Job Is Restored - Job Chapter Fourty Two Series

Job 42 could be outlined:

Job Humbly Submits To God (Job 42:1-6)

The Lord Speaks To Job’s Friends (Job 42:7-9)

Job Is Restored (Job 42:10-17)

We have reached the final chapter of Job. In chapter one Job is put to the test. Satan has asked God to test Job. The testing becomes more severe in chapter two. The rest of the book is Job’s response to the testing. A basic truth is – life is a test and it is a trust. How we handle the bad stuff in life is important – so too is how we handle the good stuff. Things like faithfulness, hope, endurance are important. How do you know if you will be found faithful if you are not tempted with unfaithfulness? In the NASV of the Bible – James 5:11 asks: “Have you not heard of the endurance of Job?” Endurance counts. Job endured the test. He has set an example for all of us to follow.

The book of Job is considered by many to be the oldest book of the Bible yet it deals with a basic question – the problem of evil in our lives. Because of the fall on Adam and Eve – all of us suffer – those who are righteous and those who are wicked. Suffering is a part of life – because of the fall. If we think that the righteous will not suffer – we only need to look at what happened to Jesus. He did not suffer because of the sin in his life – he suffered because of the sin in our life. “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our inequity.” (Isa. 55:7)

1Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2“I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 3You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ 5“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 6Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1-5 (NKJV)

JOB HUMBLY SUBMITS TO GOD

God has sent the last four chapters asking Job, “Who do you think you are?” Job now answers. He starts by glorifying God. He says, “You can do anything and everything. Nothing You set your mind on will be stopped – all of Your purposes will be fulfilled.”

Job goes on to say in verse three, “You have asked me, “Who is this that speaks of things he does not understand? Who is this that opens his mouth and inserts his foot? You are right – I have spoken when I should have observed and listened. I should have been – quick to listen and slow to speak – but I wasn’t. I spoke of things that I don’t know about.”

Job humbles himself in verse four humbles himself before God when he pleads with Him, “Will You please listen to me? Will You hear me out?” In this verse Job is asking permission to speak God because he says, “You questioned me and You asked me for an answer. Please let me give you one.”

Job does not strive to answer the great and grand questions of the universe – instead he explains what he has seen, “I have heard stories of You – but now I have seen You with my own eyes. I am humbled – I am undone – I am shattered before You. I will repent in the mud hole of my life – for nothing compares to Your Glory.”

Great is God and mighty to be praised. There is no one like Him. He alone is holy. Even when we think we have the purest of motives – there are shadows. Only in Him are there no shadows at all. Job knows this – for he has seen God and Job realizes that his hands are dirty. No amount of scrubbing that one does on his own hands will get them clean. That is why Job says in verse six, “I can’t stand myself – I will go, sit and repent in a pile of dirt. From dust I was made – to dust I will return.”

7And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. 8Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”9So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD commanded them; for the LORD had accepted Job. Job 42:7-9 (NKJV)