I’ve had some thoughts on Job’s experience with family and friends at the end of his ordeal as recorded in Job 42:10-11. They have also led me to a reflection on Job’s entire experience and the whole question of who do you lean on when challenges linger. I’m enclosing those thoughts in brackets in this quotation of that passage:
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v.10 – After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.
v.11 – All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his home.
(My question is: Where were they while he was in anguish? It was a particularly harrowing experience, the most traumatic in his entire life, but they all abandoned him! The King James Version clearly shows the sequence of events. They showed up after his restoration.)
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Job 42:10-11 (KJV)
10. And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
11. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: … (Emphasis on “Then” mine).
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v. 11 contd. – They all comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him
(After the storm was over. Job needed praise singers and instrumentalists, not comforters. It was thanksgiving time, exultation galore, and they were bringing consolation.)
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v. 11 contd. – and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
(Whatever for! He was about the richest man in his area before disaster came calling and God had just doubled everything he had.)
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OVERALL LESSON I LEARNT FROM THE BOOK OF JOB AND MY OWN WALK WITH GOD:

People cannot handle unending pain, hopelessness and relentless tragedy. Human beings are finite. They can only bear so much of your troubles and they become depressed and overwhelmed.
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So if you have a protracted problem, while you need the right human agency to assist you, do not cling to man, cling to God. Don’t wear people out with your groaning and complaining, pour it on God.
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Also, do not turn yourself into a prayer project. Whoever is praying for you wants to see a turnaround, a testimony. Don’t hold it against them if they lose their passion for your case or give up. They are only human.
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But GOD? He never gets tired of listening to you. And don’t be sanctimonious in letting it out. Remember He commended Job for sincerely expressing his frustration and confusion. Personally, I think that is part of the reason Job maintained his sanity, his faith and ultimately survived the ordeal. His honesty. Pious silence will kill you when your heart is filled with bitterness and anger.
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So bring it on! Jehovah can take it. He will deal with you in your situation and He will be with you. It may or may not end precisely the way you want it but He will cause all things to work together for your good. Halleluyah!!!
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The scriptures in this piece besides those from the KJV came from the New International Version.
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