Daily Journal: 30 March

Restored

Job went through the deepest of despairs. He lost everything a person could lose, from health to wealth to reputation and family and property. Everything. Yet, he always believed that God was where the meaning of his life began and ended. Nobody could take God away from him.

But Job’s life didn’t end in his suffering.

God restored double what Job had lost and suffered. He lived long after to enjoy the reproduction and restoration of property, position, wealth, health and family. The Lord even sent his friends back who had so wronged him, to seek repentance and blessing, and Job gave it. The Lord took him from such devastation, where it seemed all was lost, where he had no desire to dream again, to reclaiming the ground that had been taken, to dreaming, reproducing, rebuilding and enjoying life again.

God required Job to forgive and bless his friends who had wronged him, in order for his fortunes to be restored. His fortunes were not just material, but his family and reputation was restored also.

Job 42:10-17 (NIV)

After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

Solomon had everything anyone could think they could want. Yet he misused it all and it became a stench to him. The book of Ecclesiastes is his exposition and it’s wonderful to read. He discovered without God in his industry there was no meaning, and without God in his seeking after pleasure, life was empty.

Ecclesiastes 12:8 (NLT)

“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NLT)

That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

Peter denied Jesus three times, and three times, Jesus restored him into his purpose, and his heart again. Even before that, Peter had the spiritual insight to know there was nothing more than where it began and ended with God. He is the whole meaning of life.

John 6:68 (NCV)

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, who would we go to? You have the words that give eternal life.

To spend our life pursuing God in all that we do, receiving His love for us, loving Him and finding our purpose in Him, that is the meaning of life. It’s from that place of security and meaning that we’re able to love others, purely, without ego or insecurity, forgive others and move past hurt. That is worshipping God. Nothing can be more meaningful, and therefore, fulfilling, than living that way.

Restoration for loss in life is up to God, but we find our real restoration in Christ Jesus.