*Scripture: Job 17:1-16 (NKJV)* 1 "My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me. 2 Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation? 3 Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me? 4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them. 5 He who speaks flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children will fail.
6 "But He has made me a byword of the people, and I have become one in whose face men spit. 7 My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, and all my members are like shadows. 8 Upright men are astonished at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. 9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way, and he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. 10 "But please, come back again, all of you, for I shall not find one wise man among you. 11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. 12 They change the night into day; 'The light is near,' they say, in the face of darkness. 13 If I wait for the grave as my house, if I make my bed in the darkness, 14 if I say to corruption, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'You are my mother and my sister,' 15 where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it? 16 Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?" * Devotion * As Job's suffering has grown worse his words have turned more and more desperate until, in today's reading, he sounds like Jesus in Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, and other Messianic Psalms. Jesus suffered in the very same way as Job--as all the children of men suffer. The difference is that Christ suffered as the Righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. The comfort for the suffering Christian is that he is not alone; Christ has been where he now is, and His Spirit is there with him. Job asks, "If I make my bed in the darkness...where then is my hope?" The Psalmist answers in Psalm 139, "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there." "Will they go down to the gates of Sheol?" Job asks. Jesus did, and vanquished the devil by His blood, which is shed for us. "Shall we have rest together in the dust?" Jesus rested for a whole Sabbath Day in the tomb. But the grave could not hold Him. He lives to walk with us through this valley of the shadow of death, and to give eternal rest to all who hope in Him. "Where is my hope? Who can see it?" cries the suffering Christian. Your hope is with Christ. It remains a promise, but a divine promise is as good as gold. "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29) Call Send SMS Add to Skype You'll need Skype CreditFree via Skype
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