JOB'S CHILDREN

[Fish153]

This may not really be "devotional" but this has always blessed my heart. You may have seen or heard this before, and if so, you probably find it blessed also. It has to do with Job's children. When Job begins we read:

"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
"And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
"His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east". (Job 1: 1-3)

Now, we all know what happened to Job. God allowed the Devil to take everything away from him to test him. You may recall that his sons and daughters were killed, and he lost all of his livestock. Job was tried and severely tested, and he had to listen to his friends, the "comforters" who had very rough words for him. His wife even told him "curse God and die".

But after this terrible trial God met Job and then restored everything to him. God asked Job to pray for his friends first (isn't that like the Lord--to ask us to pray for and forgive those who might have hurt us?). But God didn't just restore everything to Job---he doubled everything Job had before:

"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had FOURTEEN THOUSAND sheep, and SIX THOUSAND camels, and a THOUSAND yoke of oxen, and a THOUSAND she asses.

He had also seven sons and three daughters". (Job 42: 12, 13)

Now, here is the blessed part. We can read past this in Job very easily. Note that all of Job's livestock is DOUBLED in quantity. But---he is given the SAME NUMBER of sons and daughters as he had before. Seven sons and three daughters. That number is not doubled. But why?

The answer is that his first seven sons and 3 daughters are STILL ALIVE. THEY ARE IN PARADISE. So there was no need for God to DOUBLE the number of sons and daughters Job HAS. To me this is a very blessed thought. God knows where every soul is--and our hope of Heaven is very real. One day we will see all 14 of Job's sons, and all 6 of his daughters in Heaven. Praise God!