THE END?
Opening Prayer
God, You are good—I trust You.
Read Job 42:1–17
Job
42 Then Job replied to the Lord:
2 “I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Epilogue
7 After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so Job died, an old man and full of years.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What has Job learned through this whole book?God’s questions in chapters 38 to 41 are not difficult to answer. The answer to almost every question is, “Yes, you can do that. And that. And that. Yes, you are in control. Nothing is beyond you.” And this is how Job now responds (2).
God hasn’t really told Job anything he didn’t know before. God hasn’t explained himself, or apologized, or revealed what went on behind the scenes in chapters 1 and 2. Job hasn’t physically seen God. But God has widened Job’s vision. And now Job knows God better than he did before (3,5). So it is for us too. God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isa. 55:9). And above all else, God wants an intimate relationship with us. And sometimes what he permits in our lives draws us to cry out to him and see him more truly and depend on him more firmly.
And so the Accuser’s question in 1:9 has been answered: “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Job and you and I fear and worship God because he is God—and we are not. God is in control—and we are not. And when everything else is stripped away, he is more precious to us than all we may have or have lost or never had.
Apply
Are you going through a rough or lonely time? Lean into God like you never have before: worship, fast, pray, and spend time in the Word.
Closing prayer
Praise God for all that he is today.
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