*Scripture: Job 9:1-35 (NKJV)* 1 Then Job answered and said: 2 "Truly I know it is so, but how can a man be righteous before God? 3 If one wished to contend with Him, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. 4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? 5 He removes the mountains, and they do not know when He overturns them in His anger; 6 He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; 7 He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars; 8 He alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea; 9 He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; 10 He does great things past finding out, yes, wonders without number. 11 If He goes by me, I do not see Him; If He moves past, I do not perceive Him; 12 If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, 'What are You doing?' 13 God will not withdraw His anger, the allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath Him.
14 "How then can I answer Him, and choose my words to reason with Him? 15 For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge. 16 If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice. 17 For He crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause. 18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 19 If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong; And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court? 20 Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. 21 I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life. 22 It is all one thing; Therefore I say, 'He destroys the blameless and the wicked.' 23 If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent. 24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, who else could it be? 25 Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good. 26 They pass by like swift ships, like an eagle swooping on its prey. 27 If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,' 28 I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent. 29 If I am condemned, why then do I labor in vain? 30 If I wash myself with snow water, and cleanse my hands with soap, 31 yet You will plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. 32 For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. 33 Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand on us both. 34 Let Him take His rod away from me, and do not let dread of Him terrify me. 35 Then I would speak and not fear Him, but it is not so with me." *Devotion* Job laments of God, "For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand on us both." Job understands that whatever righteousness he has before God would do him no good. A person can argue with God, but since you are arguing with God, who is there to declare the winner? Job can present his case but the Judge to Whom he would make his case is the Lord God. Job realizes the futility of trying to bargain with or confront God about an imagined injustice. Job needs a mediator between himself and an angry God. That Mediator is Jesus Christ. He is the propitiation for our sins. He is the one that turns away God's wrath. Christ dies for the sins of the world to atone for them, so that whoever believes in Him is justified before God the Father in Heaven. Faith clings to Christ as our Mediator with the Father, knowing that God the Father is pleased with the sacrifice Christ offered for the sins of the world. Now as the ascended and reigning Mediator, He continually intercedes for us before the Throne of God. In Romans 8:34 Paul writes, "Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." When our consciences accuse us of our sins we are to look to Christ Jesus, our Mediator Who has quelled God's wrath and still speaks in our favor in the heavenly courtroom.
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