Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Restoration in Blessings

Job 42:10-17 – 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. 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.
 Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days.
A few weeks ago, God turned me to the story of Job. I figured it was a message of faith since I have been going through some really rough and trying times. As usual, I was wrong! He had me focus on Job’s restoration. Did you know, 41 of the 42 chapters tell of Job’s trials and tests of faith. Only eight verses (42:10-17) are dedicated to Job’s restoration. However, those eight verses represented the rest of Job’s life. He lived 140 years after this!
I pondered: Do I focus on the first 42 chapters of my life? Do I spend time thinking about when, where, and what I used to have? Am I recognizing what he has restored to me?
After some thinking and comparing, I realized that God has restored EVERYTHING I’ve cried about losing. Sometimes He doesn’t restore things in the package or manner you may have imagined. So, you may have to step back and take a second to evaluate your blessings. You will probably find restoration in your blessings!  

Challenge: Ponder the questions above.

1 comment:

  1. Four and a half years ago, I had the biggest loss of my adult life, the loss of our daughter, Callie. Since then, God has blessed us with two more children, one on the way, and the call to foster care. Thank you for this post, as it is truth... and hopefully a great encouragement to others!

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