My Redeemer Lives and I Will Trust Him In The Fire
God is sovereign. God is wise. God is good. When life caves in, when questions roar louder than answers, and when tears soak the ash heap, faith still speaks: “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).
The book of Job is not theory. It is a furnace. It is the cry, the silence, the whirlwind, and then the voice of the Lord. Satan may accuse, storms may rage, flesh may fail, yet integrity can stand, prayer can rise, and hope can say, “I know that my Redeemer liveth” (Job 19:25).
This study will not offer tidy clichés. It will offer truth. God rules. God sees. God answers in His time. We will walk through Job’s story, meet his critics, sit in the ashes, listen to the whirlwind, bow to the Almighty, and rise with a restored heart.
We will trace the Old Testament ache for a Mediator (Job 9:33) into the New Testament answer in Jesus Christ, “the one Mediator between God and men” (1 Timothy 2:5).
We will anchor our souls in the unfailing mercy James saw: “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:11). Stand up inside, child of God. Your Redeemer lives. Your Father has not left the throne. And this fire is not the end.
1) The Story in Brief: From Ashes to Awe
Job is introduced as “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). The adversary challenges his sincerity, and God permits a bounded test (Job 1:6–12). In a cascade of losses, Job’s wealth, servants, and children are taken; later his body is struck with sores (Job 1–2).
He mourns, yet worships: “Blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). Pressed by his wife to curse God, he refuses, asking soberly, “Shall we receive good… and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10).
Three friends arrive, then wound with speeches. Job answers with raw honesty, slides near despair, yet still clings: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). A younger bystander, Elihu, suggests God may teach through suffering (Job 32–37).
At last, the LORD answers out of the whirlwind: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4). Job bows low: “I have uttered that I understood not… now mine eye seeth thee… I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3–6). God rebukes the friends, receives Job’s intercession, and restores double (Job 42:8–10, 12). God has the last word. Mercy has the last move.
2) Why The Righteous Suffer: Five Anchors For The Soul
Anchor 1: God is sovereign, not random.
Satan could not touch Job without permission (Job 1:12). This does not trivialize pain. It stabilizes faith. “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away” (Job 1:21). He reigns.
Anchor 2: God’s wisdom outruns our sight.
When God speaks, He does not footnote every sorrow. He reveals Himself. Creation’s breadth exposes our limits (Job 38–41). “My thoughts are not your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9). Trust is not naïve. Trust is worship.
Anchor 3: Not all suffering is punishment.
Job is declared upright before the storm (Job 1:1–3). Jesus, the sinless One, suffered most. Beware the friends’ math. Sometimes faith is tested precisely because it is real.
Anchor 4: Trials refine.
“When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). Scripture agrees: “Count it all joy… knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 1:2–4). “Tribulation worketh… hope” (Romans 5:3–5). Refining is not cruelty. It is craftsmanship.
Anchor 5: God is worthy for who He is.
Job worshiped without answers. This silenced the accuser’s lie. He is worthy in sunshine and in storm. And there is a future balancing of the scales: “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory” (Romans 8:18).
3) Integrity, Lament, and Surrender: The Inner Work of Faith
Hold fast your integrity. God Himself noted it (Job 2:3). Do not sell truth to buy relief.
Pray honest prayers. “I will speak in the anguish of my spirit” (Job 7:11). God can handle your why.
Walk humbly. “Now mine eye seeth thee… I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5–6). Humility opens the door to healing.
Love the hurting. Be unlike Job’s comforters. “Weep with them that weep” (Romans 12:15).
Live by the Spirit’s liberty. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Freedom breathes even in the furnace.
4) Patterns and Symbols: Whirlwind, Ashes, Leviathan, and the Double Portion
The Whirlwind: God speaks with power (Job 38:1). In storms, God is not absent; He is often near. The sound of a mighty wind marked Pentecost as well (Acts 2:2).
Dust and Ashes: Job grieves and repents there (Job 2:8; 42:6). Scripture promises “beauty for ashes” (Isaiah 61:3). Down is the way up in the kingdom.
Leviathan and Behemoth: God parades creatures none can tame (Job 40–41). Leviathan echoes the Bible’s imagery of proud, chaotic evil (Psalm 74:14; Isaiah 27:1). The point is thunder-clear: God alone masters the monster. Satan accuses (Revelation 12:10), but God breaks the spear (Job 41:1) and the Son of God “destroyeth the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
Double Portion: Job receives double (Job 42:10–12). It whispers of Jubilee (Leviticus 25) and the prisoners of hope who are promised double (Zechariah 9:12). God does not simply replace. He restores.
5) Job’s Longing and Christ’s Fulfillment: From Type to Triumph
Job longed for a Mediator. “Neither is there any daysman betwixt us” (Job 9:33). Christ is that Mediator: “One Mediator… the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). He sympathizes with our weakness and invites bold approach to grace (Hebrews 4:15–16).
Job cried for a living Redeemer. “I know that my Redeemer liveth” (Job 19:25–26). Jesus declares, “I am the resurrection, and the life” (John 11:25), and by His rising “brought life and immortality to light” (2 Timothy 1:10). The question “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14) is answered in 1 Corinthians 15: yes. Death is swallowed up in victory.
Satan the accuser is silenced. He accused Job; he accuses the brethren (Revelation 12:10). Believers overcome “by the blood of the Lamb.” The cross exposes the lie and ends the claim.
God’s wisdom shames craftiness. Paul cites Job’s dialogue: “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” (1 Corinthians 3:19; Job 5:13). And again, “Who hath first given to [God]?” (Romans 11:35; Job 41:11). God owes no one. Grace owes nothing; gives everything.
6) Lessons For Mondays and Midnights
Ask why, but keep walking. Job asked often (Job 3; Job 7). Jesus Himself cried, “Why?” You are not faithless for asking. You are faithful when you bring the question to God.
Your pain is seen. Job felt hunted (Job 6:4). Yet God counted his words. The Lord counts your tears (Psalm 56:8). Silence is not absence.
Grieve honestly. There is a time to weep. Ashes are not unbelief. They are honesty before God.
Refuse the blame spiral. Check your heart, yes. But do not jump to “God is unjust” or “I must be cursed.” Job was upright before the storm (Job 1:1–3). Hold the line of trust.
Seek God more than answers. Job got a Person, not a pamphlet. He saw God (Job 42:5–6). Friends, the Presence is the answer.
Remember the end of the Lord. James says it plainly: “Ye have heard of the patience of Job… the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:11). God writes the last chapter.
Hope big. “All things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). Our “light affliction… worketh… an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Glory is heavy. Tears are temporary.
7) When Wisdom Speaks: Practical Counsel From Job’s Journey
For the Sufferer:
Speak to God before you speak about God. Pour it out (Job 7:11). Keep worship in your mouth (Job 1:21). Keep integrity in your hands (Job 2:3, 10). Keep hope in your eyes (Job 19:25).
For the Friend:
Sit first. Speak later. Weep before you warn (Romans 12:15). If you must counsel, lift up God’s character more than your speculation.
For the Church:
Make room for lament. Preach Christ the Mediator. Lay hands on the weary. Pray like Job prayed for his friends (Job 42:8–10). Expect restoration in God’s way, in God’s time.
8) The Crown Beyond The Furnace
Scripture promises reward to those who hold fast: “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation… he shall receive the crown of life” (James 1:12; cf. Revelation 2:10). Job tasted a sign of it with double. We will taste the fullness when we see His face (Revelation 22:4). Child of God, keep going. There is a crown. There is a home. There is a morning where “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5; 30:11).
9) A Call To Decision: Stand, Even Now
Brethren, Friends, Praise be to God. Stand. Refuse the lie that God has forgotten you. Refuse the shortcut that would sell your integrity. Refuse the bitterness that would stain your tongue. Choose trust. Choose worship. Choose the Redeemer.
Will you say with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15)?
Will you bow with Job, “Now mine eye seeth thee… I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5–6)?
Will you wait with Job until “the end of the Lord” appears, tender with mercy (James 5:11)?
Praise the Lord. Thankyou Lord. My Redeemer lives.
10) A Prayer For Those In The Fire
Father, behold Your child. You see every tear. You set limits on the storm. Sanctify this furnace. Purify our faith like gold (Job 23:10). Lord Jesus, our Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), we come boldly for mercy and help (Hebrews 4:16). Holy Spirit, bring liberty in the very place that felt like a cage (2 Corinthians 3:17). Teach us to worship with Job (Job 1:21), to hope with Job (Job 19:25), to bow with Job (Job 42:6). Write the end of the Lord over our story (James 5:11). In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Call to Action: The Question That Demands an AnswerIn Acts 2:37 Peter and the Apostles were asked the question – What Shall We do? And in Acts 2:38 Peter answered, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Do you understand this? After hearing the gospel and believing, they asked what should would do. The answer hasn’t changed friend, Peter clearly gave the answer. The question for you today is, Have you receieved the Holy Spirit Since you believed? If you’re ready to take that step, or you want to learn more about what it means to be born again of water and Spirit, visit: Come, and let the Spirit make you new. |
