A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
“After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz
the Temanite: ‘My anger burns against you and against your two friends,
for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
the Temanite: ‘My anger burns against you and against your two friends,
for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly.
For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.’
So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job's prayer. And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends.”
- Job 42:7-10
A partially corrected understanding of reality -- God is great and we are not -- will certainly help us, but may also have an unintended effect. This knowledge could demotivate us or even depress us. Some of us may too quickly conclude that our best response is to essentially curl up into the fetal position and just stay home. Limitations are limitations! Who are we to presume that we could ever really make a difference or begin to sway the hand of God? Yet the final chapters of Job provide another surprise, which we could contend is even more significant that the restoration of Job’s relationships and possessions.
The Lord’s correction of Job, while devastatingly appropriate and awe-inspiring, does not signify the end of Job and his friends. To the contrary, Job now becomes an avenue of repentance for his critics, an instrument of grace.
“And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly.”
And so it is with us. When we humble ourselves before our Creator in repentance for our selfishness and rebellion, our God responds with two stunning pronouncements through His Son: 1) “you are forgiven;” and 2) “go, make disciples of all nations.” Grace is required for us to receive and believe this verdict and prescription. No doubt, many of you have already discovered how unbelievably satisfying it is to partner with God as a vessel of grace, not as His equal, but as a people well loved and perfectly suited for His vision, His mission, and His plans.
Disability becomes powerful ability as the Holy Spirit distributes gifts of wisdom, discernment and prophecy to the Church. People are deeply edified as you and I use our gifts for God’s glory. “Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11).
It gets even better. What about children like our son, Luke? Lest anyone misunderstand, God apparently delights in confounding the wise by regularly empowering the foolish, the weak, and the disabled with manifestations of His glory. Luke exhibits the fruits of the Spirit far more consistently than I do. It is truly no contest. Should we be surprised when the “least of these” are endowed with the greatest gifts?
“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” - 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Praise be to God for His infinite grace.
Don Weiss
