Daily Devotional

December 5th 2025

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FRIDAY

“God and I are not equals; I can’t bring a case against Him. We’ll never enter a courtroom as peers. How I wish we had an arbitrator to step in and let me get on with life—to break God’s death grip on me, to free me from this terror so I could breathe again. Then I’d speak up and state my case boldly. As things stand, there is no way I can do it.”—Job 9:32-35 (MSG)

After the intense and unrelenting suffering he has endured, Job determines that his problem is that he has no way to examine God. Job acknowledges that God’s wisdom is beyond human understanding.
Out of the darkness that surrounds him, a ray of light breaks through. It is the first break in Job’s gloom: “How I wish we had an arbitrator to step in and let me get on with life—to break God’s death grip on me, to free me from this terror so I could breathe again.” With this Word, we begin to see what God is producing in this man, why God is permitting this protracted trial: The terrible gulf between man and God that must be bridged by another party.
We who live in the full light of the New Testament know that Job is crying out and feeling deep within the need for a Mediator, a Messiah. Job is laying the foundation here for the tremendous revelation we receive in the New Testament, when God becomes human. God takes our place, lives as we live, feels as we feel, solves the great problem between us and God, and brings the two—God and man—together.
This is what Paul reminds Timothy…and us: “there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered Himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free (I Timothy 2:5, 6).”
Psalm 119:71 says, “My troubles turned out all for the best—they forced me to learn from Your textbook.” We can learn theology from a book; we can study it and get clarity in our minds, but until we go through the hurts and difficulties and trials of life, we never really understand what the truth is. It takes suffering to get a clear vision of what God is saying to us. That is one of the lessons that Job teaches us.

Prayer: Lord God, we thank You for the revelation that comes through our suffering—that we need a Mediator between us and You. We are gratified that You sent Your Son, our Savior, Jesus, to be our Mediator. We thank You that He understands us both and brings us together through His own sacrifice on the cross. In this Advent season, help us to view our suffering as instructive opportunities intended to keep us closer to You. In the name of Jesus, we pray. AMEN!

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