Job
chapter 42 is one of the most important chapters in the entire Bible.
Many people identify with the suffering of Job. Many people have
experienced pain or loss or even the emptiness of a life spent
following selfish desires. Some sit in hopelessness and despair and
do not see a reason to go on. But Job ends with an option for all.
It gives us a specific point of change. Like Job, most people
consider themselves to be “a good person”. Throughout the book,
Job pointed to the ways he honored God. After experiencing attack
from Satan, accusation from friends and alienation from family, Job
was in a place some of us recognize. That place is called, “Now
What?“.
Perhaps you are there now. Maybe you can see nothing but shades of
gray. Please believe me, there is hope for you. Look at the example
of Job. We are told, Job did three
things
and his life was renewed. Maybe you have tried the God-thing, but
have you done all 3? What were the three things? 1) Job
acknowledged God as Lord of all. 2) Job accepted God’s Word as
personally directed to him. 3) Job repented. The chapter begins,
“Job
replied to the Lord: ‘I know that You can do all things’
“.
“My
ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you“.
Although God reveals Himself to us in many ways, I am confident
regular attendance at church and regular reading of His Word will
foster that relationship. “Therefore
I… repent“.
Repentance is a mental and emotional and physical decision to turn
fully toward the perfect will of God. Are you ready for something
new?
It
is interesting that God is angry with Job’s friends because they
misrepresented Him. Matthew 18:6, talks about the higher standard
for teachers, but I believe this applies to everyone that claims to
represent God. “But
if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin,
it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his
neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea“.
God
said to Job’s friends,
“I am angry with you… because you have not spoken of Me what
is right“.
Those who present God’s righteous judgment without recognizing His
Mercy are in error. Also, if we represent God as all love without
any standard of righteousness we are equally out of balance. God
is perfectly righteous and perfectly merciful.
God commanded Job’s friends to make a sacrifice. Specifically
they were required to “take
seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a
burnt offering for yourselves“.
God added “My
servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer“.
Job’s friends “did
what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer“.
This is an example of intercessory prayer, where one person prays for
another. Certainly we are to pray for one another, but for true
forgiveness of sin we must turn to the “Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world”
(John 1:29). According to Hebrews 9:22; “Without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness“.
Jesus has already done the work on the cross. All you need to do is
believe.
The
final message of Job is for those who have accepted God’s offer of
Salvation. It does not matter if you are twenty or ninety years old,
Salvation brings a promise of restoration. Notice when everything
changed for Job, “After
Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again
and gave him twice as much as he had before“.
Are you holding on to bitterness? Jesus said to “Love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”
(Matthew 5:44). And I will add; it
is very difficult to hate someone you are praying for.
Some people look back at their life and see nothing but ruin. If
that sounds familiar, here is an offer from God, “I
will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten”
(Joel 2:25). We read, “The
Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first“.
And
the chapter ends with this final footnote, “After
this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and
their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and
full of years“.
I am just one of many examples of God’s restoration. God gave me
a promise when I received His gift of Salvation and I desire anyone
reading this to experience this personally.
“Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the
new has come!”
(2 Corinthians 5:17). Now what? Lord Jesus, I believe you died to
pay the debt of my sin and I ask You to forgive me and fill me with
Your Holy Spirit. I ask you to open Your Word to me and teach me to
Honor You. I desire to be restored completely; to have fellowship
with Your Spirit and to live with You in eternity. Wash me clean
right here and right now. I ask this trusting in the Name and
authority of Jesus, My Lord and My Savior.