Job, a loving father!

His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom. Job 1 : 4, 5

Good morning, friends.


Job 1 : 2, 3 say that Job had seven sons and three daughters. He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred oxen and five hundred donkeys and a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.


How rich he must be! He had everything one can ever want. Above all, he had a very special thing, the fear of God, about which the Lord himself boasted in Job 1 : 8 “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”


Is it not like getting outstanding in our annual appraisal? I was so happy when I heard from the folks who returned from on-site that my client appreciated me in some of the meetings over there. It was a temporary one. I got assigned to another project now. But how great it would be to get such an appreciation from the Lord who is with us all the time!!! In fact the Lord trusted Job and this led to such a boasting. Job's Lord is still the same! He trusts you and me today!


The children of Job had regular fellowships. Job knew the sins lead to death and as a loving father, he would get up early in the morning and would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them. We all know what happened when Eli’s sons sinned against the Lord. 1 Samuel 2 says “Eli’s sons committed sins and they didn’t obey their father when he rebuked them. So the Lord put them to death.” So this loving father did all he could even when he was not even sure that they sinned or cursed the God in their hearts. So he wanted his children to be like him and he wanted them to stay pure. He was very much concerned about the sin and its effects.


Do you know why the world is getting dumped with all the unwanted things which God doesn’t like? It’s not because people want to sin, but because they don’t know which is sin and which is not. They are not able to distinguish the small difference between them both. We’re tightly occupied with our own works and so we’re not even able to think about it. But Job even though he had large number of animals and servants to manage, he gave his priority to let the sin out of his family. Nowhere the Book Job speaks about Job accumulating wealth for his children, but he concentrated more on their purification.



In the same way, God too sent his son Jesus as a sacrifice for all our sins. He asked Jesus to carry the heavy cross and to shed even his last drop of blood only for our sins. How loving He is to give away His only son for us!