God asked Job to pray for his friends. What is special about these friends? Why is it that Job’s prayer for his unfeeling friends is needed?
Here God is dealing with Job. He needed to guide Job on the way of healings.
Job had been in great calamities(6:2). He lost not only his possessions but also his dearer children, and his health. He had also lost many friends including his best friends who were present to confort him and whom he found torturers(4:10). He found that their efforts to comfort him was useless and wished they didn’t show up as friends(17:2-4).
From what we read, Job might have ignored and forgotten about other old friends who abandoned him in his sufferings but not about those closer friends who severely disappointed him by their accusations. Job said they were some fresh troops sent to attack him(10:17).
Job’s friends believed that every suffering Job had faced resulted from his own personal sins. They knew about God but did not know Him nor His work nor what was going on in his life. Their theory of suffering was totally unacceptable for Job and even to God(42:7). Rather angered both.
However, God came down to show mercy to Job. Therefore, He wanted him to take a step towards showing mercy to his unfeeling friends (17:4) too. God asked Job to pray for them. By praying for them, Job uprooted the root of hatred and enmity against them from his heart.
The Lord your God guides you in the way of righteousness.
In our today’s Bible verses we read,
“The LORD restored Job’s prosperity after he prayed for his friends. The LORD doubled everything that Job had once possessed.” (Job 42:10)
PRAYER : Dear God, thank you for your continued encouragement and guidance. I now pray that you help us to overcome wickedness and anger (as a result of actions and words of others) that can possibly corrupt our characters. Help us to shack the foundations of enmity and hatred by following your wonderful counsel at every steps of our life journeys and ministries, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God bless you!
Teklu