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!”
Job despairs of receiving justice from his generation. Fearing that his life would soon be over and that there would be no record of his desire for vindication and no one to defend his innocence, he asks that his words might be forever inscribed in a stone monument. Such memorials were often used in that portion of the world to permanently record events, laws, and boundaries. (Note that in 13:26 Job laments, “Thou dost write bitter things against me!” Now he wants his turn to do some writing.)
The interesting thing is…his words are written! They have been forever recorded in God’s Word to provide comfort for countless generations. Job, suffering through such ignominy (shame) and destitution, could never have imagined how his reaction to his trial would become known world-wide – and how he would be considered such a hero of faith! (We often have a wrong view of what a hero is. Sometimes they are simply average and unknown people, going through their own ash heap trial. And while circumstances are so contrary, they still cling tenaciously to a belief that God indeed is a God of love.)
19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26 Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27 Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!”
To paraphrase Hartley, it’s far better to have a Living Redeemer than a cold stone memorial!
I don’t know about you, but I get goose bumps when I read these verses. Against such a black and bleak background of misery and abandonment, there is a sudden rocket-burst of brilliant light. Job’s famous words have been read, commented on, and sung about for centuries.
Let’s briefly unpack a portion of these verses…
“As for me…”: You and I will probably come to such a decision point in our life.
“I know…”: The Hebrew word is “yada” and indicates an intimate knowledge. Job’s “I know” wasn’t just a mental assent to a creed, but rather something that was embedded in his heart and gave purpose to his life.
“My Redeemer lives!” Listen to what Hartley has to say, “This magnificent verse then means that Job is beseeching the God in Whom he has faith to help him against the God Who is punishing him! While this view seems irrational, this paradox lies at the core of Job’s struggle…” Despite everything being so desperately contrary, Job believes that the God who seems to be punishing him will vindicate him!
“And at the last He will take His stand on the earth…”: In the context of Job’s struggle, this could very well be translated, “At the end of my trial God is going to show up out here at my ash heap.” The word “earth” that is used here is the same word for “dust” in 2:12 and more than 20 other places in the book of Job. Also note that three times in vss 26 and 27 Job refers to “seeing God.” As gloomy and dismal as things are at the Landfill of Uz, Job expects to see God at the town dump!
Let me try to illustrate Job's faith: Imagine yourself having to face the horror of a WWII concentration camp such as Auschwitz. Now imagine that, while surrounded by such despair, that you begin to hear the sound of someone singing. And as you strain to hear more clearly, you recognize the song and realize that one of the prisoners is singing the old church hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness!” With death all around, the emaciated inmate softly sings, “Great is Thy faithfulness, Oh God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changedst not, Thy compassions they fail not; As Thou has been, Thou forever will be!” (I don’t know when the hymn "Great Is Thy Faithfulnees" was written and even if it was sung in the churches of Europe prior to WWII, but this little vignette illustrates Job’s faith during those awful ash heap days.)
Conclusion:
Job didn’t utter the words of verse 25 "I know that my Redeemer lives..." while sitting on a comfortable pew in an air conditioned church. They were uttered while life was at the lowest ebb.
With the music of Nicole C. Mullen’s song filling his hospice room, Job worshipped…
May we also, during our darkest struggles, sing these same words…
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You can click on the link (below the calendar) to listen to Nicole Mullen's song "My Redeemer Lives!"
Who taught the sun where to stand in the morning
Who told the ocean you an only come this far?
Who showed the moon where to hide 'til evening
Whose words alone can catch a falling star?
Well I know my Redeemer lives
I know my Redeemer lives
All of creation testify
This life within me cries
I know my Redeemer lives
The very same God that spins things in orbit
He runs to the weary, the worn and the weak
And the same gentle hands that hold me when I'm broken
They conquered death to bring me victory
Now I know my Redeemer lives
I know my Redeemer lives
Let all creation testify
Let this life with in me cry
I know my Redeemer, He lives
To take away my shame
And He lives forever I'll proclaim
That the payment for my sin
Was the precious life He gave
But now He's alive
And there's an empty grave.
And I know my Redeemer, He lives
I know my Redeemer lives
Let all creation testify
This life within me cries
I know my Redeemer lives
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