Job 42

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Job’s Repentance and Restoration

BACKGROUND NOTES

In the first six verses of this chapter, it is apparent that Job has finally learned the lesson God was teaching him. What was this lesson?
How would you describe Job’s greater understanding of the Lord (vs 5, 6)?
What indication is given in verse 7 that Job had finally come to understand God correctly and was no longer questioning God’s ways?
From whom did God require a sacrifice? Why did God require a sacrifice from them? Did they respond properly to God’s command?
Why did God not require a sacrifice from Elihu?
When did God restore Job’s fortunes (v 10)? Describe the restored blessings.
Is there any indication that Job held a grudge toward his friends and relatives who showed up after Job’s fortunes had been restored but who were absent during Job’s suffering (v 11)?

The lesson that God was teaching Job, and the lesson that Job finally learned, was this: if God was in control of all things, including the scary creatures that were symbols of evil, then He was certainly in complete control of Job’s suffering (vs 1-3).
Job by faith was finally able to see God with greater spiritual insight. Job acknowledged his own insignificance and truly repented (vs 5, 6).
In verse 7, God calls Job “My servant,” an indication that Job had come to understand God correctly and that he was no longer questioning God’s ways.
God required a sacrifice from Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar because they had shown no repentance or change in their bad theology concerning Job’s suffering. They had sinned in misrepresenting God and saying that God was punishing Job. Now God required that they acknowledge their wrong thinking and bring a sacrifice (v 7, 8). The three men did respond to God properly (v 9).
God did not require a sacrifice from Elihu because Elihu had come closer to the truth in his position that God was not punishing Job for some sin, but was rather using Job’s suffering to teach Job.
God restored Job’s fortunes after Job had obediently prayed for his three friends (v 10). Job’s fortunes were restored and he was blessed with a new family.
There is no indication that Job held any grudge toward his friends or relatives (vs 11-17).

Discuss the rich blessings and fortune that God restored to Job after his repentance. Consider how God doubled Job’s previous possessions, gave him 10 “new” children, and also restored his health in such a way that he lived another 140 years! Meditate on God’s great mercy and grace.

In your own life-experiences, have you said that God could not use suffering or sickness or financial loss for His sovereign purposes? Have you suffered in these ways and yet not seen God’s purposes in them? Do not limit God’s ways of accomplishing His purposes, and look for the lessons He may be trying to teach you in the midst of suffering.

“Then Job answered the Lord and said, ‘I know that you can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.’” Job 1, 2, 5, 6