Write It On A Rock...While You Can

Job may be one of my favorite men found in scripture. He is a good man...even God applauds his righteousness and it doesn't get any better than that. Yet he suffered mightily for his righteousness. It isn't fair, it isn't right but it is reality. Perhaps God suggested Job to Satan so that we could see how a man of God suffers. Job says some words in the 19 chapter of the book that bears his name that gives great insight as to how we might best suffer in a Godly way. Whether it be death, disease, poverty or fractured relationships...Job dealt with it and he has this to say...

"Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,
that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!
I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on 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!

What is he saying there? He has had to face the death of his children, the rebuke of his wife, the harsh accusations from his friends and the apparent abandonment from his God...all for being blameless in the eyes of God.

Job has been in a literal storm of emotions, spiritual battles and even poor health. In these storms...like all storms, visibility is decreased and memories of better times fade. It is hard to see past current circumstances when those circumstances are saturated in the scars and wounds of loss and regret. Job knows that being able to see well is not always available to those of us with limited human sight. Job knows that even the best theology, the most refined doctrine and the best apologetic arguments don't hold up under the weight of wounds. So what did he do?

He essentially said, "right now...while I'm thinking in my right mind let me write these good thoughts on a rock...let me write it in stone. Let me engrave it in granite so that when the winds pick up again, as the rain pours and as destruction happens all about me, I can cling to the rock. I can be reminded by something not tossed about and not subject to circumstance of what is real...what is true."

He went on to say what it is that he would write on a rock to carry him through the tough times.

"GOD LIVES. HE IS MY PERSONAL REDEEMER AND IN THE END, WHEN THIS SUFFERING IS OVER, WHEN PAIN NO LONGER STINGS AND DEATH NO LONGER IS A THIEF, GOD AND GOD ALONE WILL STAND ON THIS EARTH AND WILL MAKE THINGS RIGHT. MY EYES WILL SEE GOD. I WON'T HAVE TO HEAR STORIES ABOUT HIM. I WON'T HAVE TO SPECULATE AND I WON'T HAVE TO DREAM...MY EYES WILL BEHOLD THE REDEEMER FOR WHOM I WAIT...COME QUICKLY LORD. EXPLODE INTO THIS WORLD TO MAKE THINGS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM"

Father God,

As is always the case, you are more than enough to sustain us through the storms. You are good, God...always and forever. Write your words on the rocks of our world. May it be so!!!