Job's Prayer Life

Job’s Prayer Life and Ours.

Job 42:7-10

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 of me what is right, 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 of me what is right, 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 made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.

Someone calls the church and leaves a desperate message on the voice mail – will your church pray for us, we are having severe marital problems?

You’re in line at the bank and the teller asks you to pray for her, her mother is dying.

Did you ever wonder why people ask you to pray for them?

Can you remember the last time someone asked you to pray for them and you had every intention in the world of praying for them? Then your schedule got busy and you realize that you forgot to pray for them.

When you think of the great people of prayer in scripture whom do you think of?

Abraham?

Moses?

David?

Elijah?

Daniel?

The Apostle Paul?

Or what about great people of prayer in Christian history since Bible Times.

George Mueller?

Hudson Taylor?

John Hyde?

We probably don’t include Job, but God did.

God recognized Job to be a great man of prayer.

The Book of Job begins with him interceding for his children.

It ends with him interceding for his 3 friends.

Between the two incidents, Job endured intense suffering at the hands of Satan and unjust accusations from his 3 friends.

He had a lot of questions as we have seen over the past several weeks.

I was reading the last chapter of Job a few months ago as I was preparing this series of messages on Job’s Hard Questions and God challenged me in the area of prayer.

Here’s how God challenged me.

As I read that brief account of Job’s Prayer life – some questions came to my mind.

When God sees someone in need of prayer where does He send them?

Will he send them to you?

Is your prayer life such that God can trust you enough to send people in need of prayer your way?

That’s what was going on here with Job’s 3 friends.

They needed prayer so what did God do?

He sent them to nearest person of prayer - Job.

Job 42:8 Now 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.”

Why did God send them to Job? Because God recognized Job as a man of prayer.

This is implied in the description of his character in chapter 1.

Look at vv.1-3.

Job 1:1-3 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. 2 And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 3 Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.

When it comes to being a person of prayer character matters.

These verses tell us a number of things about the character of Job –

q He was a man.

q He was blameless.

q He was upright.

q He feared God.

q He shunned evil.

q He was a father.

q He was wealthy.

q He was a great man – One of the greatest that ever lived.

This was God’s estimate of his character. God’s estimate of a man’s character is always right.

God places a tremendous importance on the character of the person whom he would use as person of prayer. 1 Tim. 2:8 – we are to “lift up holy hands in prayer.”

Our status before God is important in being a person of prayer.

God refers to him as “MY servant Job,” 4 x’s in vv.7-8.