Hurt.
Confused.
Misunderstood.
Can't win for losing.
Trapped in a flood of circumstances.
All of those probably stir a memory.
We all have different struggles, but somehow we can each relate to the pain and turmoil of life.
I'm reading through Job right now, and it always makes me restless.
It's like watching a movie where you know more than a character, and you want to tell him.
You want to to give him the background and the missing parts.
It's hard to see Job's confusion and struggles.
It's hard to listen to his friends who don't actually have the wisdom they want to give.
We know Job was trying to honor God.
He was not perfect, of course, but he tried and he repented.
He even repented and interceded for his children.
So much effort, but life began to work in contradiction.
There's a lot to learn from this book of wisdom.
Many principles of God and life to apply.
Job hurts and questions,
but never disrespects God.
He asks why,
but never challenges the authority of God.
He asks for help,
but honors God even without rescue.
I came again to Job chapter 9.
Job responds to a friend, and speaks about God saying:
33 If only there were a mediator who could bring us together, but there is none.
My heart sinks.
A mediator.
The distance.
Job loves God, but God is so far and so holy.
Job is beneath the LORD.
He only knows God in part.
If only someone could go between.
If only there was a way to connect to God.
If only someone could speak for Job.
If only Job could experience the love the Father actually has.
There's a separation.
Oh, the beauty of the Old Testament.
The beauty of a promised Mediator.
I feel the angst.
Job is just one example to help us see.
We don't understand Jesus until we see the gap.
We don't value His sacrifice until we see the debt He paid.
We don't understand the New Covenant until we feel the desperation of the Old.
And, honestly, salvation does not come for you until you see your own gap.
If you don't see the great chasm between you and a holy God, you will never seek the rescue of a Savior.
Mediator.
Mediator is just one of the many names of Jesus.
Jesus goes before the throne on our behalf.
Jesus speaks for us.
Jesus is God and also experienced human life.
God knows your hurt in a whole new way, because empathy is deeper than sympathy.
Job felt the distance.
He cried out for a connection to a great God, knowing God was his only hope.
Have you cried out for Jesus?
Jesus goes to the Father for you.
Jesus is what you are longing for.
Jesus knows.
Jesus knows those efforts that no one else sees.
Jesus knows the hidden pain.
Jesus knows the secret tears.
And the secret fears.
Jesus even knows the sins- He died for them.
Jesus has brought salvation
for eternity
and for today.
Circumstances will come and go.
The storm comes to both the man on the sand and the man on the rock. (Matthew 7)
But Jesus
Jesus makes all the difference - no matter what we face -
we never face it alone or without purpose.
Jesus offers the Love and Life that we seek.
Get honest about the chasm, and let Jesus bring you to the Throne.
Hebrews 9:15
For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
Romans 8:34
Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
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