Skip to main content

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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 27 Save the Glaze for the Bunny

Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips of an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips. But in his heart, he harbors deceit. Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. ~Proverbs 26:23-28 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. T...
Post a Comment
Read more

July 16 Thick Skinned Love

Whoever covers over an offence promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. ~Proverbs 17:9 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ~Matthew 18:15  The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ~1 Peter 4:7-8  Being offended seems to be the battle cry of the day. Instead of freedom of speech, everyone has the right not to be offended. If one is offended, then one has the right to exact vengeance on the offender because, of course, the offender KNEW that he or she was being offensive and just didn’t care. Is that how you see much of society behaving today?  There seems to be all of this offending and finger pointing that just keeps growing and growing. Nothing is being resolved, just more blame that grows louder a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Surprise!

Luke 24:14-35 Listen link is a video: https://www.facebook.com/gregory.dubois.547/posts/10157923265761195 For today’s message we are going to backtrack on the Scriptures a bit. Last week I talked about what happened in the evening of Easter day. Today’s story happened in the midday or afternoon of that day. But I wanted to save it for our Communion Sunday because Jesus breaks the bread for them at the end of this story and that is what we will be doing today at the end of the message when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. We’re talking about two of Jesus’ disciples who left Jerusalem to walk to Emmaus, perhaps the home of one or both of them. But Jesus walked with them and once they realized Jesus was alive, these two disciples hurried back to the rest of the disciples to alert them to the wonderful news. They arrived Just before Jesus showed up in the upper room. But before I go back and get into the story of the journey to Emmaus, I think it’s fun to notice that the ...
Post a Comment
Read more