Corona Dev 1236

Have you ever had a friend misjudge you?  

    It hurts.

Ever been the recipient of a "talking-to" that you didn't deserve?  (You had done nothing wrong.)  

    It stinks.

Ever had someone shake their (proverbial) finger in your face or give you a "tsk, tsk, tsk" while shaking their head at you in disdain?  (But what they were blaming us for wasn't our fault?)

    It can be easy to build a resentment.

But consider (and be taught by God's Word) today:  What if the reaction/discipline/correction of the mistaken-treatment that we received was not our job, but God's?  

    Because...it is.

Our job...is to forgive.

Not to brood, or sulk, or hold-a-grudge, or build-a-wall between us and them...but to forgive them.  

God says that it's His job to convict and discipline (us and those-that-hurt-us), and our end-of-the-bargain is to forgive and move forward, which will please our Lord...which is our ultimate goal (not to 'get even').  

~~~

Job's friends misjudged him.  They blamed him.  They attributed Job's personal suffering (and the loss of his children) to the sins of Job and his children.    

• Then Bildad the Shuhite replied to Job: (2) “How long will you go on like this?  You sound like a blustering wind.  (3) Does God twist justice?  Does the Almighty twist what is right?  (4) Your children must have sinned against him, so their  punishment was well deserved.  ~Job 8:1-4

Over and over, Job’s friends were “speaking for God”, and assigning blame to Job for his suffering.  Job’s friends assumed their own authority and knowledge over Job’s dilemma (and the cause of it)...but God is the only authority and the only one with full knowledge of our lives. 

Job kept his cool and his temper with his friends, and throughout it all...he even kept his friendship with them.

Then Job spoke again: (2) “I have heard all this before.  What miserable comforters you are!  (3) Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air?  What makes you keep on talking?  (4) I could say the same things if you were in my place.  I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you.  (5) But if it were me, I would encourage you.  I would try to take away your grief.  (6) Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.  ~Job 16:1-6

~~~

How do we respond when we are wrongly accused or faulted by our friends?  

I know that God is showing Job to us today for a reason.  

Sometimes we don't keep our cool when misjudged and often we (privately, if not publicly) vent about our hurt or anger.

But may we consider (and be taught by God's Word) today--that the reaction/discipline/correction for any mistaken-treatment that we have received is not our job, but God's. 

Our job...is to forgive.  Job knew that.  We need to know that too.

Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”  

(22) “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!  ~Matthew 18:21-22

~~~

And...God did handle things with Job's friends.

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has. (8) So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.” (9) So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.  ~Job 42:7-9

God disciplined Job’s friends and called them to repentance with Him.  It wasn't Job's job...it was God's.

Has anyone ever said the wrong thing to us while we were suffering?  (Possibly placed blame?) 

Or (oops!) have we ever overstepped our boundaries and put our two-cents in when we had no authority or knowledge to do so?

That's not our job...it's God's.

The Lord will set things straight with us and with others.  It is not our job to rectify things, but we can trust that God will.  

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.  ~Romans 12:19

What we can do (and are called as God's children to do) is forgive.  

Job could have brooded.  He could have stayed sore.  He could have put up a wall between him and his friends.  His feelings must have been hurt.

But Job didn’t do any of those things.  He forgave.

And then God gave.

When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! (11) Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.  

(12) So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning...  (13) He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters...

(16) Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. (17) Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life.  ~Job 42:10-13, 16-17

~~~

Job's job was to forgive, and ours is too.  

To forgive that person that God is putting on our heart right now.  That person that has misjudged us.  That person that gave us the "talking-to" that we didn't deserve.  That person that blamed us when we were not to blame.

I know that God is showing Job to us today for a reason.  

Our job is to forgive. 

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com