Job CCCXXLVIII

 Job 42:7-8, “And 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. 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.’”

When the dust has settled, the only thing that matters in this life is how God views you. How does God see you? What is His assessment of you? Not your friends, strangers, family, or the guy behind the deli counter trying to sell you expired bologna, but God and God alone.

Both Elihu and Job’s three friends had judged Job to be a wicked man deserving of punishment, a man who, although he had lost everything and was sitting in a pile of ashes scratching at himself with a potsherd they deemed wasn’t suffering commensurate with his sin. Yet, within the span of two verses, God called the selfsame man whom others believed to be a wicked hypocrite of the worst kind His servant no less than four times.

He made no such distinction regarding Elihu, Eliphaz, Bildad, or Zophar. He had not called them His servants; rather, He rebuked them, informing them that His wrath was aroused against them for having spoken of God things that were not right, in contrast to Job, who had.

It’s a heady thing having your entire worldview, the way you perceive God, and what you understand of Him be turned on its head in a heartbeat. Unlike His interaction with Job, God did not attempt to show the three friends where they had erred, or where they may have made assumptions that did not align with God’s wisdom, because the true intent and desire of their hearts was not to know the truth, but to bring Job low and get him to admit to wickedness he had never committed.

Some men God corrects lovingly, showing them areas in their lives that must be pruned, repented of, and realigned with His purpose, while others He stands before, arm outstretched like a crossing guard, and says, “Stop! Proceed no further; turn around, because this is not the path you should be walking, and if you insist on proceeding further, it will not end well for you.”

Within God’s rebuke of Job’s three friends, there is a twist that some may miss if their goal was simply to get done with the book and be on to the next, given that we’re so close to the finish line, and only a handful of verses remain before this forty-two-chapter journey is complete. Upon speaking directly to Eliphaz, God commanded that he and his two friends take for themselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to Job, and offer up for themselves a burnt offering. That was not the twist, but it came on the heels of this command: have Job pray for you, because Job’s prayer is the only prayer I will accept.

Could you imagine having to go to the person you’ve been judging and maligning for days on end, the person you’ve accused of being wicked beyond measure, the one you insisted knew nothing of God, or His purpose, and ask that they pray for you? This isn’t having to eat a slice of humble pie; it’s the pie in its entirety, crumbs and all.

It’s also in this that we see Job's true heart. God never wondered whether Job would pray for them; He knew that Job would, because though they had berated, maligned, and judged him harshly, Job’s heart was still pure, and serving God remained his singular desire.

A lesser man would have likely taken the opportunity to exact his revenge. A lesser man would have likely turned Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar away, showering them with platitudes and clichés such as you get what you deserve, or who’s the wicked one now, but Job didn’t.

Practical as it might be, the lesson is nevertheless profound: even when people hurt you, malign you, speak ill of you, judge you wrongly, despise you, and eagerly await your destruction, forgive them. I know, it’s easier said than done. I’ve had occasions where supposed friends and brothers did things so egregious that I had to force myself not to give in to bitterness and resentment. I had to pray not once or twice, but for extended periods, for God to search my heart and make sure there were no seeds of hatred or animosity waiting to sprout in the soil of my heart.

Even when they don’t ask for forgiveness, forgive. Even when they won’t admit wrong or fault, forgive. This doesn’t mean that the relationship will be as it was, or even that it can be repaired and restored, but what it does mean is that you don’t have the weight of unforgiveness pressing you into the dust of the earth every moment of every day.

If you believe it was no small thing for Job to now pray for the same three men who had been certain of his wickedness no more than a handful of minutes prior, try to put yourself in his shoes and be honest with yourself about how easy it would really be. They’d spent a considerable amount of time not trying to encourage, uplift, or comfort him, but trying to convince him that his entire life had been spent in ignorance, that his wickedness far surpassed that of the most reprobate men in society, and that his suffering wasn’t just deserved, but was less than he deserved.

They looked down on him, belittled him, made him question things he was certain of before they began their insistent diatribes, and now they were asking him to intercede with God on their behalf and pray for them, for it was only his prayer that God would acknowledge and accept.     

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.