He was a well-dressed older gentleman. You could tell his clothes, at one time, had been nicely tailored. They were filthy and ripped now. The fire in the pit had long gone out and the ashes were cold. He had taken a clay pot and thrown it on the ground, its shards scattering. He was sitting in the middle of the ashes searching among the shards on the ground. He found one apparently to his liking and picked it up. He stretched out his legs, one at a time, slowly and painfully. Hiking the cloth up past his knee he began scraping open the boils, releasing the pus. His face contorted in a grimace of agony and a groan escaped his parched lips. His breath raggedly caught in his throat and he rocked back and forth, eyes closed, riding out the anguish.
After some time, he didn’t know how long, he became aware of some moving shadows nearby. His heart was too heavy with a stone of grief and pain to bother to look up, but soon those shadows materialized into three of his friends. They sat down with him in the ashes, mouths agape, not recognizing their long-time friend.
They had never seen him like this. His eyes were hollow and encircled with weariness and grief. His face was streaked with dirt and tears, and as they watched, new rivulets made their way down his ravaged features. He was a terrifying picture of acute loss and unutterable sorrow, and they couldn’t meet his haunted eyes.
They sat with him for seven days, unable to utter a sound. They came to bring comfort.
After seven days passed, they began to speak. He must have done something wrong to deserve this, this tragedy! Losing everything he had, and even his children, well there must be some heinous secret he was trying to keep from God. It must be so. Job must confess his sin so God will stop the punishment.
Job’s friends had their world-view figured out and everything must fit into their box, because that’s what helped them sleep at night. So they came to get Job to admit to something, anything, so they could continue to be comforted in their world-view.
But Job didn’t comply with their request. He knew his own heart, even though he couldn’t understand why God had allowed such destruction to happen to him. He didn’t have any answers. The blows came again in waves of nauseous pain as he relived each and every calamity as he had been told of them.
Wealth – gone.
Crops – gone.
Flocks – gone.
Children – dead. This, of all things, sucked the breath out of him every time he remembered, drawing out a groan of such pain his friends shrank away in terror.
Everything gone. Except for a wife who goaded him to curse God and then die.
You might remember what transpired at the very beginning of this tragic story. What event set all this tragedy in motion.
Satan said to God – you know Job only loves and serves you because you’ve made him wealthy. Take everything he has away from him and he’ll curse you to your face.
And God said – alright. But don’t touch his body.
And Satan did. And Job still praised God.
Then Satan said, alright, alright – skin for skin – touch his body, and he’ll curse you to your face.
And God said, alright. But don’t take his life.
Now you might think, wow, that’s terrible! Satan and God using Job as a pawn in their cosmic game. No, there’s something else going on there, but that’s not part of this story.
The part of this story that grabbed my attention was at the very end of many long and windy dissertations.
Job’s friends had finally exhausted their advice and condemnation. Job was finally just exhausted.
That’s when God spoke. He reminded Job of who He was. God didn’t tell Job why everything had been taken from him. God described to Job His absolute power and absolute strength. God revealed to Job many things that had been questions in Job’s heart. And that brought Job comfort. But God didn’t tell Job the why.
But that’s not what got my attention either.
This is what stopped me in my tracks: God was not happy with Job’s three friends. Not happy at all. They had not spoken correctly about what was going on and what God’s role in it all was. So God told Job to pray for his friends, asking for forgiveness for them for the wrong things they had said about Him.
So Job did. And God accepted his prayer.
Then God restored everything Job had lost – well, He actually doubled everything so Job ended up twice as wealthy as he was before. Plus more children to love.
And here is the revelation that punched me in the heart and shook me hard: Job’s friends had accused and berated him when he was at the absolute lowest and most painful point of his life. They hurt his feelings – deeply. They couldn’t seem to feel his pain, or truly validate his grief. And I know Job was angry – very angry – with them.
Betrayal. That’s what Job felt.
So why did God tell Job to pray for his friends? In order for Job to pray for his friends with his heart – because that’s when God pays attention – Job had to forgive them first.
Totally and completely.
You see, God knew Job’s heart all along. So I came away with two things from this story:
The first is this – God wants us to acknowledge who He is. And when you acknowledge who He is, worship automatically follows. You can’t access power you don’t believe in.
The second is this – God commands us to forgive. His power can only work in hearts that are open.
Job’s story was not really about Job at all. His story has been played out through the centuries over and over again to lesser degrees, but the truths are constant.
We worship. We forgive. God acts. And we are the conduits of an awesome power beyond our ability to harness.
