18th July 25

Good morning everyone,

Friday! the week seems to have flown by as ever and here we are ready for the weekend. Why not join us in church on Sunday I shall be talking about damsels and dragons..........

Today's reading is Job 42 ...for the last time, we now hear about our patient heroes fate.... 

Then Job answered the Lord: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

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.

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 one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days.

Reflection.... 

And so this comes to an end, and we can't deny that Job has suffered, has engaged in lament and has subsequently found out about the greatness of God; not that he didn't already know of it, but he has also realised that throughout all his trials God has remained in relationship with him.

And the fairytale ending...too good to be true? why shouldn't Job get it all after what he has been through? This does not negate the story of suffering and and despair we have heard in the previous chapters, but job has changed and there are subtle differences here that suggest Job is not just returning to what he had before. And maybe our images of God need to be rethought in light of what has gone on. Poor old Job's struggle to understand what has happened to him must, I am afraid to say, remain a mystery, but what is very apparent from all this is that despite everything Job could still say of God - I have seen you.

Such glimpses of God as Job received have been given to us in a fresh way in Jesus who told his disciples that those who had seen him had seen the Father also. One day we will see him face to face, nit just dimly through a glass darkly.

I hope you have enjoyed Job as much as I have. It's been a long haul but one that has been worth it. I knew little of the book before we started this, but find I am much more knowledgeable now! and we should take much comfort from it all knowing that whatever is going on God is always with us.

Today's prayers

Gracious Father, by the obedience of Jesus you brought salvation to our wayward world: draw us into the harmony of your will, that we may find all things restored in him, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Have a great weekend- see you Sunday?

Rev Rie