A Spark of Hope

“Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.” (Job 10:12 AV)

This is one of the first statements Job makes that seems to point to hope.  He is in the process of processing his emotions regarding the loss of his children, his entire livelihood, and his health.  The only thing he has left is a wife who encourages him to curse God and three friends who think sin is the cause.  There is no hope on the horizon other than what he already knows.  He has no answers.  He has no promise of restoration.  He is living in the here and now.  Each day is the only reality he knows.  He cannot plan ahead.  He cannot see a way out.  He is in the middle of a trial for which he has no answers, and it seems every day is as dark as the last.  But then he makes this statement.  He makes the statement that God granted him life and favour.  By the presence of God, Job was and is able to continue.  That is the message for this morning.  Job’s experience from the past is that by the presence of God, God has preserved his spirit.  What that means is the emotional and spiritual health he knew.  I am sure there were hard times in the past.  But through each and every one of them, God was faithful.  This time will be no different.

A personal walk with God is far more important than we realize.  We often hit the wall and then suffer because our relationship with the LORD hasn’t been as intimate as it could have been.  There is work to do.  There is time to spend in His word and in prayer.  There are hours that need to be reclaimed.  Days that need to be invested.  Job wasn’t able to make the statement above because he took a class on theology proper.  He didn’t study the omnipotence and omniscience of God and leave it at that.  Job had a working relationship with the LORD, and that is why he could make the statement above.  The statement above is one small stone in the wall to recovering.  It will take far more than one statement to make Job well.  But this is a beginning.

Another detail to note is the tense of the verb ‘…hath…’.  This verb is in the perfect tense and is usually represented as the present tense when translated into the English.  In other words, the perfect tense in the Hebrew means it is a completed state regardless of when it was completed or will be completed.  As far as Job was concerned, the presence of God kept his spirit.  His will to live was there because God was there.  His emotional health would improve because God was there.  Without totally realizing what he was saying, Job assented to the truth that God was with him and he was surviving.  Without hearing from God and receiving an answer he so desperately wanted, he assented to the truth that God’s presence was with him.  This is why his spirit was preserved.  God was there, He always was there, and He will always be there.