Job 19

Overview

After Bildad described the terrors of death, Job described he is already experiencing them (terrors of death) right now.

Job described how he felt inside:

1. like an animal trapped (v6)
2. like a criminal in court (v7)
3. like a traveler fenced in (v8)
4. like a king dethroned (v9)
5. like a structure destroyed (v10)
6. like a tree uprooted (v10)

Then he described how all his family and friends have forsaken him:

1. his brothers distance themselves from him(v13,17)
2. his acquaintances completely estranged from him (v13)
3. his kinsmen have gone away (v14)
4. his friends have forgotten him (v14)
5. his guests and his maidservants count him as stranger (v15)
6. his servant does not answer him (v16)
7. his wife despised him because of his breath (v17)
8. little boys scorn him (v18)
9. all his intimate friends detest him (v19)
10. all he love turned against him (v19)

Then, suddenly, out of the depths of despair, as the sunlights breaks through a rift in the clouds, Job bursts forth into one of the most sublime expressions of faith ever uttered: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes. I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! (v25-27).

When we are in the most despair situation, God frequently reveal new lights to us. We would often experience revelation about the characters of God in the midst of our suffering. Job suddenly received the light that he has a Redeemer, who will stand for him to the end, who he will meet after he died. Lord Jesus Christ is our Kindsman Redeemer. He will often reveal himself to us, when we are at the edge of our tolerance of suffering, the Lord would often show up and let us experience Him in a way we could not experience when everything in our life is in good shape.