Job 9:17-35: a reflection

17For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause. 18He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 19If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’ 20Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse. 21I am blameless. I don’t respect myself. I despise my life. 22“It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. 23If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent. 24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it? 25“Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good. 26They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey. 27If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up,’ 28I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that you will not hold me innocent. 29I will be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? 30If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, 31yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes will abhor me. 32For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment. 33There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both. 34Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid; 35then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.

In his anguish, Job feels the vast distance between himself and God, and longs for a mediator, an umpire, who could lay his hand on them both and bring them together; a longing that Christ himself would answer. There is no umpire between us, Job laments, that might lay his hand on us both. Job feels that God is not a man like himself, that he cannot simply come before God as an equal to plead his case; the distance is too great, and there is no one to mediate between them, to bridge the gap. This longing for a mediator, one who could stand between God and man and lay a hand on both, is precisely what Christ came to be. This shows Job's longing for a mediator, answered in Christ, who stands between God and us. Job longed for a mediator; Christ answers that longing. Christ is the mediator who bridges the gap between God and us. The longing for one to stand between God and man is met in Christ. Christ lays his hand on both God and us as our mediator.

Notice Job's longing and how it is answered. In his suffering, Job feels the immense distance between himself and God: God is not a man like him, whom he could meet as an equal and argue his case; and there is no umpire, no mediator, to stand between them and lay a hand on both, bridging the gap. Job feels the need for a mediator, one who could represent him before God and bring them together, but sees no such one. This longing, expressed in the depths of Job's anguish, is precisely what Christ came to fulfill. For Christ is the mediator between God and man, the one who bridges the gap Job could not bridge. He is fully God and fully man, able to lay his hand on both, representing God to us and us to God, bringing us together, reconciling us. The distance Job felt, the lack of anyone to stand between God and man, is answered in Christ, who stands between us and God as our mediator. What Job longed for and could not find, we have in Christ. When we feel far from God, unable to bridge the gap ourselves, we have a mediator in Christ, who stands between us and God and brings us together. In Christ we have the mediator Job longed for, bridging the gap to God. Christ stands between us and God, laying his hand on both. The distance we feel from God is bridged by Christ our mediator. What Job longed for we have in Christ.

That is worth resting in, for the mediator Job longed for, one to stand between God and man and bridge the gap, we have in Christ, who reconciles us to God. We can feel, like Job, the vast distance between ourselves and God, unable to bridge it ourselves, longing for someone to stand between; but Christ is that mediator, fully God and fully man, who lays his hand on both and brings us together. In Christ the gap is bridged. When you feel far from God, unable to reach him, remember that in Christ you have a mediator who stands between you and God. Rest in the truth that the mediator Job longed for, one who could stand between God and man and lay his hand on both to bring them together, we have in Christ, as Job, feeling the vast distance between himself and God, lamented that God was not a man like him whom he could answer, and that there was no umpire between them to lay a hand on both; for Job felt the immense gap between himself and God and the need for a mediator to bridge it, but saw no such one, and this longing, expressed in the depths of his anguish, is precisely what Christ came to fulfill, since Christ is the mediator between God and man, fully God and fully man, able to lay his hand on both, representing God to us and us to God and bringing us together, so that the distance Job felt and the lack of anyone to stand between are answered in Christ, and what Job longed for and could not find we have in him, so that when we feel far from God and unable to bridge the gap ourselves we can rest in knowing we have a mediator in Christ who stands between us and God and reconciles us.

Lord, in his anguish, Job feels the vast distance between himself and you, and longs for a mediator, an umpire, who could lay his hand on them both and bring them together; a longing that Christ himself would answer. There is no umpire between us, Job laments, that might lay his hand on us both. Job feels that you are not a man like himself, that he cannot simply come before you as an equal to plead his case; the distance is too great, and there is no one to mediate between them, to bridge the gap. This longing for a mediator, one who could stand between God and man and lay a hand on both, is precisely what Christ came to be. Show me Job's longing and how it is answered. In his suffering, Job feels the immense distance between himself and you: you are not a man like him, whom he could meet as an equal; and there is no umpire to stand between them and bridge the gap. Job feels the need for a mediator but sees no such one. This longing, expressed in the depths of his anguish, is precisely what Christ came to fulfill. For Christ is the mediator between you and me, the one who bridges the gap Job could not bridge. He is fully God and fully man, able to lay his hand on both, representing you to me and me to you, reconciling us. What Job longed for and could not find, I have in Christ. When I feel far from you, unable to bridge the gap myself, I have a mediator in Christ. Take that to my heart, for the mediator Job longed for I have in Christ, who reconciles me to you. When I feel the vast distance between myself and you, unable to reach you, help me remember that in Christ I have a mediator who stands between me and you, Lord, fully God and fully man, laying his hand on both and bringing us together, so that what Job longed for I have in him.