When He Prayed For His Friends

¹“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.” (Job 42:10). How often are we at the very end of our rope and yet, even when we need help more than anyone, we feel prompted to help someone else? We might tell ourselves that we would like to extend a helping hand, but we’re so battered and broken that we can barely lift our arms up. If God wants us to help someone else so badly, then why doesn’t He scoop us out of this hellhole that He dropped us into? If ever there was someone who felt that he had just nothing left to give, then it must have been Job. Before Job was pulled out of the pit into which he had been plunged, the Lord asked him to pray for his friends. Keep in mind, Job lost everything and was basically rotting in the dirt. His friends ought to have been praying for him, not the other way around. And what about these friends? They had just spent weeks or months harassing and belittling Job and calling him wicked and prideful and stubborn. These were the types of friends that he was supposed to pray for? We can pray for others, even when we feel like we’re the ones who need the prayers. We can pray even for our so-called friends who have been mistreating us. Indeed, we must. Sometimes that’s the only way out of captivity for us is to look outward and reach out to those who are also struggling. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Lord blessed Job with twice as much as he had before. Job knew better than anyone what it was like to need help, so God blessed him with twice as much so he could help twice as many of his friends. If we have been stuck in captivity for too long, let us remember to pray for our friends. And if all of our friends have abandoned us and we’re surrounded only by enemies, then let us pray for our enemies until they become our friends. I know that the more we push ourselves to look beyond our own pain, the more that we will be twice blessed - blessed once with the strength to help our friends, and blessed twice to be liberated from our own problems as well.