June 17
Read Job 9 -- 12
All of us will benefit by listening carefully to the spiritual insight of Job, of whom God said: was perfect (blameless) and upright (a man of integrity), and one that feared God, and eschewed (abstained from) evil (Job 1:1).
This man of spiritual insight proclaimed with confidence: Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? . . . I am made to possess months of . . . wearisome nights (7:1,3). His friend Bildad believed that God had appointed . . . wearisome nights of suffering only for sinners, and his response was critical and cynical: How long will you speak . . . like a strong wind? If you were pure and upright; surely now He would . . . make . . . your righteousness to prosper (again) (8:2,6).
Bildad exposed his lack of compassion by applying the worst possible meaning to the words of his pitiful, suffering friend. Bildad concluded that those who enjoy good things in this life are reaping the reward of good conduct and that all suffering is the result of sin. But, in the parable given by Jesus, the rich man who prospered and built bigger barns for "great blessings" was not the result of pleasing the Lord (Luke 12:18; 13:1-5; 16:25). Jesus also pointed out that the man born blind was not the result of sin. His blindness gave an opportunity for the works of God to be made manifest in him (John 9:2-3).
Although Job was suffering intense agony, it led him to experience deeper spiritual insight. He recognized God as far superior to himself, even as the heavens are above the earth. He spoke to the Creator of all things, with confidence and great insight, saying: You have made me as the clay; and You will bring me into dust again. . . . You have granted me life and favor, and . . . have preserved my spirit (Job 10:9,12). However, Job knew that there was no possible way that he and God could meet on the same level, for God is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him. . . . Neither is there any daysman (mediator) between us (9:32-33). Job expressed the desperate need for a mediator, someone who is able to represent both Holy God and sinful man.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, through His virgin birth, became a Man who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). By His sinless life, His death on the cross for our sins, and His physical resurrection, conquering death and hell (Revelation 1:18), He became the only Mediator who can restore man's broken fellowship with God (Romans 5:8-10). Our Lord not only speaks with Divine Authority as the Holy God, but also reaches us at our own human level; for, while fully God, Jesus also was fully Man. There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (I Timothy 2:5). We now have access to the Father through our Mediator Jesus Christ, who has entered . . . into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us (Hebrews 9:24).
Christ Portrayed: Through the daysman (mediator) (Job 9:33). Christ is the one Mediator between God and men (I Tim. 2:5).
Word Studies: 9:9 chambers means constellations; 9:34 rod means chastisement; 10:11 fenced means knit; 11:6 exacteth means demands; 11:14 tabernacles means tents; 11:19 make suit unto thee means seek your favor; 12:19 spoiled means stripped.
Government Officials: Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH) and Rep. John Murtha (PA) · BPM Staff: Mary Kay Wagner · Pray for Youth With A Mission/New Zealand and President Frank Naea · Country: Mali (10 million) in West Africa · Major languages: French and Bambara · Religious freedom despite Muslim majority · 81% Muslim; 17% animism and spirit worship; 2% Christian · Prayer Suggestion: Pray when distressed and afflicted (Jonah 2:2).
Optional Reading: Galatians 6
Memory Verse for the Week: Hebrews 9:24