Job was right.
Nothing in his story looked like it.
As a matter of fact if you were standing with him, you would have called him out on being self righteous.
It just made sense. How does one man get slammed with tragedy after tragedy if he hasn’t sinned against God?
We weren’t there, but guess who did our job for us?
Job’s self-appointed theologian friends took it upon themselves to explain to him that his life was in tatters because of previous sin.
They took turns in calling Job out for being a sinner and asked that he humble himself.
If you were to take out chapter 42 from the book of Job, they would have been justified, but God didn’t take Job through pain and just bring him into a double blessing, God took the time to pronounce judgement on the characters in this profound story.
After God volleyed question after question at Job (1), it made sense to say that Job was to shut up because he was wrong. The entire thesis of God’s response to Job wasn’t that Job was reaping the fruit of his sin, it was that God remained God and His ways remained beyond the understanding of every human including Job.
Contrast that with the diatribes offered by Job’s friends which suggested that were Job to repent, his suffering would cease and that if he hadn’t done anything grievous in the past, he wouldn’t be suffering.
In Chapter 42, we see God’s final words on the matter.
God tells Job’s friends that they wrong and Job is right (2).
God also mentions that their wrong isn’t something He’s willing to overlook unless they offer seven bulls and seven rams and -here’s the kicker- have Job pray for them.
So the bankrupt Job who has lost his children, his pride and his health is asked by the Almighty to pray for his ‘know-it- all’, ‘have- it- all’ friends who have spent lengthy periods lecturing him.
For good measure, God tells Eliphaz that when Job prays, his prayer will be answered.
Hmm. Aren’t we talking about the same man whose unanswered prayers have left him destitute?
Our answers lie with Job when he says of God. Surely I spoke of things I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me to know (3).
Why does this matter?
Maybe it takes one look at your life to believe you’re the last person God will listen to in prayer.
Maybe the evidence on hand suggests you’re not particularly favored by the Most High.
Maybe you have well meaning friends whose attitude to your pain makes you think you must be crazy to believe God is on your side.
Read the last chapter of Job.
See who was right, even when bad circumstances hadn’t turned around.
God gave his judgements and then gave His rewards.
Some things you can’t understand and neither can I.
Regardless, we can know that God can be trusted with the final outcome.
1- Job 38-41
2- Job 42 v 7
3- Job 42 v 3