Devotionals by Jill Briscoe

“I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” - Job 42:5

Have you ever wondered about the point of your suffering? The darkness of the depression that surrounds grief or difficulty can be so deep that it seems no light will ever penetrate, that no end is in sight. Job wondered aloud why life is even given to those who must suffer. It seemed to him that death would be far better than depression (Job 3:20-23).

However, there was a point to Job’s pain. Job learned lessons through his suffering that he couldn’t have learned any other way.

Job learned that he had an intercessor and a witness in heaven, an advocate on high who counted his tears (Job 16:19-20) and could lift him out of depression.

Job also learned that God is the living Redeemer (Job 19:25), who would stand upon the earth at last. Job seemed to understand that he would experience life beyond the grave. He knew that one day he would have a new body instead of the terribly painful, disintegrating one he suffered with in this present world.

Job came out of his dark tunnel with new insight. In fact he said, “I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes” (Job 42:5). Somehow you see God in the dark in a way you seldom see him in the light. That glimpse of God’s glory, as Job discovered, made a terrible ordeal worthwhile. In other words, God’s presence became more important than God’s protection. God’s presence was enough.

For Further Study: Job 42:1-17

Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.

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