Job 42:7-17 | After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer. After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. 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 on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.
Romans 8:28 | And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Isaiah 43:1 | But now, this is what the Lord says— he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
Each of us is somewhere in the middle of our stories. No one’s story is finished yet, but I approach situations like I am on the story’s last page.
- “Lord, things are just not happening at work the way they are supposed to!”
- “Jesus, I lost my patience again. This is how I am going to be forever.”
- “Heavenly Father, I can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep. I guess I’ll never know what it feels like to be rested again.”
When I am stuck in the middle of a situation where I can’t figure out the ending, it can feel discouraging. I want to know how it all turns out.
I struggle to relate to people in the Bible because it all worked out for them. I know how their story ends.
- I know Job lost everything, but God had a plan to redeem him and restore his life.
- I know Nicodemus couldn’t get past his confusion, but Jesus shared with him some of the most famous passages of the Bible. (John 3:16)
- I know Elizabeth battled with infertility, but in the end, she had a son named John the Baptist.
When we get to the end, we forget the middle.
The middle is where transformation happens! In this study, we will look at different people in the Bible who are stuck in the middle. For each devotion, we will observe these four things:
1) the confession of the person in the middle of a difficult situation
2) God’s response to us
3) questions to ponder
4) follow up Scripture readings to see how it all turns out
Spoiler alert! They are all happy endings. That spoiler alert doesn’t just apply to these individuals. Every one of our situations has happy endings because God is writing our stories, and we know the end.
As you read, notice how the men and women won’t use their names in their confessions because their situation becomes their whole identity. God always flips our identity from where we are to WHO we are. God always calls us by name and gives us a new identity as a child of our Heavenly Father. Your identity is not your situation. You are loved, redeemed, and called by name. You are His!
* These are works of creative license and are not excerpts from the Bible. They are works of fiction based on the facts taken from the Bible stories. For your reference, the Scriptures used are listed each day.