“I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.”
Job 19:25 (NIV)
After going to a neighborhood concert alone, as I was walking back to the public garage, I noticed that all the people walking to that same garage, were couples. For a brief moment I felt a little strange being the only one, walking alone.
In my mind, I said to Jesus, “I know you’re with me, even though I can’t see you, and I also know that you’re all the man I need in my life, but at times like this, it would be nice to have a man walking beside me.”
I then felt that Jesus answered me through a thought, saying,
“I am walking beside you.”
I realized that my desire for someone to walk beside me at that moment, was more for external appearances, rather than my true need. I started thinking about the invisible blessings that God gives us, which exceed the visible ones.
All good things are not limited to what we can see with our eyes. There are many benefits and blessings given to us who believe, which are not visible to us in this life.
Peace is not something we see with our eyes, and its effects are rarely evident throughout the world today, yet each of us who believes and trusts in God, can have His peace within us. Peace may not be something we can touch, but we can definitely know it and feel its effect. In the eye of our storm, we have peace because it comes through a person, Jesus.
Faith, love, hope and joy, are not tangible things that we can see with our eyes, yet they are very real, but invisible effects of the fruits of God’s Spirit dwelling in us.
We each have a personal guardian angel, who has been with us since birth, constantly looking out for our safety and our salvation. Although we don’t see our angel, it is another invisible blessing sent by God to benefit us during our entire lifetime.
We experience the benefits of these invisible gifts and many more, which makes a huge difference in how we cope with all situations of life, that test our faith. If we make a habit of depending only on what we can see around us, we will become discouraged. Our true and lasting happiness in this life depends on trusting in the many invisible benefits that we receive every day.
When Job lost his entire family, all his crops, his livestock and everything he owned in one day, his response was, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth.”
Job never visibly saw God, but he found his consolation in his invisible God, calling Him “my Redeemer.”
Even after he lost every visible thing this life can offer, his faith and hope was grounded in the One he couldn’t see, but knew as his Redeemer.
There is a kind of knowing that transcends the intellect. It doesn’t require a degree or an education. No one else can persuade or convince us, because it’s a revelation of grace and a blessed assurance that resides within us. It is possible through Jesus, for us to know and say with the fortitude and conviction of Job,
“I know that my Redeemer lives.”
Jesus told us, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
(John 14:23)
Note that Jesus promised that “we”, not He, will dwell in us. That’s how Jesus works, as a Trinity, a team with His Father and the Holy Spirit.
We believe that God is a Trinity, even though the word “Trinity” doesn’t exist anywhere in the entire Bible. We believe it because it’s one of many invisible truths of the faith, founded by Jesus, passed on through the ages, and evidenced by hints of what He said in the gospels.
The more we learn of His benefits and His attributes, the more beautiful our invisible God becomes.
Lord, make us all aware today that we are blessed with so many invisible benefits of faith in you. Thank you for walking beside us, and we worship you, knowing that our Redeemer lives forever. Amen