Context No. 2455 of 4322 · Job

Job 42:7-11: in context

7It was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. 8Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.” 9So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD commanded them, and the LORD accepted Job. 10The LORD restored Job’s prosperity when he prayed for his friends. The LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, came to him and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that the LORD had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.

After all the speeches, God turns to Job's three friends with anger: you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. He tells them to bring offerings and have Job pray for them, for he will accept Job's prayer on their behalf. So the friends who had spent chapters accusing Job now depend on his intercession. And the text notes the turn: the LORD restored Job's fortunes when he prayed for his friends.

The timing is easy to miss. Job's restoration did not come right after his suffering, or after his complaint, or even after God's answer from the whirlwind. It came when he prayed for the friends who had wounded him with their bad theology and easy blame. Interceding for the people who added to his pain was the doorway back to blessing. There is something here about how healing often runs: not by nursing the injury, but by praying for the ones who caused it, and finding my own restoration on the far side of that prayer.

Is there someone who wronged me I have refused to pray for, when praying for them might be the very doorway to my own healing?

Sources

Job 42:8: my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly.
Job 42:10: The LORD restored Job's prosperity when he prayed for his friends. The LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Matthew 5:44: love your enemies, bless those who curse you... and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you.