A Family Devotion From The Biblical Homestead | The Forgotten Lesson in Job’s Blessing

We all know the part of Job’s story where God restored what he had lost and gave him twice as much as he had before. But sometimes I think we get so focused on Job’s material blessing that we miss one of the most important lessons in that verse.

The Lord turned Job’s captivity **when he prayed for his friends.**

That led us into a much bigger family discussion this morning about prayer, intercession, and what we have come to think God’s “blessing” should look like.

Somewhere along the way, much of the church has become very money-minded. We hear testimonies about raises, houses, vehicles, successful businesses and financial increase, and those things certainly CAN be blessings from God. There is nothing wrong with having money or material things.

But are they really the measure of whether someone is blessed?

What about the family whose finances are tight, but their marriage is strong?

What about parents whose children love God?

What about a home filled with faith, prayer, peace and commitment to one another?

What about the person who never seems to have an abundance of money, yet somehow, every time there is a need, the Lord provides?

Those are blessings too.

And I believe we have elevated the material blessings so much that we have stopped recognizing the spiritual ones.

Job’s story also reminds us that our prayer life cannot always revolve around ourselves — our troubles, our needs, our finances and our circumstances. There comes a point when we need to look beyond ourselves and begin earnestly praying for somebody else.

There are a lot of rabbit trails in our family devotions. There is usually some laughter too. But this morning’s conversation kept circling back to one simple thought:

I would much rather see my family headed toward Heaven than have a pocket full of money.

God knows what we need. He knows what is best