My Redeemer Lives

breakthrough, originally uploaded by mincaye.

There is a song that is often sung at Praise & Worship gatherings, church services and Christian Fellowship meetings. Written by Reuben Morgan in 1998 for Hillsong Music, it is called 'My Redeemer Lives.'

I know He rescued my soul,
His blood has covered my sin,
I believe, I believe;

My shame He's taken away,
My pain is healed in His name,
I believe, I believe.

I'll raise a banner;
My Lord has conquered the grave.

My Redeemer lives, my Redeemer lives;
My Redeemer lives, my Redeemer lives.

You lift my burden, I'll rise with You;
I'm dancing on this mountaintop
to see Your kingdom come.


But yesterday, as I was going through the book of Job, I came across the following verses from Chapter 19;

I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!

The words 'My Redeemer lives' were not born of joy bubbling over, but from the midst of the deepest despair, the anguish and suffering of Job. It is not the hope of a triumphant army of believers, but of those who have nothing left but God.


Maybe the picture above says something. My camera's battery died while Li-Shia and I were in Times Square yesterday. When we returned to school, she pointed out a ray of light shining through the clouds. The battery came back to life (as it sometimes does), but only long enough for me to take one shot.

The picture wasn't really great, but in the lower right corner, I saw something worth keeping, and it is this part of the photo that has been reproduced above.

Perhaps, like the camera, like Job, we may be on our very last legs, just about to die. And maybe this is what 'My redeemer lives' really means: that God promises us a glimpse of himself, even as the clouds recede for his glory to shine through, as he calls us to his side... to return home.

There is no hour so dark that the Light of the World cannot overcome it. My Redeemer lives, indeed.