The Restoration
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The Restoration
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
Psalm 34:1-8, 19-22
Hebrews 7:23-28
Mark 10:46-52
The story of Job is one of the most difficult and most confusing stories in the Bible. For many I think this is one of the most depressing books to read outside of reading Jeremiah. We see in the story that God is allowing bad things to happen in the life of someone who is a faithful and righteous person. In some circles of the Church there is this belief that if you are a righteous Christ follower then you are protected and that bad things are never going to happen to you. However, real life experience and stories such as the story of Job reveal to us that this is not the case. This is false theology. This is why it is written in the book of Psalms that “the righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all” (34:19). David wrote this song in a time when he pretended to be insane in order to save himself for thought he did nothing wrong, he was being chased by Saul. Sometimes I think we see only the second part of that verse that the Lord delivers us from our troubles and we skip over the part that there actually are troubles that we will experience.
Job was righteous in the eyes of the Lord and so much so that he is pointed out by God as one who is righteous. However, his children were not for they decided to live the party life and Job would make sacrifices for them to help atone for their sins. God allows Satan though to make all of these terrible things to happened to Job in order to test his faith. First Job loses his children and his wealth but he refuses to blame God for his predicament. His friends come over to be with him and try to comfort him but they were also holding the belief that Job must have done something bad to be receiving this predicament. In their eyes if Job was truly righteous then these things should not be happening to him. Job pleads his case before them that he has done nothing wrong and if God were present with them that he would tell the Lord all of this himself.
After Job’s speech and then Elihu’s speech the Lord appears and basically questions them all. Job could have responded with defending himself and pleading his own case. However, instead Job apologizes and worships the Lord. Even though Job is experiencing the worse of the worse he is faithful in his worship and praises the Lord. This is the kind of attitude that we should all have. Job’s reward for his faithfulness was double the wealth he previously had, healing of his wounds, and n more children who were better than the first. The Lord restores the righteous after their troubles.
Mark shares with us a story about a blind man seeking out the help and mercy of Jesus. Bartimaeus was at the gate begging and heard a commotion and could hear that Jesus was passing by. He calls out loudly and will not stop until Jesus responds even though everyone else was telling him to be silent. His persistence got Jesus’ attention and because of that and his faith that Jesus could heal him; his sight was restored. God is amazing in that he creates the body to heal of ailments but even of others that no man can heal, he is willing to restore when asked of him in faith.
Jesus himself though he had done nothing wrong experienced trials and difficulties. It is for this reason that Hebrews tells us that we have a permanent high priest in Jesus. All previous priests had to sacrifice animals first for their own sins before addressing the sins of others. Jesus on the other hand did nothing wrong and was innocent of the crimes he was charged with, sacrificed himself once for all and though all other priests have died, he is still living and intercedes for us as an eternal priest.
This belief that bad things only happen to the unrighteous is a false theology that no one should listen to. For it is also written that it rains on both the righteous and unrighteous. Take all of these hurricanes that have recently happened. Many parts of Florida and strangely entire communities in North Carolina and Easter Tennessee have been completely washed away. The hurricanes did not care whether the people’s lives it destroyed were good or bad, Holy or evil. It just barreled through without remorse. God does not promise that bad things will not happen to the righteous. God promises that he understands and that he will be with us when they do. He promises to help to restore the righteous when the bad things do come. The hope of the righteous is found in their savior Jesus Christ. Though bad things may happen to them be it through the weather or be it through persecution, their hope is in an eternal salvation. They have faith in what is unseen at the time.
Job could not see that he would be restored to even greater blessings than before. All he could see is that there is a God who has given him life and that he will praise him through both the good times and the bad times. He had faith that God would be his Just reward. I believe that the story of Job exists to show us the truth that difficulties can happen to anyone and that no one is special and singled out as one to be protected from harm. However, Jesus experienced all of the same temptations and more suffering than we can ever experience and therefore understands what we go through. We can have comfort in knowing that we have a priest who understands our sufferings. But the greatest of all is to know that he also restores us and heals us from our sufferings. How great is our God and worthy to be praised. Let us always be prepared to take our afflictions in stride and to be prepared for the Lord’s restoration. Restoration day is coming and it is coming soon for the Lord has promised it so.