Job 42:10, “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” Jonah 2:9, “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”
These two passages of Scripture teach a great truth. I'll get right to the point, and then work backwards, which I like to do when writing articles and preaching sermons. There's nothing worse than a preacher (like the late Evangelist Ravi Zacharias), who goes in circles for an hour, and you still cannot figure out what point they are trying to make. I love what Brother Lester Roloff said: “We need porcupine preachers so people will get the point!”
When Job prayed for his “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2) for friends, God reversed Job's calamity and the suffering ended. When Jonah offered up a sacrifice of thanksgiving with his voice from within the belly of a whale (Matthew 12:40), the very next verse says the great fish dropped off Jonah at the next whale stop. I love that! Hebrews 13:15, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” Anybody can praise God and be thankful during good times of health and prosperity. However, to be thankful and praise the Lord when you lose your job, your child dies, your home burns down, you find out you have cancer, or something else really bad, then it requires a SACRIFICE to praise God and be thankful with your voice.
Job and Jonah unknowingly overcame their calamities, by simply offering up a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, and praying in love for some friends who didn't deserve it.
Job Prayed For His Horrible Judgmental Friends
We know from Job chapter 1 that God was testing Job. We also know from Jonah chapter 1 that God was chastising Jonah. We see two different Christian men, in two different situations, but sharing a common denominator that God was in control of their adverse circumstances! The Bible says in Job 42:10b, “the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.” What an amazing passage of Scripture! I find it amazing that God didn't turn Job's captivity when Satan had been proven wrong. Think about that! The whole reason for Job's afflictions was so that God could prove the Devil's cynical allegations wrong! Yet the Bible says in Job 42:10 that God turned away Job's captivity WHEN HE PRAYED FOR HIS FRIENDS. Dear reader, to understand the significance and utter magnitude of the verse I just quoted to you, you need to understand what Job's so-called “”friends” did to him!
Again, we know from Job chapter 1 that God was testing Job. God bragged on Job's faithfulness, but Satan made some cynical comments, accusing Job of insincerity. The Lord wanted to test Job to prove to Satan that his faith was the real deal. Consequently, God allowed the Devil to strip away Job's life. All of his wealth was taken away by thieves and natural disasters. Job's servants were either murdered or killed by the fire from Heaven. Job's ten children were all killed when a tornado destroyed the building they were in. Then in Job chapter 2, we read that God allowed Satan to afflict Job's health, giving him painful boils from head to toe.
Job's wife was distraught too, having just lost her 10 beloved children. So, in her misery, Job's wife suggested that Job curse God and die. All hope seemed gone! I don't know about you, but I have been there in life too. I know the feeling of being all alone, with a broken marriage and family, no friends, Baptist churches that don't want you and ostracize you, and it seems like the whole world is either against you, couldn't care less, or is so selfish that nothing matters anymore. Sadly, there is much truth to that statement, unless you are blessed enough to have some genuinely caring people in your life. I care! I have learned that when you do meet someone who really cares, there is a very good chance that they are Christians!
To add insult to injury, Job's so-called “friends” came along to condemn him, while he was sitting covered in boils, scraping his sores, about as low as a man can go in life. Listen to what Job had to say about them...
Job 16:1-5, “Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.”
Job's three friends wrongly judged him. One friend alleged that God doesn't merely let bad things happen for no reason. Either Job or his children must have sinned. Another friend alleged that Job was not as close to God as he should be, and that Job wasn't filled with the Spirit. Job's friends got it all wrong! They misjudged the situation. People are often guilty of doing this to others, judging hurting people from a distance! Hush up! Keep your opinions to yourself unless you know what you are talking about. Hurting people need love and comfort, not your foot on their neck to make their burden heavier than it already is!
I Know How Job Felt Being Mistreated By Religious People
I know exactly how Job felt. I was on the very plane going from Guam to San Diego to get my second neck surgery. I was seated next to a former commercial airplane pilot. He was about my age. The man said that he lives in Colorado, and told me that his pastor is a Korean woman. Although he claimed to be non-denominational, I knew from experience from the way he was talking that he was a Charismatic (because he spoke of speaking in tongues, healing crusades, and losing one's salvation due to sin). When I told him that I was on my way to get neck surgery, he said that if I was filled with the Holy Spirit that I wouldn't need the surgery.
Truthfully, I was hurt when he said that, even though I knew he was Biblically wrong. I hadn't conversed with him for the first hour of an 8 hour plane ride from Guam to Hawaii. I just didn't feel like talking. But I saw that he had a New King James Version (NKJV) in his hand, which raised my curiosity who he might be. He had been talking to the other passenger on his right. I was seated on his left. When he introduced himself to me, I was hoping that he was a Baptist preacher, but I quickly found out that he was a religious nut. At first our conversation went well, until he got on the topic of tongues and healing, since I had mentioned that I was headed for neck surgery in California.
That was one of the weirdest flights of my life! You won't believe the rest of the story. I had actually originally been assigned to another seat across the isle. But when I got to my seat while the plane was being loaded on Guam, the stewardess kindly asked me if I would be willing to change seats, so a mother could sit next to her daughter. I happily agreed. I love to make people happy, share and do anything I can to help others. I love being helpful! Well, that elderly woman was seated directly to my left, across the isle, so she could hear me. I shared the Gospel with the man next to me, deliberately, so the people around me could hear it. I simply spoke at normal volume. I was witnessing to everyone who was listening.
Unbelievably, that dear elderly woman died an hour later right there in my assigned seat!!! A few male passengers were asked to carry the woman's corpse to the rear of the plane. I still wonder and hope if that woman who died got saved as I shared the Good News of Jesus crucified, buried and risen. I only mentioned this true story to relate to Job, when his friends misjudged him. Job called them MISERABLE COMFORTERS! The religious man next to me meant well, but to condemn me for going to undergo neck surgery was cruel. He literally believed that being filled with the Holy Spirit would instantly heal my damaged neck.
In truth, there is not one recorded legitimate incident of an amputee being healed in modern times. My spinal stenosis (displaced disks) could not be healed without surgery! What saith the Scripture? John 15:24, “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.” Jesus said that He performed miracles “WHICH NONE OTHER MAN DID,” to prove that He was the promised Messiah. If a man today could heal amputees, empty out the hospitals and heal crippled people, the world would follow him as if he were Jesus Christ!
In fact, that is how the coming Antichrist (meaning “in place of Christ”) will effectively deceive the masses of this world, by performing lying wonders and Satanic miracles. ...
Revelation 13:14, “And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”
Revelation 16:14, “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
Satan can perform miracles too, as did Pharaoh's magicians (Exodus 7:11, 22). The false teachers in Matthew 7:21-23 said they cast out devils in Jesus' name, but the Lord said that He did not know them! Sadly, they went to Hell, having lived the Christian life without ever being born-again. Hundreds of millions of churchgoers today are making the same fatal mistake.
Satan Can Cause Suffering
We learn from the true story of Job that Satan can control the weather if God permits it. We also learn that Satan can afflict someone's health, if God allows so. Nothing can happen to anyone apart from God's permissive will. Job didn't know that Satan was behind his suffering. Only God and the Devil knew. Likewise, there is no way that we can determine whether suffering is natural (i.e., the consequence of living in a fallen sinful world), or if the suffering is caused by Satan, or if the Lord Himself is the cause. All we can do is trust upon the Lord in every circumstance, knowing that God is good (Psalms 73:1), God is faithful (1st Corinthians 1:9), and that He cares about us (1st Peter 5:7).
Please notice the following passage of Scripture. 2nd Corinthians 12:7, “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” Paul prayed three times for God to remove his thorn in the flesh, which Paul called a “messenger of Satan.” God caused this affliction, which Paul attributed to Satan. That is very interesting. In Galatians 4:15 Paul said they would have plucked out their own eyes if they could have, to give him. This passage leads many Bible students to conclude that Paul's “thorn in the flesh” was very poor eyesight. This seems to be the case, since some of the Apostle Paul's epistles were penned by others. Theologians commonly attribute 13 books of the New Testament to Paul, seven of which he penned himself.
I hope you will remember these two main truths, about Job and Jonah. Both men were at the lowest point of their life. Job had just lost nearly everything, and now his health was failing. Job's longtime friends came to help him, but in their sincere hypocrisy they hurt him instead, making him miserable. Job didn't curse them nor express hatred toward them. No, Job told them that he would encourage them if they were in his shoes. Then Job went home and prayed for his well-meaning but cruel friends. Honestly dear reader, you need to read and consider the horrible things that Job's friends said to him. Look at this...
Job 8:1-6, “Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind? Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice? If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression; If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.”
What jerks! They alleged that Job's children had sinned. They alleged that Job didn't have a pure and upright heart before God. They advised him to repent, so that God would turn away Job's captivity. Oh how wrong they were!!! As we know, Job did nothing wrong, nor his children. Why is it that people are always so cynical? Even Jesus' disciples were cyclical. John 9:1-3, “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” We must be careful not to wrongly judge people for the calamity, loss and suffering in their life. I admire Job, that even after all the horrible accusations his friends made against him, he went home and prayed for them in love. That is a mature Christian man, let me tell you!
Jonah Thanked God While Suffering In The Whale's Belly
Likewise, when Jonah was trapped in the slimy, damp and dark, smelly belly of a whale, he offered up the voice of thanksgiving to God. Can you imagine? People today get mad at God because their favorite college football game was cancelled. I heard one Christian man complaining that his friend's parents left him an inheritance and doesn't have to work, but he does. Are you kidding me? Who cares what others have! I kindly told the man that he needs to stop looking at the wrong things, and start looking at Jesus all the time. Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” LOOKING UNTO JESUS, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Also, notice that Jonah told God he would keep that which he had vowed. It seems that Jonah had vowed to go to Nineveh to preach the Gospel, but then didn't go. Jonah 2:9, “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” What did Jonah vow? We don't know. But the Bible says that when Jonah was freed from the whale that he ran to Nineveh, making a three day journey in just one day. The ole boy ran like an athlete to preach!
Would you have thanked God after being tossed off a ship into the depths of the sea, and then eaten by a whale? Jonah repented, but it took three days! Think about that. Why didn't Jonah get right with God immediately, and thank God right away? I can only speculate, but I think Jonah (like you and me) needed time to figure it all out. I don't know about you, but I am not the quickest person to figure things out. In fact, I tend to be slow. Some people are witty and sharp. Pastor Jack Hyles was such a person. Dr. Hyles was very sharp, witty and he was quick on his toes. I am not as sharp. It takes me time to figure things out.
In fact, things have dawned on me several years later, which now make sense in hindsight, but years earlier the thought hadn't even occurred to me. That is one reason why I don't like to talk with people in person, or on the phone, because it takes me time to process what is going on, and I am at a disadvantage in live situations. That is why I love writing, where I have plenty of time to think. It would be easy to take advantage of me in a situation where I don't have enough time to think. Con artists know this and use it to defraud people in public. For that reason by default I always refuse anything suddenly presented to me. I deliberately tell people that I need a day or two to think about it. If required to make a hasty decision, my answer is always, “no.” Anyway, I think Jonah needed a few days to think about what had just happened. That is simply my humble opinion.
Then there is another possible theory. That is, Jonah died! I wouldn't argue the point, but I disagree with that theory. What saith the Scripture? Matthew 12:40, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Jesus said Jonah was in the whale's belly for three days and nights. A man named James Bartley (1870-1909) was literally swallowed by a sperm whale and survived...
“The story as reported is that during a whaling expedition off the Falkland Islands, Bartley's boat was attacked by the whale and he landed inside the whale's mouth. He survived the ordeal and was carved out of the stomach by his peers when they, not knowing he was inside, caught and began skinning the whale because of the hot weather which would have rotted the whale meat. It was said that he was in the whale for 36 hours and it was also said that his skin had been bleached by the gastric juices, and that he was blind the rest of his life.” —Wikipedia, James Bartley
May we all learn to pray for those who hurt us. Luke 6:28, “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” God blessed Job and turned away his dire captivity when Job simply prayed for his miserable comforters for friends. That takes love to do! Likewise, Jonah offered up a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God with his voice. 1st Thessalonians 5:18, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Carefully notice that the Bible says to give thanks “IN” every thing, not “FOR” every thing. I don't think Jonah was thankful for the whale, nor the smelly dead fish that likely surrounded him.
