Focal passage: Job 19:19-29
After a long day on the ocean, I wondered how I would get our beach toys, coolers and canopy back to our van. Between the beach and parking lot stood a set of steps ascending a steep hill. There was no ramp. I made five trips with our wagon filled with our belongings. But each time I pulled that wagon up the steps, I noticed a man standing nearby, staring at me – an able-bodied man, I might add. Finally, on the last trip, as I was sweating profusely under the scorching sun, he stopped me. He then began lecturing me about how I was doing everything wrong!
He explained how I could have gotten everything in the wagon in just one trip. Before sludging my way back to the van one last time, I somehow found enough breath to say, “That would have been nice to know before now!” Sadly, sometimes people want to give criticism when all we needed was help.
Job knew what it was like to have friends to criticize him rather than help him (Job 19:19-22). Except Job wasn’t dealing with beach toys; he was dealing with unspeakable suffering. Needing help, Job’s friends instead torched him with judgment, accusing him of hidden sins (19:28). Fortunately, Job eventually understood that it would be they, not him, that would be judged by the LORD for their actions (19:29).
But where would Job find help? It would be in his Redeemer, one who was able to rescue and restore those in crisis (19:25). In his crisis, Job knew his Redeemer would at last stand upon the earth and Job would behold him (19:25-27). We know this Redeemer to be Jesus Christ, whose death redeems us (Ephesians 1:7) and whose resurrection secures an eternity of beholding Him (1 John 3:2). Like Job, we trust this Redeemer to rescue and restore us in our helplessness.
It is painful to receive criticism when we need compassion. Job teaches us that when we cannot find help from even our closest friends, we can trust God as a faithful Redeemer who helps the helpless.