Job 42
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Job’s Confession
42 Then Job answered the Lord and said,
2 “I know that You can do all things,
And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”
4 ‘Hear, now, and I will speak;
I will ask You, and You instruct me.’
5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You;
6 Therefore I retract,
And I repent in dust and ashes.”
God Displeased with Job’s Friends
7 It came about after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has. 8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will [a]accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord told them; and the Lord [b]accepted Job.
The word “accept” in verse 8 and 9 is a Hebrew word that means “lift up His face.” Because Job had repented of his attitude that questioned the goodness and wisdom of God, he opened himself up to the realm of God’s face. Whenever we walk in the Spirit celebrating His goodness; trusting His heart, He always lifts His face towards us. To have His full attention like that is to live in the conscious experience of His presence and favor. I want to so trust in His heart and ways that I have His face intentionally, and intensely lifted toward me and my voice. I want to draw His attention, because I’ve moved His heart with my adoration and confidence, even in times of pain, loss, and confusion. James 5:11 “We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.” The outcome of God’s dealings with Job is that He blessed him double for everything he lost. A faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted for for the greater things that God wants us to walk in.
Job’s ultimate confidence in the goodness of God positioned him for the divinely kind intentions that God had always planned for Him.