The hidden message of Job

Ever feel like your life is falling apart? I do sometimes, until I go to Starbucks and sip my troubles away with a Carmel Mocha Frappuccino lite. Did I just admit that?

Or I read the Book of Job.

Job's story is the ultimate one-upper. Ever been one-upped? You tell a sad story, and someone has a sadder story. Anyways, unless you've lost all of your children, all of your possessions, and boils all over your body, you've probably been one-upped by Job. Which I'm thinking is a good thing. If you feel like you are indeed a modern-day Job, as the expression goes, the good news is Job's story ends well. In the end, God gives him twice as much as he had before. So take heart.

But there is a hidden message in Job I'd like to explore. There are several passages that bring the point out, but here's one of my favorites:

"Oh earth, do not cover my blood, and let my cry have no resting place! Surely even now my witness is in heaven, and my evidence is on high. My friends scorn me, my eyes pour out tears to God. Oh that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleads for his neighbor. For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return" (italics emphasis mine).

Job had no one to plead for him with God. Little Job against big God. God wins. Throughout the Book of Job we hear him crying out for an advocate. Somebody to stand between him and the one who held his fate in his hands.

The good news is: Today we have such an advocate, his name is Jesus! (I John 2:1)

Imagine being tried for a crime with no one to represent you. That's how Job felt. We know in hindsight that God wasn't punishing Job for his sins, but Job didn't know that. All he "knew" was that God was mad at him, and the case against him was rigged.

The New Testament calls Jesus our mediator and our advocate.

The hidden message of the Book of Job is how miserable life can be feeling like you have no one to represent you before the judge of all the earth.

Thank God (and Jesus) we don't have to feel that way anymore!