Job survived. He endured heartache, heartbreak, physical pain, and mostly bad counsel from his so-called friends. In today’s passage, Job even prays for them! And God blessed Job by giving him twice as much as he had before. God blessed the latter part of his life more than the first.

Job 42:10-13
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He had also seven sons and three daughters.

Let’s make sure we understand what is happening. To some, it might seem God is making some kind of weird payback. I can hang with the replacement sheep, camels, oxen, and donkeys. But the sons and daughters? How can you replace children? How could that relieve the pain of loss? We must understand that God did not institute a replacement plan like we would purchase at Best Buy just in case our flatscreen breaks. He is simply (and powerfully) rewarding Job for obedience.

Job had been through the wringer… to say the least. But throughout his shaken world, he did not abandon God; he hung onto the Almighty for dear life. God’s blessings were not replacements for loss but rewards for obedience. The human heart will always be tender to loss, tragedy, and pain, but when we follow God…even through the valleys…his strength during and after is always enough.

Father, thank you for being all we need wherever we are. Thank you for your continued presence all along the journey. In Jesus’ name. Amen.