The Parable of Job

After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: ‘My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and 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 his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.’ So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.  ⁸⁹
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money^* and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this Job lived for one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days.  Job 42:7-17

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So I've been continuing my bible study. I've been following a chronological list. So far I've gone through the creation story, the flood story, and then onto the entire book of Job.

This old testament parable teaches us that 1) God is a mystery, but also that 2) if we remain faithful he will reward us. God rebuke's Job's "friends" for the way they have treated Job and spoken to him. They have falsely judged a righteous man.

While no human is perfect, we as Christians strive to be righteous. No one full understands your walk & relationship with God better than you or God. I'm sure many of us have faced times when other people have hurt us by judging us wrongly. I believe these trials are a test of our faith, our righteousness - like Job.

I recently dealt with a situation where some people very close to me wrongfully judged. They couldn't get over my past in order to see the pureness of my heart for helping out at this event. The entire time they were full of assumptions focusing on what they wanted to believe or "prove" I was doing, not what was actually happening.

The situation hurt greatly (like Job's). I almost made a wrong decision because of it. I wanted to blame the wrong people. I struggled with this situation on my heart for several weeks - no matter how hard I tried to let it go.

But I was finally able to see through my study that I am like Job. And that God had a plan the whole time, and that if I remain faithful and don't let things affect my walk, God will rebuke those who have wronged, and reward righteousness.

We shouldn't get so preoccupied with the storm (the testing) that we lose site of God. We shouldn't harbor bitterness in our hearts.