REMEMBERING TIMES OF GOD’S BLESSING

Job 29:1-25 / Keywords 29:4

Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house,

 

Job’s Final Defense

29:1 Job continued his discourse:

2 “How I long for the months gone by,

    for the days when God watched over me,

3 when his lamp shone on my head

    and by his light I walked through darkness!

4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,

    when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,

5 when the Almighty was still with me

    and my children were around me,

6 when my path was drenched with cream

    and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.

7 “When I went to the gate of the city

    and took my seat in the public square,

8 the young men saw me and stepped aside

    and the old men rose to their feet;

9 the chief men refrained from speaking

    and covered their mouths with their hands;

10 the voices of the nobles were hushed,

    and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me,

    and those who saw me commended me,

12 because I rescued the poor who cried for help,

    and the fatherless who had none to assist them.

13 The one who was dying blessed me;

    I made the widow’s heart sing.

14 I put on righteousness as my clothing;

    justice was my robe and my turban.

15 I was eyes to the blind

    and feet to the lame.

16 I was a father to the needy;

    I took up the case of the stranger.

17 I broke the fangs of the wicked

    and snatched the victims from their teeth.

18 “I thought, ‘I will die in my own house,

    my days as numerous as the grains of sand.

19 My roots will reach to the water,

    and the dew will lie all night on my branches.

20 My glory will not fade;

    the bow will be ever new in my hand.’

21 “People listened to me expectantly,

    waiting in silence for my counsel.

22 After I had spoken, they spoke no more;

    my words fell gently on their ears.

23 They waited for me as for showers

    and drank in my words as the spring rain.

24 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;

    the light of my face was precious to them.[a]

25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief;

    I dwelt as a king among his troops;

    I was like one who comforts mourners.

Footnotes

a. Job 29:24 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.

1. Job returns to expressing the suffering he has experienced since Satan’s testing began. He thinks about the joy of his past life, when he was visibly blessed. He calls it a time of God’s intimate friendship (4). He was blessed to have his children around him (5), and he was honored and respected by all his neighbors (7-11, 21-25). Job did not use his blessings selfishly. He was genuinely worthy of the respect he received because he took care of the poor and needy (12-17).

 

2. Job thought these good circumstances would continue until his death, but they did not (18-20). In the next chapter, Job will contrast these days of blessing to his current suffering and misery.

 

3. If we feel we have lost God’s blessing compared to earlier times in our life, it may be good to examine ourselves to find the spiritual cause. But we should not fall into unspiritual nostalgia or self-pity. In all circumstances, let us be thankful because of how God has blessed us and used us so far, not because of our own goodness but because of his grace in Jesus. In Jesus we can be friends of God.

 

Prayer Father, thank you for all the ways you have blessed me and used me. Help me not compare these times to the past too much, but just keep myself pure before you.

One Word Thank God for his friendship