Am I Enough – Vindicated by God

Greetings Dear Reader,

There are moments when I am so thankful I am not someone else.  In this passage being one of Job’s friends is not a very good thing.  The Storm is speaking and Job responds with humility.  God’s instruction is simply for Job to pray for his friends.

I am amazed that Job has such a deep capacity for forgiveness.  Where were all the friends mentioned here during Job’s suffering?  Yet it is clear that Job accepts them back as family.  It is also clear that God restores much to Job.  His wife who told him to “curse God and die,” had to deliver ten more babies.

Dori: Job Restored bu God

Job becomes wealthy again.  He lives another 140 years and is prosperous.  Still the loss is there in his past.  The suffering and the pain linger.  Job, however, shows no bitterness or resentment.  I do not think he forgot about his lost children and servants.  I do not think there were not nights were he felt the pain of their absence. 

I do not think this is a guarantee that God will make us rich after suffering.  I think that it is a promise that eventually God will make all things right.  God is just.  He knows that we suffer and he cares about it.  Even when we are falsely accused God is there.  Even when he is silent and the storm rages around us he is still there. 

It was not planned that I reach the last chapter of Job today.  All around our nation we recognize a painful memorial day of sorts.  God is always present even when buildings fall to the hatred of terrorists.  There is no moment so publicly tragic in my life.  I remember where I was and what I was doing.  In that storm of airplanes, metal, and fire God was enough if we allowed him to be enough.  Those who killed in his name, like Job’s friends, were wrong about him.

When we do what is right God does not abandon us.  Even when those around us speak unkindly of the good we do God is there for us.  My inability to see him does not signify absence.  It marks the opportunity to have deeper faith.  All of creation is there to remind me that God is there.  He is in control. I matter to him even when I cannot understand why things are happening.  He longs for me to know that he is enough.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."

Job 42:1-17

Then Job answered the LORD, 

(2)  "I know that you can do everything and that your plans are unstoppable.  (3)  "You said, 'Who is this that belittles my advice without having any knowledge about it?' Yes, I have stated things I didn't understand, things too mysterious for me to know.  (4)  "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak. I will ask you, and you will teach me.'  (5)  I had heard about you with my own ears, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.  (6) That is why I take back what I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show that I am sorry." 

(7)  After the LORD had said those things to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz from Teman, "I'm very angry with you and your two friends because you didn't speak what is right about me as my servant Job has done.  (8)  So take seven young bulls and seven rams. Go to my servant Job, and make a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you. Then I will accept his prayer not to treat you as godless fools. After all, you didn't speak what is right about me as my servant Job has done." 

(9)  Then Eliphaz of Teman, Bildad of Shuah, and Zophar of Naama went and did what the LORD had told them to do. And the LORD accepted Job's prayer.  (10)  After Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored Job's prosperity and gave him twice as much as he had before.  (11)  Then all his brothers and sisters and everyone who had previously known him came to him. They ate with him at his house, sympathized with him, and comforted him for all the evil the LORD had brought to him. Each one gave him some money and a gold ring. 

(12)  The LORD blessed the latter years of Job's life more than the earlier years. He had 14,000 sheep and goats, 6,000 camels, 2,000 oxen, and 1,000 donkeys.  (13)  He also had seven sons and three daughters.  (14)  He named the first daughter Jemimah, the second Cassia, and the third Keren Happuch.  (15)  Nowhere in the whole country could be found women who were as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father gave them and their brothers an inheritance.  (16)  Job lived 140 years after this. He saw his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  (17)  Then at a very old age, Job died.