Forty-One Reasons

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV).

Seasons…some of us adore them; others despise them. For some, the term calls to mind frigid winter mornings, carefully navigating the driveway laced with ice and slush. Others may think of the first sprouts of the daffodil as it spreads through the rocks and crags, faintly green but with a promise of color so much richer to come.

Seasons of life are even more varied—some gently warm like the early spring sun on blades of new grass while some prove treacherous, almost like driving up a narrow, snowy cliff-side road without a shoulder.

One might wonder how Job would describe the harrowing season he faced. Just how would you describe the heartache felt, losing every one of your beloved children? What words could adequately describe the financial ruin he endured through the devastation of his herds and property? Or the abandonment and neglect, as his wife lost hope and no longer nursed his failing body, leaving him to wallow in filth, scraping his own sores?

Or the confusion and paralysis, when friends, suddenly and without provocation, became judge and jury, ready to sentence him for crimes he had not committed? But more than that, how can one grasp the sheer grief and devastation he must have felt, knowing he had lived for God…knowing he had comforted the fatherless, gave bread to the hungry, sacrificed daily for his children, and yet…

Forty-one chapters. Today, we dread reading them, for they seem to last and last. Within them live the depression, the despair, the abandonment, and the hopelessness we’ve all faced at times.

Forty-one chapters…Forty-one reasons to quit.

And yet, at the outset of chapter 42, a tiny word appears… “THEN.” After holding on through forty-one reasons to quit, God gave Job a “THEN!”

After holding on through forty-one reasons to quit, God gave Job a “THEN!”

Genessa Torsy

Job 42:12 tells us that “the Lord BLESSED the latter end of Job more than his beginning.”

• Job was given the strength to again speak faith (Job 42:2).
• Job mustered the resolve to pray for those whom he may never understand and who may never say “I’m sorry” (Job 42:10).
• Job was restored, but more than that, he was doubled!

Hold on for your THEN!