Job's Need For an Advocate

Read Job 16:1-17:16

When I was in college I took a class on Job. One of the required elements for passing the class was to write a paper on some aspect of the book of Job. For my topic I chose the subject of today’s devotion: Job: His Need for Intercession. Job, throughout his ordeal, pleaded and begged for someone to plead his case before God. Job needed, in a manner of speaking, a defense attorney. In this chapter 16 Job speaks of his attorney and in so doing he reveals one of the more important aspects of the work and ministry of Jesus Christ.

He complains more and more about his condition, and a miserable condition it is to be sure. His ‘friends’ are ‘miserable comforters’ whose ‘speeches never end.’ His pain was as unending as his friends’ speeches: ‘Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.’ Nothing helped. He was ‘gaunt,’ men jeered at him and struck him ‘on the cheek in scorn.’ He felt surrounded and abused. His face was ‘red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes…” Job was not getting better; he may have been getting worse.

Then, the most remarkable saying in the book. It inspires hope and exudes confidence, “O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My Intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.” Oh, this is glorious! Incredible! Magnificent! Delightful! This is Job at his best. This is Job beginning to have more and more confidence that there is only one answer to his situation.

Notice that his witness is in heaven. He has, at least in this paragraph, abandoned all hope to God. He recognizes the depths of his pain, his has pleaded his innocence (vs. 17), and now says, “There is nothing else I can say. My words do not help my cause for better or worse. I surrender. I turn it over. I will allow my advocate on high to plead my case.”

I notice also that this intercessor is Job’s friend. This is one of the loveliest ways our relationship with God is described in the Scripture. Abraham was God’s friend. Jesus called his disciple’s his friends. We are called his friends. This is what friends do: they go to bat for one another. They stand in the gap. They defend and will let no one crush their friend. We are friends of God.

Finally, I notice that this intercessor pleads the case before God on behalf of man. We need an intercessor even now. We have always needed one. We have always needed someone to go between us and God, someone to plead our case before him, someone to defend us when we find ourselves in the midst of affliction or trouble like Job. Need I remind you of Jesus? “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (Hebrews 7:25)

Prayer Thoughts on Job 16:1-17:16

Also read today: 1 Timothy 2:5-7, 1 John 2:1-2. How has the intercessor been active in your life? What trouble are you in? Pray to God through Jesus, the intercessor. He will plead your case if you ask him to. How can he help you? You only need to ask.