Job's sixth speech

The Book of Job Chapter 19

Job asked Bildad how long he would continue to torture him. He says: how long will you try to break me with your words. Ten times you have insulted me and you should be ashamed of treating me so harshly. Even if I sinned, that is my concern, not yours. You are trying to overcome me, using my humiliation as evidence of my sin, but it is God who has wronged me. I am like a city under siege.

Job continues to say that he cries out for help but no one hears him, there is no justice and God blocked his way and plunged his path into darkness. God stripped him of his honor and demolished him on every side. He destroyed his hope. His relatives stay far away and friends turn against him. His neighbors and friends have left and he is like a foreigner to his staff. His breath is repulsive to his wife and he is loathsome to his family.

Job asks for mercy from his friends, for the hand of God has struck him. Why, he asks, must his friends persecute him, why can't they be satisfied with his anguish?

But as for me, says Job, I know that my redeemer lives and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God. I will see him with my own eyes. So, says Job, don't continue to persecute me, I warn you that you yourselves are in danger of punishment for your attitude and you may know judgment.

BIBLE NOTES SHOW: It is easy to point out someone else's faults or sins. Job's friends accused him of sin to make him feel guilty, not to encourage him or correct him. If we feel we must admonish someone we should be sure we are comforting that person because we love him, not because we are annoyed, inconvenienced or seeking to blame him. Because they stressed ultimate causes, most Israelites believed that both good and evil came from God. They also thought people were responsible for their own destinies. During this time period, Israel did not have a well-defined doctrine of the resurrection, so Job was the first one to consider the resurrection of the body.

HOW DOES THIS CHAPTER RELATE TO US TODAY? Job mistakenly thought God was treating him like an enemy and pointed at the wrong person to blame and in verse 7 he cries out to God to be heard. In verse 25, Job says the important words "I know my Redeemer lives. . . " Showing what tremendous faith he had. He still expected to see God and that God would soon be on his side. What confidence! We can have that same confidence today in our world. We can see the same light at the end of the tunnel, if we continue to have faith in God. God holds out the promise of everlasting life for those who keep the faith and live as God intended. Do your very best to overcome temptations of Satan. You can do this by first admitting that Satan does exist! But God in his mercy has power over Satan and can bring us the sweetest consolation. Praise be to God!

Yours in Christ,
Mary

Prayer Requests are needed for:
HEALTH:
Update on my niece Suzanne, she is out of rehab and doing well and being cared for by her ex. Pray for Gabe and Wanda. Pray for Janice Long’s parents, especially her mother who faces another round of chemotherapy and her father with Alzheimer’s and now her mother in law also with Alzheimer’s. Their family is feeling the strain both emotionally and financially. Pray for them. Update on this family: Her mother-in-law is being taken to Oklahoma to live with an aunt who will care for her.
Pray for Arlene’s nephew David and for my neighbor Al who is nearing the end of his life.
Pray for Carolyn’s brother Ronald who has cancer.
Pray for our friend Michelle who was diagnosed with MS.
Pray for Cyndi Sullivan who made it six years with cancer but may now go home with hospice in her final days.
Pray for my cousin Diane who had total mastectomy surgery for breast cancer.
UPDATE on Barb who went in for back surgery and had a heart attack and stroke, she has her speech back and is home , but continues to have a problem with one arm and hand. Thanks to your prayers, she is able to hobble without a cane and has been granted disability. She still has surgery scheduled on her hand, but I saw her recently and her attitude is fantastic.
Pray for Robert Sargent who is quite ill with lung cancer.
Pray for Judy’s husband who was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Pray for her too, that she can deal with the side effects of his illness.
Pray too for Charly’s husband Robert who is undergoing chemo for his prostate cancer. Update on Robert: he has one more treatment and then three months of waiting for his psat test to come back clean.
Pray for John’s recovery from a heart attack and for the doctors who have difficulty diagnosing his other symptoms.
Pray for James’s sister Cynthia whose chemo has lost its effect as the cancer grows powerful.
Pray for another friend named Carolyn whose faith remains strong, but is lost and confused about where and how to spend her elder years.
SPIRITUAL UPLIFTING: Gail, Mary
RESTORATION OF FAITH: Al, John
LOVE AND SUPPORT: Claire, Hunter, Brian
SUPPORT: Haiti, Chile, survivors of Japan’s earthquake, survivors of the devastating tornadoes in our southernmost states and Joplin, Missouri. Pray too, for our country’s leaders and our military people who die each day for our freedom.