JOB  WAS  A  MAN OF PRAYER

 

Job is seen as a praying man throughout the Book of Job.  There are three stages of his prayer life as given in the Book: (1) Routine ineffective prayer at the beginning of the Book (2) Sincere and earnest prayer in search for God for himself throughout the term of his illness  (3) Effective prayer for others at the end of the book. The Christian can learn much about prayer from Job. He grew to become an intercessor for others.                

 

I.  Ineffective prayer                                                   

 

1. Job prayed out of fear.      

 

In the beginning of the account of Job’s life, he is constantly praying for his seven sons because he is afraid that they are going to commit a sin that will cause God to destroy them. “And it  was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning,  and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.  Thus did Job continually.   (Job 1:5)                                          

 

2.   Job was partial in his praying.                                 

 

Job had ten children but he only prayed for his seven sons. He not only had left his daughters out of the inheritance, but also out of his prayers. Each of the seven sons gave a feast on the day chosen for him. Thus each son took his turn and there was a feast every day of the week and evidently every week of the year. Each son invited his three sisters to the feast. It does not seem that Job is enough concerned about the welfare of his daughters to pray for their protection.

 

3.  Job prayed to the wrong god.                         

 

(1)   Job’s concept of God was clouded by Man’s religion.   

In the opening of the Book, Job had a strange mixture of faith and fear.  He had enough faith in the true and living God to say, “Though He slay me, yet will I serve Him.”(Job 13:15) His understanding of who that God is was clouded by the declarations of man’s religion of his day.  The sufferings of Job can best be understood by his changed concept of God at the end of the Book.   

                                                   

(2)  Job believed in a vengeful God.                    

 

Job was busy with time consuming and ineffective prayer because he believed that if his children sinned against God that God would destroy them.  This idea is prevalent throughout the speeches of his three friends.  They believed that Job’s affliction was due to personal sin on his part.  Their prayers were unanswered because of this false belief about God. Job’s prayers were unanswered in the beginning of the Book because he expressed the same idea. Miracles confirm the Word of God. (Mark 16:20) Any answer to prayer is a miracle and God cannot misrepresent Himself by confirming a word that does not reveal Himself. The three friends of Job did not say that which is right about God. What they were saying and what Job said at the outset of the Book was very much alike.   

                                                                            

4.  Job’s prayers were unanswered.              

 

In spite of all of Job’s persistent praying and offerings, all ten of his children were killed in one terrific calamity.  In addition to this, he lost all that he had in a single day. Prayer alone will not protect one from the enemy.  Faith alone will not bring answers to prayer.  Everyone has a measure of faith. Prayer must be directed to the True God and Father of all.

 

II.  SINCERE AND EARNEST PRAYER        

 

Job went directly to Almighty God with his questions when he was stricken. He never sinned against God with his lips nor gave up. He knew that God had the answers to all his problems and sought until he found them. “Ask , and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Matt.  7:7) Job had great questions in his mind that only came out into the open because of his sufferings.                  

 

1. Job ignored the interference of his friends. 

The friends of Job were no doubt sincere in their efforts to help Job in his great time of need.  They had deep convictions about God and his relationship to man. Their intentions were good but their uninvited intrusions were an additional burden.  Job was working out his situation with the only counsel that was of any value at the time.  Over-zealous Christians need to be careful about forcing their services upon the sick. Sometimes the patient needs a quiet time with the Lord so as to hear His voice.                                                     

 

2.  Job refused to listen to the advice of his wife.

 

(1) God planned a oneness of spirit for  man  and his wife.                                     

 

There is no better prayer partner than a spouse when the two are in agreement in a true faith. However, there are often times in the life of an individual when he or she has to stand alone. At a time when Job needed the help the most he had to struggle alone. She said, “Dost thou retain thine integrity? curse God and die”.  (Job  2:9)  No doubt she had not been in that oneness of  spirit which God had planned for man and wife.                   

 

(2)   Prayer brought a change in Job concerning his wife.                  

 

 The statement of his wife is understandable by the attitude of Job toward his daughters and women in general. Though Job would make a tremendous change in his attitude toward women, he is inflicted with the same religious idea that his friends are.  He believed that women were unclean. One of the great questions that he brought before God in prayer  was,   “Man that  is born of woman is of few days  and  full  of  trouble. . . .Who can bring a clean thing out  of an  unclean?” (Job 14:1, 4) Though this religious concept no doubt had something to do with his wife’s attitude, he did not let it deter him in his search for the truth.

 

(3) Job did not let the fact that God did not seem to hear him stop him in his search.            

 

At first Job is desperate because it seems that God is not listening at all. In his moment of loneliness he said,  “Oh that I knew where I might  find  him that  I might come even to His seat.” (Job 23:3) How often it  seems that our prayers are falling on deaf ears, especially when we first start to pray.  Job knew that God was out there and he didn’t  quit until  he found the answers.     

(4) Job was open to change.                

 

Prayer does not change God: it changes us. If we are merely coming to God expecting Him to affirm what we already are or believe, it is not prayer at all.  Job brought each of his questions to God, one by one, and when God gave him an answer he adjusted his life accordingly.  It seems to me that it is high time that the church listen to the words of Jesus. “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32)                     

 

3.  God answered in simple understandable words.

 

“Then the LORD answered Job out of the  whirlwind.” (Job 38:1) Only four chapters are identified as the words of God with the phrase “The Lord answered.” (Chapters 38 through 41)  He, in effect, says to Job: “Everything that you need to know about me can be learned  from my creation”.

 

(A discussion of these words is found in the chapter on “What God says about Himself” pages 57-73)               

 

III.  JOB BECAME AN INTERCESSOR.        

 

1.  Job became a multi-family priest.            

 

(1) Job lived in the day of the family priest.       

Job lived in the age of the patriarchs. The father was the family priest.  This means that he went to God on behalf of the family and He spoke to the family on the behalf of God. This explains the power of “man’s religion”.  If the father developed a system of doctrine that did not properly represent God, the entire family was likely to be contaminated with this misconception of God.  The office of the  priesthood has always carried with it great power and authority. It was an authority which almost always became misused and abused. A case in view is Noah.  He subjected the family of Caanan to servitude. Noah had deemed it a terrible sin for his son to see him naked and because Ham had found him in a drunken stupor lying naked on the floor he cursed Ham’s  son Caanan with servitude.  Caanan was innocent but it was a curse which became permanent.     

(2)  The  three  friends yielded up their priesthood to Job.                             

  

Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite were priests in their own families. Normally they would have offered their own sacrifices and prayed their own prayers.  God does not arbitrarily take away authority given to men under a covenant.  These three men voluntarily yielded  up their authority.  God revealed to them that their prayers would not be heard because they had not said that which was right about Him.  He instructed them  to take “seven bullocks and seven rams and go to Job and offer up a burnt offering and my servant Job will pray for you: for him will I accept lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken that which is right, like my servant Job.” (Job 42:8)         

 

2. Job gives suggestions of answered prayer.         

 

(1) Answers to prayer depend  upon  a right faith in the One True God.          

 

Through the long and trying ordeal of Job he came to see God for Who He is. It is God, Himself, Who says that Job has said that which is right about Him.  Because Job has said that which is right, God said, “Him  will I accept.” (Job 42:8)  Job did not develop a long system of doctrine  but came to accept the simple truth of God which God revealed through His creation.                     

 

(2) Job came to a personal relationship with God.            

 

Job recognizes the difference between hearing about God and coming to know Him personally. He said, “I heard of thee with the hearing of the ear: but  now  my eye seeth thee.” (Job 42:5) He can now go to God in confidence without fear because he has discovered the truth about God.  Formerly he had heard about a vengeful God who is quick to destroy all those with whom He is displeased. He has come to know the loving creator who is pleased with His creation and willing to bless them all. 

                                               

(3) Answered prayer involves forgiveness.

 

God promised the three friends of Job that He would forgive them when Job prayed for them. They needed forgiveness for saying that which was wrong about God and for their misjudgement of Job. Job had to forgive them in order to pray for them.