Daily Devotional

February 1st 2026

SUNDAY

“God and I are not equals; I can’t bring a case against [God]. 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)

As a result of the intense and unrelenting suffering he has endured, Job determines that his problem is that he has no way to examine God. Job says that God’s wisdom is beyond his.
Out of the deep darkness that surrounds him, a ray of light breaks through. It is the first break in Job’s gloom: “What I need is a mediator, an arbitrator who can come between us, who understands us both and brings us together.” For the first time, we begin to see what God is producing in Job, why God is permitting this protracted trial. Job begins to grasp reality: The gulf between humanity and God that must be bridged by another party.
We who live in the full light of the New Testament know that the Mediator Job cries out for has been provided—it is Jesus. In Jesus, God becomes human. In Jesus, God takes our place, lives as we live, feels as we feel, and resolves the great problem between us and God. Because of His great love for us, Jesus is God’s accommodation to us. 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 Job teaches.

Prayer: Lord, 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 serve as our Mediator. We thank You that He understands us both and brings us together through His own sacrifice on the cross. As we go today, help us to view our suffering—great and small—as instructive opportunities intended to keep us closer to You. In the name of Jesus, we pray. AMEN!

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