Job

I wish I could say that I have never missed a day in my "daily" Bible reading. Oh, how I wish. But, I have been doing well at reading through the Bible in a year in a very "hit and miss" kind of fashion. Better than nothing, right? So, each time I read Job, I think, I really wish I understood the BIG message in this book. I know many people have preached on it etc. But, really, if you have read it all, you know that there are many things that leave you scratching your head. The conversation part loses me sometimes, I sit going..."Now, WHO is talking here?" LOL.
But, recently, when I opened my Bible, desperate for some refreshment. I opened it to Job. I almost started flipping to find another book that I usually enjoy more... but I didn't. I read a chapter that I have many times before and all of a sudden, I felt like some things came into focus. It was the chapter where God is talking to Job, comparing Himself to one of the greatest, most ferocious creatures on earth. How would anyone dare request anything of Him?
Two things struck me... ONE, Job answers to God..."I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ...therefore, I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You , and You instruct me. I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes." Funny, that I have read this so many times and never noticed that Job repented of speaking about God in a way that was wrong. The whole book, he spends telling God that he hadn't done anything wrong, so he didn't deserve this treatment... that he was waiting to hear God's indictment of him.

So, Job AND his friends got it wrong. God was saying, it is not about you doing everything right... and as your friends imply, it is not about you having done something wrong... it is simply, that I AM GOD, and YOU are not. But... the important part is next...

Job had repented before God, then his friends ask Job's forgiveness and offer burnt sacrifices...
and then, this... "The Lord restored the fortunes of Job WHEN HE PRAYED FOR HIS FRIENDS, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold."

So, we have to accept what circumstances we are in AND, what circumstances our friends are in. Then, we have to not judge or tell them what they are doing wrong... OR, NOT doing right, and pray for each other. Because, truly, NONE of us deserve the eternal gift of salvation through Christ, or any other blessing we happen to get here on this earth. AND, none of us deserve the horribly sad, difficult things that happen... they are part of life, and hopefully a part that will send us to the feet of our savior and make us more and more like Him.