the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Job 42:1-17
We are now at the end of the book; we have come to the great lesson, which Job has at last understood. We call this deliverance — this deliverance from our contemptible self. While the LORD was speaking to him, all the high opinions which Job had of himself had progressively disappeared. Bit by bit, he was discovering with horror the wickedness of his heart. He who had promised not to say any more (Job 40:5) cries out, "I abhor myself and repent . . . ". This is what a man who "was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil" has to say when he stands in God’s presence.
Job has been sifted like wheat. It has been a painful procedure but one which, as with Peter later, has taken away all his dependence in himself. He can now strengthen his brothers and pray for his friends (v. 10; cf. Luke 22:32).
The LORD calls him "my servant Job" four times over and blames the three miserable comforters. He sends others to Job who bring him true comfort. Not only does He restore Job to his old position but He gives him double what he had before. However Job has now acquired something more precious than all this: he has learned to know God, at the same time as he was learning to know himself.
