Even if you are not a Christian, you would have heard at least once about this person Job. He is the iconic figure in the Bible that suffered through so many hardships yet still maintained his integrity as a man of God. Before the tragic death of my daughter, I would talk to myself that I would trust and praise God whatever bad things happened in my life but wishing and hoping that what had happened to Job would never happen to me.
However, it wasn't until I got struck by this life changing event that I got to read Book of Job with whole different perspectives. Now I am experiencing part of what Job had to go through. Even though what I am going through now is too small to be compared with what Job had gone through, I could totally relate myself with every word he said especially when he was defending himself against his friends' accusations. Out of all, what truly amazed me in the Book of Job is the verse below.
10 And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold. (NKJV)
Yes, not only God restored Job's losses he also doubled his wealth. But, no this is not what I want to share with you. We all know that Job was later even more blessed by God for having maintained his belief but I guess none of us has ever focused on verse 11 here. It says THEN all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him in his house. And what did they do? They ate together. They consoled and comforted Job. They even gave Job a piece of silver and a ring of gold. Still don't get it? Look when they came to Job. It was after God restored everything to Job. Probably, Job would have needed all these fellowships, comforts and materials when he was struck by the trials and hardships. Now Job's losses have all been restored and he does not need the silver and gold anymore. Now he probably had plenty of people around that were willing to pay to spend time with him as we do to have lunch with someone like Warren Buffet, the once the richest person in the world. The book of Job clearly shows how ugly and opportunistic we are as a human. The Bible is no fairly tale. In many parts of the Bible, it shows our lives just as they are. The Bible does not try to show only the beautiful side of the story but shows all the aspects of our lives. That is why we can relate ourselves to those figures in the bible when we are going through the darkest and lowest point of our lives. And this book of Job maybe the book of the books in the bible that you need to read and reflect on in the midst of your trials.
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