Day Fifteen Back: Fri 4th Oct
Reflecting on Job: Chapter 42
This final chapter of Job has always been something I’ve looked to as the goal of any believer. It was how I concluded my very first sermon in 2018. Job achieves steadfastness here, and declares that while he had only heard of God before, now, he sees Him. It’s incredibly powerful.
He seeks repentance for the things he uttered which he did not understand in a prayer from verses 1-6.
“Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
True peace came to him when he repented in dust and ashes. This was a peace that nobody else could provide – most definitely not his friends.
This has been my prayer since my first day out. Lord, let me see you, open the eyes of my heart. Sometimes the only thing we can do is to wait and to seek Him, to find our joy and peace in Him. There may be no explanations or reasons for why you’re suffering. You may feel that it’s wasted, that it’s pointless. However, nothing is wasted in God. He is doing work for you, as He is for me.
I’ve had abandonment issues since I was a child. I’ve suffered from not being able to trust people, myself included.
In this chapter, God vindicates and restores Job. However, that is hardly the primary lesson. The Job I see in chapter 42 is stellar in Christ. He has reached a level of peace, devotion, and dependence on Christ that overshadows his circumstances – the external is no longer his primary concern; his heart and connection to God are.
It’s through this relationship that I can build on values and truth that liberate me from the anxiety of losing control and being hurt. Truly, my future and only hope is guaranteed on my dependence on His strength, in that I can live and fight for truth, and be vindicated and restored.
Prayer:
Thank You Father for this journey. Though its been difficult, You have been right there next to me. Thank You for continuing to open the eyes of my heart. Help me to see more and more of you as I pursue day by day. Help me to see you as Job did. Thank You my King, for preserving my life, keeping me safe and building me back up. Please continue to do so. Redeem me my King, restore me.
