Job 29 … Consider Him Who Is With Us Yet

Originally posted: 9/04/2020

“Oh that I were as in months gone by,
As in the days when God watched over me;
³ When His lamp shone over my head,
And by His light I walked through darkness;
⁴ As I was in the prime of my days,
When the friendship of God was over my tent;
⁵ When the Almighty was yet with me…” (29:2-5).

Job, feeling completely abandoned, remembers what once was: when he walked in God’s light through darkness; when life was good, and he was at the top of his game; when he felt the presence of God’s affection over him and his household.

And when you think about it, it’s really pretty astounding that Job continued in his faith. Job did not have what we have: His indwelling Holy Spirit and His Holy Scriptures that confirm His purposes and plans to sustain our faith. And because of that, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt what Job found himself wrestling to know and believe; He is With Us Yet.

Consider Him Who Is With Us Yet

From Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance: Yet: “5750. עוֹד ʿôḏ: An adverb meaning… still, more, longer, also, yet. It indicates repetition and/or continuance of something. It expresses the fact: that something continues to happen.”

He is With Us Yet, Still, Continuously. He has declared it to be so in His Word.

• He is With Us Yet, for He will never leave or forsake us.
  • “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you,” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
  • …for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5).

• He is With Us Yet, wherever we go.
  • “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go,” (Joshua 1:9).

• He is With Us Yet, in every valley.
  • Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I fear no evil, for You are with me;
    Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me, (Psalm 23:4).

• He is With Us Yet, wherever we are.
  • Where can I go from Your Spirit?
    Or where can I flee from Your presence?
    ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
    If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
    ⁹ If I take the wings of the dawn,
    If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
    ¹⁰ Even there Your hand will lead me, (Psalm 139:7-10).

• He is With Us Yet, in our fear and anxiety.
  • “Do not fear, for I am with you;
    Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
    I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
    Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand,” (Isaiah 41:10).

• He is With Us Yet, even to the end of the age.
  • “…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” (Matthew 28:20).

• He is With Us Yet, our Helper Who dwells with us and in us forever.
  • “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you,” (John 14:16-17).

• He is With Us Yet, for we are kept by His inseparable love.
  • For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Romans 8:38-39).

• He is With Us Yet, Immanuel.
  • “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us,” (Matthew 1:23).

How do we respond to Him Who is With Us Yet?

We have what Job did not. The question is, will we believe Him?

The Scriptures above provide a great means to engage in some self-examination.

He came as Immanuel, God With Us. Do we believe that? Do we believe He will never leave us or forsake us; that wherever we go, in every valley, wherever we are, in every fear and anxiety, that He is With Us Yet? Do we believe He is With Us Yet, to the very end of this age; that His Holy Spirit indwells us and Is With Us forever? Do we believe that we are kept by His inseparable love, even in the times when we feel abandoned because of life situations; even when the past seems more appealing than our present; even when everything seems enshrouded in darkness; even when we don’t feel His Presence?

There’s no easy fix for those times in this life when we face challenges, pain, and suffering. But He has given us everything we need to be sustained by faith in those times: His Word and His Holy Spirit.

Today, lets choose to believe in the sanctifying power of His Word and in what He has declared about Himself; He is With Us Yet… forever. And as we believe, let us pray that the world will see and hear His Truth in us, that they too may believe in Him Who Is With Us Yet.

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth… ²⁰ “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me,” (John 17:17, 20-21).

Let’s Grow Together!