There are seasons when life hurts and we cannot understand why. We pray. We ask. We beg. We search our hearts. We try to make sense of what God is doing, but nothing seems to change. The sickness remains. The loss still aches. The door still feels closed. The answer still has not come.
And if we are honest, one of the hardest parts of suffering is not only the pain itself. It is the feeling that we cannot reach high enough to get our case before God. We know what it is to ask for help and feel like heaven is silent. We know what it is to plead for clarity and still be left with confusion. We know what it is to wonder whether anyone can reach God when we feel like we cannot.
Job knew that feeling. He had lost his wealth, his children, his health, his comfort, and his place of honor. He sat in ashes, scraping his sores, trying to find even a moment of relief. He had friends around him, but they did not understand him. They accused him. They explained his pain with confident words that were wrong. Job wanted answers. He wanted to know why. He wanted to lay out his case before God.
But Job also understood something we sometimes forget. God is not our equal. God is not a man sitting across the table from us, waiting to be corrected. God is holy, sovereign, eternal, and high above us in every way. So Job could plead, question, hurt, and ask, but he could not make God answer as though God owed man an explanation. That is part of what made his suffering so difficult. He wanted to speak, but he knew the distance was too great.
That is why Job cried out:
“There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.” (Job 9:33 ESV).
Job longed for someone who could stand between him and God. Someone who could understand the weakness of man and the holiness of God. Someone who could place one hand on the shoulder of suffering humanity and the other hand on the shoulder of the Father. Someone who could speak to both sides because He truly understood both sides.
But Job could not have imagined how fully God would answer that longing.
A human mediator may fail. He may not understand one side. He may not be trusted by one side. He may try to persuade, plead, argue, or negotiate, but there is always the risk that one side will not listen. Human mediation is fragile because human mediators are limited. They may mean well, but they cannot fully know the heart of man or the mind of God.
But Jesus is not a fragile human go-between.
Jesus is the Son. The Father always hears the Son. Jesus knows the Father fully because He is God. He knows the holiness of God, the righteousness of God, the justice of God, and the glory of God from within the fellowship of deity. But Jesus also knows us. He entered our world. He took on flesh. He knew hunger, weariness, grief, temptation, rejection, betrayal, suffering, and death.
The Hebrew writer says:
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 ESV).
This changes everything. We do not have a Mediator who is unacquainted with our lives. We do not have a High Priest who looks at our weakness from a distance. We do not have a King who rules without knowing what it feels like to walk through pain. Jesus has lived on our side of the gulf, yet without sin. And because He is God the Son, He also stands fully on the Father’s side of the gulf.
This is why His mediation is safe. When Jesus stands for us, the Father listens. When Jesus intercedes for us, His plea does not fail. When Jesus represents us, He does not come empty-handed. He comes with His own blood. He is not trying to convince a reluctant Father to love us. He is bringing us to the Father through the very love, mercy, righteousness, and grace of God.
This also changes how we think about judgment. Jesus teaches that the Father has given all judgment to the Son. The One who judges is the One who entered our weakness. The One who holds authority is the One who bore our griefs. The One before whom every knee will bow is the One who was tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin.
So when we suffer and cannot understand, we must be careful not to put God on trial. Job eventually learned that God does not owe man an explanation. God is sovereign. He answers to no man, no power, and no authority above Himself. But the answer to our weakness is not that we are left outside, hopelessly trying to reach a God we cannot reach.
The answer is that Jesus has come to us.
He is the Mediator Job longed for. He is the Good Shepherd who comes looking for His sheep. He is the King who reigns with perfect righteousness. He is the High Priest who sympathizes with our weakness. He is the Son who is always heard by the Father. He is the God who became man so that His hand could rest upon us without losing His place with the Father.
That means when we pray, we do not come alone. When our words are weak, Jesus is not weak. When our understanding fails, Jesus does not fail. When suffering confuses us, Jesus still intercedes. When heaven feels silent to us, the Son is not silent before the Father. The same Jesus who knows what it is to suffer is the Jesus who lives to make intercession for us.
“Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25 ESV).
That is why we owe Him our pistis. This is more than mental agreement with facts about Jesus. It is loyal trust, faithful allegiance, and surrendered confidence in the One who has every right to rule us and every power to save us. We trust Him because He is worthy. We follow Him because He is King. We rest in Him because He is able to bring us safely to the Father.
He is not only our Mediator. He is our King. He is our Shepherd. He is our Judge. He is our God. And if we belong to Him, we are safe in His arms.
As you sit with this teaching today, consider where suffering has made God feel distant to you. Have you been trying to stand before God alone, as though you had to argue your own case? What would change in your prayers if you remembered that Jesus stands with His hand on your shoulder and speaks to the Father for you?
If you are willing, share your reflections or questions in the comments so we can learn and walk this journey together.
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