Devotional Thought for our Day:

Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place. ¹⁹  Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is in the heights! ²⁰  My friends scoff at me as I weep before God. ²¹  I wish that someone might argue for a man with God just as anyone would for a friend. Job 16:18-21 (CSBBible)

¹⁵  I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father. John 15:15 (CSBBible)

I have an extensive digital library. Thousands of books that I can search with on two different platforms. Devotionals, Theological Volumes, Sermons Collections. Only some of the commentaries referenced Job 16:21, an incredible plea for help. The rest were silent on this incredible passage.

In those programs, I can search scripture cross-reference indexes. These indexes exist to link one scripture to another based on common thought or topic.  They have developed over decades and usually provide significant links. I would have thought one of these indexes would link Job’s plea to Jesus’ statement… “I have called your friends.”

I am not sure why this oversight; I don’t know why Job’s cry for help is overlooked, but it is.

I’ve been in both places. I have cried for help in despair as deep as Job’s. I have tried to be there, pointing people to God during such troubled times. I have often wondered whether God listens and wondered what I’ve got to do to get His attention. That’s why I don’t like reading Job. His words resonate too well, although I know I cannot be considered as holy. Still, I want to know someone who is praying for me. I despaerately need to know someone is arguing on my behalf with God – even fighting on my behalf.

That is what the cross is, the ultimate argument that a sinner like me, a broken, oppressed person, can be made holy. Holding on to that thought sees me through times of despair and the times when our world’s brokenness is beyond the ability to cope.

Jesus is our friend. The friend who will plead with the Father.

He is Job’s answer, and mine, and yours…

Make the connection, don’t overlook this…

Rejoice in it instead!