“When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes. In fact, the LORD gave him twice as much as before!” (Job 42:10, NLT)

The lessons in the book of Job are legion. We learn that good people suffer. We see that people resist being corrected by other people but that the presence, power and goodness of God brings them to repentance. We understand that God works through evil circumstances to bring about good results. He even used Satan to bring Job to a deeper faith and maturity. Like Christ, Job learned obedience through the things that he suffered (Hebrews 5:8). We learn that God gives, He takes away, and He restores. We learn that if we think we can judge God we should think again.

As I meditate on this final chapter, the lesson that grips my heart can be expressed as a kind of math equation:

REPENTANCE + FORGIVENESS + INTERCESSION = BLESSING

After being confronted with seventy-seven questions from God, Job came to a place of deep repentance.

“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5–6, ESV)

We know that the LORD forgave Job because He told Job’s three friends that they had not spoken of Him what was right as His servant Job had—even though earlier Job had wrongfully accused God. The amazing thing about God is that when He forgives our sins He remembers them no more (Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:12). But now Job needed to forgive his friends for falsely accusing him and being “miserable comforters”. Job demonstrated his forgiveness by interceding for them so that God’s wrath would not come upon them.

When Job prayed for his friends, God restored Job’s fortunes and even gave him twice as much as before. How profound! Job engaged in the ministry of intercession, which is also the labor of Christ. This was a deeper work that God did in Job. Job shared in the sufferings of Christ, and now he also shared in the intercession of Christ. The end result of Job’s repentance, forgiveness and intercession was that he received greater blessings than he had ever known before.

What are your personal takeaways from the story of Job? Spend time today talking about them with the Lord.