Job 42:1-17
Epilogue
1 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.”
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.
When tragedies and bad things happen, we often question God...Job had many questions for God, in what had happened to him...Tragedy after tragedy happened to Job...Job lost family, friends, his wealth in one day...And then he lost his health...And Job clung, as best he could, to His faith and to God...
God tells us that Job was right and his friends were wrong in talking about Him...Job’s questioning of God when things happen to people and good people is alright...It is alright to question our Father in times of trouble...In fact, in times of suffering and times of trouble more questions are asked to God and about God...To speak in times of suffering and questioning God is okay, and Job seems to have gotten it right, in what he spoke about God...In the midst of all his sufferings, Job endures, he hung on, he persisted, he clung to his faith, and kept talking and questioning God...And in the end we see that Job in his questions to God about why he was suffering was right, or at least okay, with God...
And maybe it was the hanging on, the persistence, Job's endurance, his clinging to his faith -in spite of his questions to God...And in these things we see that Job had this great desire to live, and not to curse God and die as his wife had told him...Job trusted God, in that somehow His Plan would happen...And Job sees that when he meets and hears from God...
As Job's friends had told him that he had sinned and this was God's way of disciplining him...And though that may happen, it was clearly not the case here...We see that God allows suffering for different reasons...After Job's sufferings, he would be blessed by God by two times more in what he had before his tragedies...And I believe that is not in just wealth...But also in his happiness, his faith, his hope, and his love...
God tells 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...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.”...So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer...