Job 42 ends the saga. “Job answered God…..You can do anything and everything”. God has been giving Job a firsthand look at creation and His universe, and Job gets it. Job understands that he was the problem during all the trials and struggles. “I admit it. I was the one”. Job admits his mistake. That is called confession. Are you a confessor? Do you admit when you are wrong? Sometimes I struggle with that. OK – I always struggle with it. I don’t like to be wrong and even hate admitting it even more. But that is what God expects when we fall short – to admit our sin and shortcomings and let His grace and mercy come over us – that is what forgiveness is all about. God sets us free when we confess and repent.
But God isn’t just interested in restoring Job here. He confronts Eliphaz and his two buddies and says this:”You haven’t been honest either with me or about me”. God requires them to sacrifice some bulls and rams to get things right. He wants their obedience. And the good news for them, they “did what God commanded”. Obedience is the only answer when God speaks. We must never forget that. Part of the program was for Job to pray for his friends. These guys that had really not been friends but had tried to rub his face in his problems. Yet watch what God does here: “After Job had interceded for his friends, GOD restored his fortune”. Do you see this? God required Job to intercede for his friends, these guys who had really been less than friends lately, before he got back what he had lost. And when he did, God not only restored but “doubled it”. Wow – what a victory for overcoming. But it was dependent on Job’s willingness to intercede. What is intercession? It is when I am willing to stand between someone and God – to take on their problems and issues and go to the throne on their behalf. A tall order for Job who had been beat down by these three. But he does it. And God’s response: “God blessed Job’s later life even more than his earlier life”. Holy cow……God is good. He lives on another “hundred and forty years” so he had some time to enjoy the blessings God gave him. But the last verse sums it so well: “He died an old man, a full life”.
