I Know My Redeemer Lives 9-1-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are my Comfort and Strength, my Wisdom and Truth, O Lord, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ... When Job's religious "friends" were confused in their theology of suffering, You spoke Your words of truth and life through the young prophet, Elihu, who heard Your voice and knew Your heart: "Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God's behalf. I will bring my knowledge from far away, and ascribe righteousness to my Maker. For truly my words are not false; One who is perfect in knowledge is with you. Surely God is mighty and does not despise any; He is mighty in strength of understanding. ... He delivers the afflicted by their affliction, and opens their ear by adversity. ... See, God is exalted in His power; who is a teacher like Him? Who has prescribed for Him His way, or who can say, 'You have done wrong?' " (from Job 36:1-23). You do not despise any. You are Love, and You have created each of us for a relationship of love (1 John 4:8). But to truly love, there must be the freedom to choose to receive that love or reject it. If You created us to automatically receive Your love, it wouldn't be love at all. We would be robots and not loved ones with the capacity to love in return. So love requires freedom, and out of that freedom we make choices that affect our lives and the lives of others, in our generation and throughout all generations. Our choices have consequences, so a relationship based on Your nature of love is risky and dangerous, but necessary. You cannot automatically make us love You and obey You without destroying the potential for a relationship of love. And out of those choices in our lives and in the lives of others, bad things can happen that are completely contrary to Your will for us. Your will is not to harm us, but to help us, to give us "a future with hope" (Jeremiah 29:11). "For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live" (Ezekiel 18:32). Yet in a broken, fallen world, there is affliction and there is adversity; there is destruction and sadness and death. It breaks our hearts and it breaks Yours. But even so, You do not waste our suffering and You do not leave us alone in our pain. You redeem all things, causing life to rise up out of the ashes of death and healing life to flow out of broken vessels. As Job came to say, "I know that my Redeemer lives" (Job 19:25). "He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and my life shall see the Light" (v. 33:28). As we turn to You in our humble weakness and in trusting faith, You deliver the afflicted by our affliction and You open our ears by adversity (from Job 36:15). Whether You intend it or will it or not, affliction can be a means of Your grace to deliver us from our self-reliance and independence if we allow it to draw us closer to You, even while it breaks Your heart to see us endure it. Adversity can be a means of Your grace to open our ears again to the leading of Your still small voice, speaking quietly to our spirit to lead us into the destiny of our future with a hope. Only in this way can we possibly hear and receive Your word of encouragement that "whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4). And that joy does not come -- nor should it come -- overnight, but in Your timing and in Your way as we walk with You through the journey. We go through life in all of the full range of misery and joy in order to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). And as we learn to turn to You in our suffering and in our rejoicing, we are becoming "mature and complete" until we are "lacking in nothing" (James 1:4). Who is a Teacher like You? You are exalted in power -- the power of Your love for us and Your desire to conform us into Your nature in the wisdom of Your ways. "Who can say, 'You have done wrong?' " (Job 36:22-23). With Job and all those who persevere and press through in Your grace to see Your power, we proclaim, "I know my Redeemer lives!" In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, my home church will be hosting another Community Prayer Gathering next Wednesday night again at 7:30 on Sept. 6 at Centenary United Methodist Church in Lexington. All are welcome! Thank you all so much for covering us in your prayers. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's and cd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing, write to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502: www.messiah-ministries.org Come to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our Messiah Ministries' citywide gathering for prayer, praise, and healing worship. Daily archives of my devotional: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com