Job's Dilemma and our Delight

In Job 8 Bildad suggests to Job that perhaps the suffering he is facing is due to sin on his part or his children's part and that he should address the sin in order to stop the suffering. I am sure Bildad is responding out of deep concern for his friend and out of a pure motive here. He wants to see his friend to stop suffering, as any of us would want for any of our friends in crisis.
Job in chapter 9 responds that even if he were righteous he would not no what to say, how could he argue with God. The saddest verses come in verses 32 - 35.
32 "For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together.33 Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both. 34 Let Him take His rod away from me, And do not let dread of Him terrify me. 35 Then I would speak and not fear Him, But it is not so with me.
Job's response is sad in that he wishes that he had someone to act as an advocate for him, to stand between him and God as a mediator to help argue his case for him.

Here is Job, who with all his heart has tried to worship God with sincerity all his life. God even testifies to his character when talking with Satan. He is a man who offers sacrifices for himself and also for his children. He is responsible, hardworking, and well liked in the community.

Yet, in this hour of distress he senses a chasm in the relationship between him and God, he desires to come before God, to plead his case before the almighty, but he knows he cannot without a mediator.

Compare this to our relationship we now enjoy with God because of Christ who ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). He stands as the one mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5), arbitrating our cause before the throne of heaven. And when we sin, he is our advocate before the throne of grace turning away the wrath of God (1 John 2:1-2). Now we do not need to fear to come before the throne of God, but are told to come boldly before the throne of grace to find help in the time of need.

How many of us take Him up on that offer? How many times do I take that offer too lightly? Do I treat prayer with the dignity and honor it deserves? When I enter the sanctuary of prayer, I enter in with the King of Kings, the one who masterfully created all things and by whom all things are held together. Yet sometimes I just rush in and throw my list down and run back out like a court jester in the palace court, looking like the fool for it too. It is only by His grace and mercy and of course much patience with me that I am not consumed like a firebrand in the underbrush.

The Emmaus Road Feast

This morning I was reading the events following Christ's resurrection in Luke 24 and was thinking about the interaction between Christ and the men going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. In verse 27, the spiritual feast begins,

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Later the men urge this stranger on the road to Emmaus to stay with them. When Christ came and broke bread and blessed the bread it was then that their eyes were opened. It is the following verse that I found compelling.

They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

Here on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus these men had dined on a spiritual feast and had not appreciated its delicacies until much later. 'Were not our hearts burning within us' should be my heart cry when I sit and dine at the dinner table with Christ and enjoy the feast from His word. However, it is not often that I can say this. Many times the words of the page just tumble across my brow and barely light upon my soul. Perhaps they catch there unknowingly to me and are set to be harvested later by the Holy Spirit, I can only entrust that work to His holy hands. I know that my God is faithful. All I know is that I wish I had a deeper and closer walk with Him and that I desire to honor Him in all I do and say.