Passage of the Day: Job 42 … Linked for study …
My Journal for Today: I agree with my devotional shepherd, Chuck Swindoll in his book, Great Days with the Great Lives, that Chapter 42 of Job, especially the first eleven verses is a wonderful representation of what happens at the cross. And you know, the times I had read this victorious chapter earlier, I had never really seen it that way.
Oh, I saw Job being restored after his prayer for the three “friends” who had done him wrong [see this memorable passage of restoration in Job 42: 10]. And I had seen God’s justice coming into balance after it had seemingly been out of balance for so long with Job getting the short end of Satan’s stick. And I saw Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar having to humble themselves before God and Job. But until Pastor Swindoll helped me see it, I had never seen how God – as He did at the cross – released His justice and mercy so that the power of His grace could be worked out in one final efficacious act of love. I had never seen Job as a personification of what our Lord did for us on the cross.
Yes, that’s what is happening in Job 42; and it’s what happened at the cross. Job prayed for the three men here; and on the cross Jesus prayed, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” And in Job’s act, as well as that of the Lamb of God, sinners were set free – forever. And Job was then fully restored into his former glory, just as God, the Father, did for Jesus when The Father’s Son ascended back into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God, the Father, re-established into the glory which He had so ignominiously set aside to walk in agony as a servant of mankind (see Phil. 2: 5 – 11 - link provided).
Oh, my friends, isn’t the balance of God’s justice and His grace so, so perfect? And here, in this story of Job’s serving God, we see a picture of the suffering Servant, Jesus; and we must stand in awe of what our Savior went through to serve His Father and what He did in His earthly walk to suffer for my sins (and yours). Job becomes another of the arch types of The Christ that we study to realize whom we must become as God’s Spirit reshapes us into His image for eternity.
So, we must ask ourselves, are there any in our lives for whom we need to pray, “Forgive them, Father, for they really didn’t know what they were doing when they wronged me”? Do we need to repent our confused and selfish heart, as did Job, when we experience tribulations in this life and we’re tempted to ask, “Why, me, Lord?” Do we need to be more patient – as was Job in his account – realizing God truly does work out ALL things for my good and His glory [see, of course, Romans 8: 28]? This has been a good review for me to do the self inventory which Paul spoke of in 2nd Cor. 13: 5 [linked] to see if, indeed, my faith sees Christ is in me and I trust His Spirit for all that is going on in my life.
Perhaps we all need to take that test and see if we have the patience of Job [and Jesus] in our hearts.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I know I need to do more to see Your fruit of patience mature in my heart. Amen
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