February 19, 2011

Job 19
“You can’t take it with you!” If Job’s hope were rooted in this world, then indeed God had stripped Job’s hope from him. He took his wealth. He took his children. He took his health. Then He took the support of Job’s wife and friends. Job has nothing left to trust in but God. If Job’s hope were rooted in this world, then I would say, “Indeed God had stripped Job’s hope from him.” Rightly so, for we should hope only in God. He might give us what we consider the good things of this world, but ultimately our hope should be singularly in Him. When Job says, “He has stripped me of my glory. . . My hope He has uprooted like a tree,” is that evil? God permitted it, and God is not the author of evil. Then there must be something good about it! I am not saying that the acts of losing his wealth, children, health, wife and friends are good acts in and of themselves! But I am saying that God uses those acts, which are the free will of His creatures, to produce a greater good, which when seen from a distance will prompt us to say, “I am glad God did that in me!”
But Job is not completely stripped of hope. And it is here that he pronounces that great hope that is the hope of all who truly trust in Jesus, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” The Living Bible states that last sentence as, “What a glorious hope!” Job knows that one day he will stand in the presence of God as a friend. Incredible! Job had nothing in this world. He had only the hope of one day standing in the presence of God as a friend.
We were created for that. Our sin has separated us from that. One day we will exit this world. When we exit, we will take nothing from this world. We will be stripped of our wealth, our children, our health, our spouse and our friends. There is only one hope, that we will stand in the presence of God as a friend. We can only enter that friendship through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If living in this life is living for His glory, then dying is gain. If living in this life is living for my glory, then dying is irreparable loss, perdition. Oh God, keep me from living for me! I can’t take it with me. Let me send it on ahead! Your glory is all that matters! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john