Words to live by

His life has taken such a catastrophic turn that he feels targeted by God himself.

His so-called friends give him no comfort – quite the opposite.

And yet his hope is undying and so are his words, preserved in today’s famous first reading (Job 19:21-27):

Pity me, pity me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has struck me!
Why do you hound me as though you were divine,
and insatiably prey upon me?

Oh, would that my words were written down!
Would that they were inscribed in a record:
That with an iron chisel and with lead
they were cut in the rock forever!

But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives,
and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;
Whom I myself shall see:
my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him,
And from my flesh I shall see God;
my inmost being is consumed with longing.

Even more so may you and I find secure and eternal hope, no matter what, in the name and the power of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ.