Job 19

This chapter of Job contains, perhaps, the most famous passage from the whole book. In the middle of a despairing speech, suddenly, Job utters some of the most hopeful, confidence-filled words in the Bible: "I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God." (vs 25-26)

In my flesh I will see God. When we read this, I think we often imagine that Job is saying that he himself will see God. (And that is true.) But I saw it in a different way today. Perhaps it was possible that Job was saying that one day, he would see God in human flesh. He knows enough about God to know that he has a redeemer, a defender—someone who so closely identifies with His creation that He might even become one of them.

That is speculation. But, of course, that’s exactly what happened.

God became one of us. He entered the war zone, took on the mantle of suffering. He voluntarily identified Himself with us, with all of our problems, and with all of our suffering. Think about that for a moment—especially that last part. None of us have really chosen suffering. We’ve been thrust into a world that’s in the middle of a war, and suffering is just part of the deal. We didn’t choose suffering, but He did.

That’s what Love does. It suffers. It doesn’t shirk away from the tough stuff, but faces it head-on. If, in the end, Job knew why he had gone through what he did, I think he would have counted it a privilege to have suffered for his God. And I wonder why we, as Christians, don’t see suffering more as a privilege instead of something to be avoided at all costs. For if our God, Redeemer, and Friend voluntarily took on our suffering in His flesh, shouldn’t we also be able to bear up under the suffering that comes our way?

God is with us—not because He had to be, but because He wanted to be. Job got a glimpse of that, even at a time when he couldn’t physically sense the presence of God. My prayer is that, whatever we face in life, especially when times get tough, we will never forget that Emmanuel is our best friend. God became one of us. We have seen the Creator of the Universe in our flesh.