My Redeemer Lives

By Cheri Cowell –     

Whether you celebrate Easter with contemporary praise and worship music or traditional hymns, you will no doubt join in singing the joyous proclamation “My Redeemer lives!”
But do you know this phrase is actually taken from the mouth of Job? That’s right. And they weren’t said after his family, wealth, and health were restored. The words were said after Job complained bitterly about his misfortunes, about his abandonment by his friends, and he asked God where He’d been when Job had been assailed on every side. After this angry and sad plea, Job added these words.

The Hebrew word translated “Redeemer” can also be rendered “Avenger,” “Guarantor,” or “Vindicator.” What a wonderfully rich Easter proclamation. It is not a call for celebration removed from the sufferings of this word. Rather, it is rooted in the midst of suffering, in a faith that our sufferings are indeed redeemed, vindicated, and avenged by a God who suffered greatly and willingly for our redemption. When you hear these words this Easter, remember Job and how he offered them in spite of His sufferings and because of his sufferings…and so can we. Because our Redeemer lives.

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26 NKJV).

Prayer: Give me the ability to do as Job—to sing God’s praises in the midst of suffering and loss. Thank You for not being a jelly-bean, sunny-life, Redeemer God, but a God who redeems, avenges, and vindicates those who are suffering through the shedding of Your own blood and through Your own suffering.