Disciples Live by Faith (Nov. 6, 2022) Job 19.23-27a

There can be a lot said about faith. A definition of faith is having trust in a person or thing that produces confidence or belief, trustworthiness, faithfulness, or credibility.[1] Now this is a rather sanitized statement of what faith can be. It can be all these things, but they are so sterile. In what do we have faith?

We have faith that when we leave here today our cars will start and we will be able to drive home. We have faith when we sit down that the pew will support us and we can sit there. You have faith that I will make some sense when I get up to speak. We all say that we have faith in God. But can faith be more than just what we say? Can there be more to it than this? Job would certainly say that there was more to faith than what he knew.

Job. The story that sometimes we do not understand. It is a complement to say that someone has the patience of Job, but this is not a true statement. Job is not really a patient man. He wants answers to his questions and he wants his friends to be quiet if they will not listen to him. He is not a patient man.

Let’s look a little about Job so that we can understand better what is happening in the text for today.

Job was a rich man in land, animals, and other forms of wealth. Then one day, in response to a divine wager, all that he has is taken from him: his herds, his servants, his children. Then to add insult to injury, his health is even taken from him. Through all of this we who are familiar with the story know that all is restored to him, but Job does not know this. Job is not a happy man. But through it all his faith in God never waivers.

Then, he begins to question why all of this is happening to him. He looks over his life and proclaims that he is innocent of anything that should have brought these catastrophes upon him. Still through all of this he is faithful to God

But as time goes on Job begins to question God and wonders why all of this has happened to him since he remains faithful. Should he be punished for keeping the faith? Surely not.

And so, we come to this section of the text, quite possibly the most well-known verses of the book due to our good friend Handel and his Messiah. It is the one where he says that he knows that his redeemer lives and that on the last day this one will stand on the earth. If you are like me, you heard the tenor singing when the verse was read. But that is not where we begin.

We begin with Job crying out that he wishes that the words of his innocence were written on a rock. That the words that he has been proclaiming to his friends and even to God might be inscribed and kept for the ages. Words that tell others that he is innocent of the charges that have been brought against him by his friends.

Then he proclaims that he knows that his redeemer lives. This sounds so reassuring to our ears. Here is Job stating a greater faith in God than most of us would ever imagine ourselves stating. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

What Job is really saying is that he knows that he has a vindicator who will stand for him. Lydia Hernandez-Marcial says this: “Job’s hope rests in the certainty that he has a vindicator (Heb. go’el, NRSV “redeemer”). The concept comes from the legal context and refers to family situations in which a relative can buy back property, deliver a relative sold into slavery, or avenge a murdered relative.”[2] Job is looking for a deliverer and it is not God. He is angry with God and believes that God has it out for him. So, God is not the vindicator that we have come to believe that this passage dictates. Rather, the vindicator according to some scholars is the proclamation of Job’s innocence. This is what will redeem him and what will make his words stand for him.

But it is the next phrase that tells us that Job still has faith. Though he is angry with God, he believes that it is God who is the source of all his troubles, even with this, he believes that he will see God and that God will hear his words. This is not, as has been taught, a confirmation of resurrection, that Job will see God in the future after he has died. No, this is a hope that he will see God before he dies and that God will hear what Job has to say. Job is looking to see if God will show up. Though he is not happy with how things are going in his life, he believes that God is listening, though he is not sure how much God can or will do about his plight.

Job believes and has faith that God will do something. And later in the book God does do something, something that Job does not expect. When this occurs Job’s full faith in God is restored. But his faith does take a hit when all is happening around him.

Now, I know that this is to be a sermon about faith and how we are to have faith in God and in Jesus. I know that what I have preached so far is not giving too much confidence in the faith of Job. But there is a ray of hope. Job earlier states that he will trust in God and that he will defend himself to God’s face. He has faith that there is a God and that he will prevail.

We all have faith. Let’s be honest, if we did not have faith we would not be here today. Our faith is what keeps us going. And there are times when our faith takes a hit. When the job falls through, when the sickness strikes, when the bills are due and the money is not there, when the marriage fails. Our faith falters and we wonder if God really cares. Or even if God is the cause of all our problems. We become angry with God and say that if God really cared then we would not have these troubles. If God cared, then God would be able to make things right. And maybe, we think, there might not be a God. Our faith waivers.

But let me tell you a little secret. There is a God and this God cares. This God wants us to know that when we fall, when the things get rough, when it seems that we will never see the end, there is a God who will see us through. This God can take the anger, the doubt and anything else that we can and will dish out. This God will stand by us. Though God might not take all the pain and sorrow away, God will stand with us.

Hebrews 11.1 tells us this: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”[3] We hope for a God who is there and we are convinced that God is there. Though we do not see God we know that God is there. And because our faith in this God who was revealed to us in Jesus is there, we can face whatever comes our way. Even in the darkest of times, when it appears that God is far from us, we have the faith that God is there. We live by faith and not by sight. Let us trust in the one who is there and who will always be with us. Amen.

[1]New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 2, D-H pg. 408 [2]Long, Thomas G.; Long, Thomas G. Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship (p. 462). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition. [3] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.