Warriors

"All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come" (Job 14:14 ESV).

Job--A saint. A sufferer. A victim. But in service? A warrior? The word the ESV translates "service" is Hebrew tsaba', most often translated as "host, army; war, warfare, service, go out to war." Thus, the Amplified Bible translates it as "All the days of my warfare and service I will wait, till my change and release shall come." 

Job, a warrior. Warring for hope. Warring against Satan. Warring against himself, his small conception of God, the feelings of betrayal by his friend, his sense of injustice wrought, his despair. Job may not have moved from that ash heap, but it was a battlefield. A battle he was fighting for the Lord as a witness to the heavenlies. 

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21)--a battle won for heaven. 

Even now, my witness is in heaven (Job 16:19)--points scored against the darkness. 

For I know that my Redeemer lives (Job 19:25)--another victory for the angelic hosts. 

Though he slay me, I will hope in him (Job 13:15) --a thrust against the enemy. 

In our suffering, we war. It is a war to take that next step, to keep hoping, to try one more time, to get out of bed one more time. It is a war to extend forgiveness to those who have hurt us. To try to make wise financial decisions and sacrifices in economical hardship. To ignore the gossip in divorce. To keep serving others when your heart is breaking. We are warriors, no matter how weak we feel. 

Moreover, the word "renewal" in the ESV is Hebrew chaliyphah, which means a change of garments, or relief from death, or a change in the course of life. In this world, we struggle. We are clothed with the armor of the Lord. Like Job, we wait all the days of our service/warfare in the armor of the Lord, against the forces of evil and chaos (like Job). We wait until we receive a change of garments--when we will be completely clothed again, putting off the old self, putting on once for all the new self (Col. 3:9-10), and are finally clothed with the fine linen of the saints (Revelation). Our clothes change from armor to those fit for a fine wedding banquet, a wedding dress! The warrior releases his worn armor for a wedding robe. Like Job in the end, we will sweetly say, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you" (Job 42:5). But instead of our repenting in dust and ashes, Christ himself will draw the wedding garments around us, and we will place our crowns--that plunder of battle--at his feet. "I see you now."