JOB'S PRAYER OF REPENTANCE
From the beginning of time, people
have thought, said, taught and proclaimed some of the most incorrect and even
vile things about God. All of this comes
from one place – the father of lies. This created being told the first lie ever
recorded in Genesis 3:4 (“surely you will not die”) and it has been downhill
since.
There is the lie of Evolution and the
Big Bang – “first there was nothing, and then a big bang happened”!! (huh??) There is the lie of Universalism,
where God is whatever or whomever you proclaim him to be. There is lie after lie after lie.
Some
of them come from seminary trained pastors and preachers, who should know
better. But they consider themselves and their earthly “ministries” so
supremely important (mostly to their own financial well-being) that are willing
to knowingly sacrifice the Eternal Abode and Rewards for the temporal riches of
this world.
Job was NOT such a man. Job stood
strong in his Faith in Yahweh (I am Who I am, or Jehovah, YHWH) from the
beginning. Job said in Job 1:22 “He
said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there.
Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.”
When his
wife told him to curse God and die after all the tragedy and tribulation struck
his life, Job refused. He said in Job 2:10 “But he said to her, “You speak as
one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand
of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Then the Bible says “Job did not
sin with this lips.”
Job loved
God so much he said in Chapter 13:15 “Though He slays me, I will trust in Him”.
Then he gave us one of the most famous verses of Scripture here ….and one which
has even become a popular song “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In
the end, He will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25)
My Redeemer Lives! Nicole C. Mullen
wrote a song on this same verse! Can you and I say these things in light of
even one tenth of what Job experienced? Can we even stand in the face of a
loved one (his wife) egging him on to act just like everybody else in this
world? Can we? Yes, we can – if we have a repentant heart.
Repentance is a word you never hear in
churches anymore for many reasons. The main reason is that in order to use the
word “repentance”, it means the person actually has something –sin- of which to
repent, period!
Job had his uninformed friends, whose
diatribes, he had to listen to for most of the book of Job. His friends’ “advice”
are not too unlike the pop psychology and self-help books or curricula you find
in the front of today’s Christian bookstores!
Job was like the rest of us. He fell into the trap of developing his own
concept of his awful situation and therein lay his error.
We too fall into wrong thinking about
ourselves and our positional, temporal condition before God even when we know
better. We then proceed to ascribe all kinds of attributes about the Great God
of Heaven without true knowledge of the Holy. It is perfectly sound to have
legitimate questions for the Creator and the Holy Spirit (if we are saved) will
interpret and reveal the answers, in time. It is another thing to start proclaiming,
writing, making YouTube videos based on things we will be held accountable for
on Judgment Day, if they are not made right here on earth.
After almost three dozen chapters of
this error, God did not answer Job as Job expected. Instead, God – YahWeh (or
Jesus) Who spoke to Moses at the Bush and was not speaking to Job- came back
with a series of the greatest questions ever. We will examine those questions
next time.
There was no way Job could answer any
of those questions. He had no clue and
no standing in the Ways of YahWeh. Still, he did have standing and favor before
Him, in righteousness. Once Job realized that he was completely wrong, even in
his pain and tribulation, he prayed one of the most significant prayers in the
Bible.
As you and I look at this prayer,
place yourself in it because we carry the same sin, in one form or another.
Then repent and ask forgiveness from the Lord. Then watch how He uses you and I
to bless and pray for someone else!
JOB’S PRAYER OF REPENTANCE (JOB 42:1-6
WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE)
1 Then Job answered
Yahweh,
2 “I know that You
can do all things,
and that no purpose of Yours can be
restrained.
3 You asked, ‘Who
is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’
therefore I have uttered that which I
did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I
didn’t know.
4 You said,
‘Listen, now, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you will
answer me.’
5 I had heard of You
by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees You.
6 Therefore I abhor
myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
In Part 2 of this post, we will go
deeper into this prayer and see what Job meant by verse 2, when he said “I know
that You can do all things and that no purpose of Yours can be restrained”.
