Sheep, Camels, Oxon and Donkeys - Remaining Faithful in the Face of Trials and Tribulations
Sheep, Camels, Oxon and Donkeys
Remaining Faithful in The Midst of Trials and Tribulations.
Job 42.1,6, 10-17
“After Job had prayed for his friends,
the Lord made him prosperous again
and gave him twice as much as he had before.” Job 42:10
Job 42
1 Then Job replied to the LORD : 2 “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Epilogue
7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.
10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver [a] and a gold ring.
12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so he died, old and full of years.
We all know the story of Job.
Job was a good man who suffered through terrible times. He wasn’t just a good man, he was a “righteous” man. The Book of Job is one of the books of the Old Testament.
It relates the story of Job his trials at the hands of Satan, his theological discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, and finally a response from God.
The Book itself comprises a didactic poem set in a prose framing device and has been called by some “the most profound and literary work of the entire Old Testament”.
The Book is an attempt to address the problem of evil, i.e. the problem of reconciling the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the existence of God. Scholars are divided as to the origin, intent, and meaning of the book.
Job is a man whom the devil tempts with one trial after another; one tribulation after another. His best friends and his family attempt to get him to curse God and to denounce God, yet Job remains faithful. He will not curse God, he will not denounce God, no matter how bad, or how difficult, or how awful his life gets. Through everything that comes his way, and much of it is just terrible, Job remains faithful to God. In the end, God rewards Job with prosperity and health beyond his wildest imagination.
In a similar vein the story from the Gospel reading for today tells us the same message. There was a blind man named Bartimaeus who was sitting by the side of the road begging. When he heard the voice of Jesus, Bartimaeus called out for Jesus to have mercy on him. His friends told him to be quiet and yet Bartimaeus kept calling to Jesus, in faith that Jesus would have mercy on him. Jesus restored Bartimaeus’s sight saying “You faith has healed you”.
Different story, different characters, different plot, same point: Your faithfulness has healed you. Your trust in God is the source of your hope and your best reward in your life.
Our faith in God through everything, good and bad alike heals us and brings us a prosperity that is beyond our words.
This is a lesson we need to hear and to be reminded of throughout our lives.