There was a man in the land of aUz whose name was bJob, and that man wasc blameless and upright, one who dfeared God and eturned away from evil. 2 There were born to him fseven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all gthe people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and hconsecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and ioffer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and jcursed1 God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
We have all heard the testimony of Job and his endurance and perseverance of his faith. Yet as I was listening this morning, this last sentence opened up some personal investigation of my own life.
“For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and jcursed1 God in their hearts.”
For here Job is setting an example of living out our prayer lives with Christ for the “just in case.” The scriptures say he rose EARLY each morning to offer his sacrifces to the LORD because “it MAY BE” that his children had sinned. For he did not know if they did or if they didn’t, yet he is continually pleading for God’s grace for them, JUST IN CASE.
This is a loving and servant heart. That regardless of our knowledge of others actions, we may PLEAD with the Lord for grace unknowing of the real needs. So the reflection came to me, do i pray to God for forgiveness for MY OWN family? Do I ask Him for His forgiveness JUST IN CASE my children have sinned? What can change in my prayers this morning if I can focus more of my requests on the blessings to others than asking things for myself? Can I be praying more for the JUST IN CASE?
This is not assuming negativity or even expecting it, rather knowing that we are all humans plagued by the sin fall and curse, and there will be shortcomings and failures within my home and within the lives of the children and spouse I love. This is not a finger pointing to them but rather a hedge protection request. This is Job, a man that was living a blameless life yet still terribly hurt by the devil and the Lord’s debate of his faith. We learn early on about Job that not only was he shooting straight for himself but he was PRAYING that his children would be forgiven JUST IN CASE they weren’t shooting straight for themselves…
I don’t think we can miss this for ourselves. There is a healthy spiritual growth for the man that is CONSTANTLY praying for his family and pleading over the sins he may have missed… We need to be wary for the JUST IN CASE..
Barnabas Man 