The Best is Yet to Come
 

Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 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 upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. 12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters….16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so he died, old and full of years. (NIV)

 

Job repented of his sin of complaining to God about his suffering. God had tested Job and Job has now passed the test. He has understood that God’s ways are greater than ours. He has a better appreciation for the sovereignty of God. Satan had told God that Job was only faithful because God had blessed him greatly. God disagreed and allowed Satan to test Job. Job remained faithful throughout, even if he did resort to criticism and complaining late in the test. Satan was again proven to be the accuser and the liar that he is. 

Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad,  gave wrong advice to Job during his suffering. They accused him of a great hidden sin, causing his suffering. The Lord rebuked these friends, made them bring sacrifices to Job for their sins, and asked Job to pray for them. Job did pray for his three friends (v. 10a). Thus his friends atoned for their sins against Job and their relationships were restored, after all of the quarreling. 

The Lord then proceeded to repay Job for his losses, as is His promise: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten” (Joel 2:25). The Lord repaid Job’s prosperity, his wealth and his family, and doubled them (v. 10b). His brothers, sisters, and other friends all reestablished relations with him, after avoiding him in his fallen state (v.11a). It is apparent that they also had concluded that he had caused his own downfall by some grievous sin and was being punished by God, but now they knew better. They offered true comfort to Job, not as that offered by his three friends (v. 11b). Some may have been fair-weathered friends, but Job was comforted by them nevertheless. They brought silver and gold rings, perhaps feeling guilty for abandoning him during his time of need. It is an unfortunate fact of life that we have more friends than we need when things are going good, but they are few and far between when things are going bad. 

So the Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life even more than the first part (v.12a). Just as his livestock was doubled, so was his family. He was given the same number of sons and daughters as he had before (v. 13), so how could the Lord say that he doubled his prosperity? The Lord counts our Heavenly family as part of our family. Including his ten children in Heaven, Job’s children were doubled. 

The Lord also included Job’s long life as part of his prosperity. His life was also doubled. He lived to be one hundred and forty years old (v.16a), when God’s standard is seventy years: “The length of our days is seventy years” (Psalm 90:10). He was blessed to be able to see his children and grandchildren, “to the fourth generation” (v. 16b). 

Job died “full of years” (v.17), fully satisfied with his life and ready to leave it. This was quite a contrast to the advice his wife gave him, to “curse God and die”, when he had lost everything. He had not committed suicide. Even though he thought his life was over, he had a lot of living yet to do. God blessed him greatly during the second part of his life. This just goes to show us that it is not over until God says it’s over. We should never short circuit God’s plan for our lives. If we do we may miss out on the best part. The best is yet to come. 

Art Toombs Ministries 

Online Bible Commentary