Published Date: August 20, 2018
SCRIPTURE:
When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!
(Job 42:10 NLT)
DEVOTIONAL:
You probably remember the well-known story of Job in the Bible. . .how Job was a righteous man, blameless before God. When Satan came to taunt God, he accused Job of serving God only because he had been greatly blessed by Him. Soon after, the devil attacked Job’s health, family, finances and possessions—all that he had.
Job’s wife told him to curse God and Job’s “friends” were sure that he had committed some great sin to bring all this tragedy upon himself. Later, after the friends had accused Job of sin under the guise of trying to be “helpful” (and Job also had repented for his own wrong words), God came to Job’s defense. God told the friends that he did not accept them because they did not speak rightly about Him as did his servant, Job. God told them to offer up a sacrifice to Him and Job would pray for them.
In the New Covenant, Jesus tells us to bless and not curse our enemies, and to pray for them. Have you ever had to forgive someone who had wronged you? This is what Job was required to do. So, Job prayed for his three friends, and the Lord restored what Job had lost. In fact, God gave to Job twice as much as he had before—double! My friend, you can expect God to pour out a blessing on you, too, when you obey His instructions to forgive and to care for others.
PRAYER:
Lord, I lift up to you (name someone who’s hurt you). I forgive what they did to me and pray for Your blessing to be upon him/her/them. Meet their needs, bring restoration, understanding and (add your own words to fit the situation). In Jesus’ Name, Amen.