Job's Whine is Our Victory Cry

The book of Job is rich in theology, and it wrestles with difficult issues like the existence of evil and the question of “why do bad things happen to good people?” I have been reading in Job lately and have been amazed at what God has shown me personally, but I ran into some intriguing verses a few days ago that I feel I must write a blog about. Job, though a blameless man, is meet with undue hardships and evil happenings sent his way until he is absolutely crushed in spirit and wants answers of why God has let these things happen to him. In 9:32-35 Job is speaking about God and he says, “He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. 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. Then I would speak up without fear of him but as it now stands with me, I cannot” (NIV). My immediate thought when I read the lines “If only there were someone to arbitrate between us” was one soothing word, “Jesus.” Though it is hard to estimate when the book of Job was written, one can easily and confidently see that it was penned before the time of Christ. Simply put, Christ is our answer to Job’s needy complaint. As Christians we do indeed have someone to arbitrate between us and God, Jesus, the God-Man. Jesus, being both fully God and fully Man fulfills our every need and is our link and bridge to a Holy,
Sovereign, and Almighty God. Job says he cannot speak up without fear, but Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:12, when speaking about Christ, “In him and through faith in we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Again, the author of Hebrews explains that Jesus is the best arbitrator or mediator we could ever ask for. For in him we can relate to God, and through him, God has once-and-for-all related to us, reaching down to us by his Son. Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Jesus knows what life is all about. He knows when life really stinks and what we are feeling. Jesus knows what it means to be crushed and because of that we can know that God does not waste a hurt in our lives or leave it unnoticed. Yet, on the other hand, in the moments of extreme excitement and jubilee we can also place a conscious awareness on the fact that we are able to perpetually approach God with confidence because of the finished work of Christ.