Whose Sake?

Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks 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 him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. (Job 42:8)

I want us to realize that God’s focus is always on His servants whatever He does.

In this instance Job needed to learn surrender and forgiveness. It was the culmination of the training God had been giving him when He challenged Satan to a duel of sorts.

Then the devil sent those friends to add, nay, amplify the pain by turning them against him, imputing God’s training school to Job’s wickedness.

How does it feel being accused and condemned for something you know you are not guilty of, having piles of evidence to prove the same? Yet you do not even understand where the initial problem originated?

Imagine being lost in the wilderness? Then when you notice a landmark to get you back to sanity a storm begins obliterating even the little sense of direction you had been trying to establish.

I believe that was the place Job was at when God stepped in.

How was he feeling about being read for (literal translation of kusomewa [Kiswahili]) he had to endure from his friends? Were they really his friends?

God needed to right Job’s heart before He could get him into another level. He had to eliminate the bitterness pain has the capacity of building in a heart. And it required a deliberate action.

That is why God required Job to pray for his torturers.  Because in his praying he would open the door for healing.

I remember one time I was knocked by a robber and left for dead. I am sure he left confident I was dead once he realized I knew him (I came to hours later). I have written about that elsewhere and so will not repeat the story.

As I was pursuing justice, God ordered me to let it go and start praying for him.

In three years the same guy walked straight to me as I was leading a meeting and asked to receive Christ.

That was God’s confirmation that He had healed my heart as I was able to receive him with gratitude.

I believe this was the reason God gave that order to those friends. And the reason Job’s captivity was released immediately after.

Releasing the captivity before that could have been catastrophic for Job as it could have been very hard for him not to try to prove a point to those friends. It is also possible that he could have had a hard time receiving his family and friends who had turned against him in his most difficult moments when he most needed them.

In short the captivity could have been lengthened or even worsened because he could have had a bone to pick with anybody and everybody.

Job released himself by releasing his friends.

What am I saying?

We are blessed as we bless others. We find rest as we relieve others. And we gain forgiveness by forgiving others.

Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant Jesus gave?

But that is not the only time God did things for the sake of His friend.

Remember that Lot had nothing in him to be rescued from Sodom?

Though the Bible calls him righteous, he was already soiled by the stench of Sodom since you remember that shortly after his rescue, not only did his wife look back, his daughters drug raped him.

And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. (Genesis 19:29)

Several times Israel was saved because of Moses’ relationship with God. And you remember Solomon’s punishment was reduced because of David’s relationship with God.

In short, not everything is as it looks.

That favor you are boasting about could be the product of someone’s worship, probably someone you do not even know.

Their relationship to God and your forebears meant that you will harvest that favor.

That breakthrough you are boasting about may be because your parents were faithful in their dealings.

You may have to forget about those fasts you think are the reason you enjoy those answers to prayer.

But you could also choose to be the reason others are blessed and enjoy favor just as we know you can do the same to attract a curse like Jeroboam, Baasha, Ahab.

The choice is yours.

David was the last born but became the reason his whole family enjoyed the blessings of his worship to the point of being enjoined to the Christ. Rahab the harlot was the city reject yet was the reason her whole family was not destroyed when Jericho was.

What will you choose?

Will your worship become a blessing to others?

And those experiences do not only bear fruit that touches others, they strengthen and enrich our relationship with God.