2. Hopelessness

 Job 9:32-35

Key Verses

“If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that His terror would frighten me no more.”

Job 9:33-34

What would life be like for you if you had no knowledge of a loving Savior, as Jesus, to appeal to when faced with the hard times?  I believe that one of the reasons the story of Job was placed in the bible is to give us a glimpse of just how desolate life can be without Christ.

No one really knows much about Job.  He lived in the land of Uz, which means that he was probably a descendant of Noah’s son Shem.  This would make him a Semite, related to the family of Abraham, but Job has no direct connection with the messianic line as far as we can tell.   It is suggested that he probably lived around the time of Babel, and before Abraham.  The flood would be a part of his recent history.  There is no formal worship center, no collection of believers coming together to encourage and pray for one another.  It is a picture of a mundane existence with little to look forward to outside of work, family gatherings and death.

In the book of Job, we learn of how pious Job was.  He sacrificed and worshiped, but there doesn’t seem to be any relationship, personal or otherwise between Job and God.  Job is just a man, going through the futile motions, hoping to spare his family from doom, as Noah had been spared for his devotion to this all powerful God, out there, somewhere. 

In the story of Job, we see hopelessness and utter despair.  We see him longing for the solution that had not yet come: a mediator between him and God.  We see how desperately Job needed what we enjoy, Messiah.  We see how, without Christ, there is no hope. 

What would life be like if everyone in your town, in your family, in your country, knew the same despair?  It is obvious that Job’s friends really knew no more than he did, thus their counsel was not helpful.  God knew what we needed.  He saw our hopeless state, and began to lay the groundwork for a solution.  Here, we see Job's utter frustration that there is no one to appeal to for help.  He knows that he cannot approach God on his own.  If only there were someone to bridge the gap between God and man.  If only there were someone who understood both sides, the hopelessness of man and the Holiness of God and could help the two sides meet!

Hymn:      Be Still My Soul