Anyone got an iron pen?
Christine Colliar
November 12, 2025
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Listen to this daily worship
Job 19: 23-27 (NRSVA)
23 ‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
24 O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;[
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
27a whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
“If only my words were written in a book -
better yet, chiselled in stone!”
(Job 19:23, The Message)
Job’s cry is one of longing that his words, his faith, and his struggle will not vanish. He wants something that will last, something future generations can hold, touch, and remember. In a world where voices fade, Job dreams of permanence.
And in a way, he gets it. His words are written down. They become part of the song of Scripture, a melody of lament and hope that still resounds across time. What he could not see then was that his honest faith would become a legacy of worship that would outlast him.
Worship has always carried that kind of legacy. Every hymn, every psalm, every whispered prayer builds a bridge between generations. The songs we sing today may one day steady someone else’s faith. Our worship becomes an echo for those who come after, a reminder that God can still be found, even in desolation.
Job wants the truth of God’s presence in suffering to be ‘chiselled in stone’ where time cannot erase it. In Christ, that longing finds fulfilment as our story is written on living hearts, enduring through grace.
To think about:
What songs or prayers from generations past still shape your faith today?
What legacy of worship might your community be leaving for those who come after?
How might your words, your praise, or your honesty about struggle become a witness for future generations?
Prayer: (To the tune of ‘Abide with me’)
God, write our song where time cannot erase,
carve it in mercy, not in stone but grace.
When we are gone, let others still hear,
echoes of faith that conquered the fear.
Amen
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