Job - Chapter 42

Job, a blameless man, undergoes tests from Satan but remains faithful to God. His friends wrongly believe his suffering is due to sin. A young man named Elihu defends God. God speaks to Job, highlighting His power and wisdom. Job humbles himself and repents. After praying for his friends, Job is blessed with double his previous prosperity. Job forgives his friends and is granted an inheritance for his daughters. Job lives a long life and dies full of years. James references Job's perseverance and encourages forgiveness. The key lesson is to repent, speak well of God, pray for others, endure suffering, and worship God. Hi ladies, and welcome to the amazingbible.book club. I'm Julie Calio, your host, and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to tune in with me today. If by chance you want to contact me, you can do that at bab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we are finishing up the book of Job with chapter 42. Up to this point, Job was known by God as a man who was blameless and upright, who feared God and shunned evil. He was given two tests. The first, Satan could touch all that Job had, but not him. At this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing, chapter 1 verse 22. The second test was Satan could touch Job with sickness, but not kill him, so he received sores from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, chapter 2 verse 10b said. In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. Job's three friends came to comfort him, and they were miserable comforters, chapter 16 verse 2, because they believed these trials came because of sin in Job's life, but he kept denying that. Finally, they gave up, and a young man, Elihu, took up the argument in chapters 32 through 37. He also believed that Job had sinned, but one thing he did do was uplift God and his character. Job kept pleading for a conversation with God in order to defend himself, and God showed up in full force in chapters 38 through 41. Here we see the Lord, the personal name of God, address Job, not defending himself, but with tons of questions to Job about creation, the universe, understanding some amazing animals, and of course, Job didn't have a clue. Chapter 40 verses 1 through 5 read, The Lord said to Job, Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him. Then Job answered the Lord, I am unworthy. How can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer. Twice, but I will say no more. The Lord was not done. He again spoke from out of the storm with more questions. Then Job replied to the Lord at the start of chapter 42. Then Job replied to the Lord, I know that you can do all things. No plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, listen now, and I will speak. I will question you, and you shall answer me. My ears have heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. In my ESV study Bible, it pointed out that comfort was a key word throughout the book. His friends came to comfort him, but they did not. Instead, they condemned him, chapter 32, verse 3. Yet, as the study Bible said, Job found the comfort he needed in the vision of God's unsearchable wisdom. When Job saw God the Creator and all that he is sovereign over, he recognized that he was the created and just a speck in the grand scheme of things. I find it interesting that Job re-says the words that the Lord spoke to him, and his final response was, my ears have heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Ladies, one thing about going through suffering is if we are looking, we find God. It makes me think of the old hymn, the longer I serve him, the sweeter he grows. Job has had an encounter with the Almighty God, and he will never be the same. When the created experienced the Creator, he recognized his otherness, his holiness, his righteousness, and when he encountered that, he recognized, even though he was blameless and upright and feared God and shunned evil, he recognized he was still a sinner. Romans chapter 3, verse 23 says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Then Job responded with repentance. Verse 6 ends the poetic format, and verses 7 through 16 go back to the narrator telling us Job's story. After the Lord spoke to Job, he then spoke to the ringleader of the three friends, Eliphaz. I am angry with you and your two friends because you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has. Ouch! One thing to note is that since there is not rebuke on the young guy Elihu, which by the way is the only Hebrew name in this story, and it could mean he is God or possibly Yahweh is God, it seems clear that the Lord was pleased with Elihu standing up for the Lord. The three friends were to take a burnt offering for themselves to quote my servant Job. When the Lord said that Job would pray for them and then God would not deal with them quote according to their folly, the end of verse 8 reads, You have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has. Even here it shows us that what Job said was true, but when he demanded a meeting with God to defend his case, it was not quite what he had in mind. Verse 10 is very important. After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. When did the Lord bless Job? After Job had prayed for his friends, those friends who had condemned him. You see Job needed to forgive his friends before he was blessed by God. This is one way that we see God's love for Job. As we are in the first week of this new year, let me ask, is there anyone you need to forgive? Did anybody pop into your mind? After my dad died, we went through many books and papers. My dad taught a Sunday school class for years and I found three pages of notes from some book about forgiveness that he taught when he covered Job chapter 22. He mentioned Dr. Fred Luskin of Palo Alto, California, but I don't know if all of these are from him and no book title was given, but here were a few highlights from my dad's notes. Number one, forgiveness changes the present, not the past. Ladies, there is no going back, but we spend a lot of time thinking about the past. Number two, forgiveness is a personal choice. Number three, it is not about changing the person who hurt you. Number four, it is not about condoning their actions or even reconciling with them. Number five, it is a choice you make to heal yourself. Letting go means deciding that you are not going to allow anger and bitterness to poison your life. It is about taking control of your thoughts and emotions and not playing the part of the victim in your storm. Then there was a quote, holding on to resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. The Lord did not want Job to resent his friends, but he wanted him to live in freedom and forgiveness and that is because the Lord loved Job. One way to begin that process of forgiveness is to pray for them. I confess that usually when I begin that process it is God get them, but then slowly God changes my heart and I find myself praying that God would bless them with himself. It means it begins with truth before God. Tell him what happened, he knows anyway. I usually say things like I don't want to forgive him, but I know you want me to, so I am willing to let you change my heart and because he loves me so much, he does. He loves you so much that he will heal your heart too. After Job prayed, the Lord blessed him with twice as much as he had before. His family and friends came and comforted and consoled him over all the troubles the Lord had brought upon him and everyone gave him a piece of silver and gold ring. Job was so blessed that he had seven sons and three daughters again, but this time we know the names of the three daughters, which is usually insignificant to the story, but here it is important. They were Jemima, which means dove, Keziah, which is a kind of perfume, and the third Kareem Hapook is a type of eye shadow. My ESV study Bible said their beauty indicated a special status. The daughters were even granted an inheritance along with their brothers, oh yeah! Job ends, after this Job lived 140 years. He saw his children and their children to the fourth generation and so he died old and full of years. In Psalm chapter 90 verse 10 we find that the length of our days is 70 years, so here even Job had twice as long of a life span, not even including the years before these tragedies. Jesus' half-brother James wrote his letter to believers in Christ who were suffering. In chapter 5 verses 10 through 11 he writes, Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Then James speaks of the prayer that is offered up in faith and then he ends his letter in a unique way and it has just dawned on me that maybe he was thinking of Job as he ended his letter. He wrote in verses 19 and 20, My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this, whoever turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. Job did that for his friends, let's do that for ours too. So if you have heard his voice today, please don't harden your heart, instead let's be women who repent if we need to, speak right of the Lord in all his wisdom, pray for our friends and our enemies, forgive those whom the Lord brings to mind, endure during suffering, wait patiently for the Lord's return, let us have our eyes open to the Lord and his love for us, and let's worship him in his glorious sovereignty. Until next time, and thank you so much for listening.