Vindication – Job 19:23-27

A text – Job 19:23-27

²³ “O that my words were written down!
    O that they were inscribed in a book!
²⁴ O that with an iron pen and with lead
    they were engraved on a rock forever!
²⁵ For I know that my redeemer lives
    and that in the end he will stand upon the earth;
²⁶ and after my skin has been destroyed,
    then in my flesh I shall see God,
²⁷ whom I shall see on my side,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
    My heart faints within me!

A reflection:

Job is being wrongfully blamed for his own misfortunes by friends who are unsupportive. His family is gone. Everything he owns has been taken. He is in the depths of suffering and has just finished blaming God for it all and asking WHY?

And then Job makes a turn, tries another way of thinking. No matter what he is going through, he suddenly knows that he will be vindicated, and what’s more, the God he has been blaming is the very one (verse 27) “whom I shall see on my side.” God will help him. Job suddenly knows this, even if his so-called friends do not believe it. If you know the book of Job, you know that that’s exactly what happens: Job and his life are restored by God.

In this world, especially in these days, we see a lot of people who are being judged unfairly, mistreated, even jailed or killed when they are not deserving of jail or execution. I’ll bet their cries of the heart rise up to God as Job’s did.  If we could imagine, as Job did, that they could be exonerated, and even that one day we will live in a world in which no one is punished for things they haven’t done, then we would have a glimpse of the Kingdom of God coming near. How might we be a part of that vision of the future and work to make it part of the present? What is one thing you and I can do today to vindicate someone?

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for sending your Spirit to give us hope in your future for us. Help us never to lose heart, even when we are tempted to despair. Help us to imagine your kingdom coming near to us and help us be a part of that kingdom.  Amen.