Reflections

¹⁰The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold.

¹²The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys.

 13He had seven sons and three daughters.

 14He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch.

 15In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.

 16After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations.

 17And Job died, an old man and full of days. Job 42:10, 12-17

God was upset with Job’s friends because they had not spoken well of God the way Job did.  So God said that He would accept Job’s prayer on their behalf and would not deal with them according to their folly.  Job prayed for his friends and when he did God restored everything that Job had lost – giving him a double portion.

Job was more blessed in his later years and got to live a long life.  He was so wealthy that he was even able to leave his daughters an inheritance which was not common.  God had truly blessed Job.

In the story of Job we are never given the reason why God allowed Satan to destroy all that Job had and make him sick in his body.  It was not because of any sin that Job committed.  God said from the beginning that Job was a righteous man that feared God and shunned evil.  We do know that in the end God restored everything Job had lost.  God was able to show that Job was a man of integrity and did not only seek God for his possessions.  Job was also a changed man.  Prior to all that happened, Job only knew God by what he heard.  Now Job had seen God and experienced God’s blessings.  Job now knew that everything that he had was a result of the goodness of God and not based on anything Job achieved.

Job’s encounter with God changed his life and his circumstances.  The same is true for us.  When we have a real encounter with God it will change us for the better.  We should not just be satisfied in knowing God based on what we just hear but we should diligently seek God and desire to spend time in His presence.  It should be our daily act of worship to spend face to face time with God.