Page 121 - Grace150 Devotional

He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we might confront
each other in court. If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to
bring us together. Job 9:32–33 NIV

“If only…” Longing…yearning. Can you hear the pain in Job’s voice? Job knows
he cannot stand before a holy God on his own. And yet he longs for an audience,
for a chance to speak with Him, a chance to connect.
I love when Christ is foreshadowed in the Old Testament. It shows me the
consistency of God in the Scriptures across time: that God is always seeking
His people, even when His people are not. God not only seeks us directly, but
He showed God-seeking people how much they needed a Savior, a Mediator,
hundreds of years before Christ came.
As believers, we are freely given what Job only longed for. Christ is not only our
Mediator, but has sent the Holy Spirit to intercede and guide us. As a comfortable,
middle-class American Christian from a young age, it is all too easy to take this
incredible benefit for granted. Reading about those who could only hope for it
helps me to place the richness of this gift in perspective.

God, help us in this 150-day season to long for Your personal presence, and
recognize the incredible gift that makes it possible.
– John Parker

devotions for the journey DAY 114