Job 19:25-27 (NLT) “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and 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 for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.  I am overwhelmed at the thought!”

Whenever I get tempted to feel sorry for myself, I remind myself of the story of Job. As many difficult and trying things as I have gone through in my life, nothing compares to what Job went through. He held it together incredibly at the initial blow of losing everything, including his sons and daughters. He bowed down in worship and uttered the words that have lived through the ages: "The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord." (Job 1:21) But when sickness came to his body on top of everything else, he was shaken to the core. The friends that thought they were coming to comfort him wound up adding to his suffering by the accusatory things that they were saying about him. Job began to complain, thinking that the Lord was punishing him just because He is God and can do so. In the midst of complaining about how God was treating him and how his so-called friends were tormenting him with their words, Job had a revelation. The revelation was simply that his eyes were opened that his Redeemer was living and that somehow or other whether in this life or the next, He would be with His God. From then on, Job's perspective changed.

As Christians, we are better positioned for this revelation although many don't understand it. When we get entangled in the weeds of complaining and being bitter about the state of affairs in our lives, we become blind to the most incredible truth that we have and that we own. That truth is that our Redeemer, Jesus, lives! If Jesus lives, then we also live and will continue to live. Not even death can stop that. The cares of this life is what stops that revelation. This life, which is so temporary and that is just a trial run for eternity, consumes our thoughts and desires, making us focus on things that will pass away and forgetting the things that are eternal. We forget that according to      2 Corinthians 4:17, our troubles are light and momentary. There is eternal glory waiting for us. Not only so, but right here and right now, our Redeemer lives! He is our peace, our joy, and our very life and He will never leave us or forsake us. No matter what you are going through, remember that your Redeemer lives, like Job did. That changes everything about everything!

Pastor Joey Vazquez