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Job 42:1-17

1 Then Job answered the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

7 After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

Job’s Fortunes Are Restored Twofold 10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. 12 The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15 In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. 16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. 17 And Job died, old and full of days.

The Book of Job: (Un)Ending

In the past two weeks, my fifteen year old son has asked me at least fifteen times, "When do you think this global pandemic will be over? When will it end?" What he really wants to know is, "When can I see my girlfriend again?"

I think the most frustrating thing for me as a parent is that don't really have a good answer for him. I don't know when or how all this will end. Experts disagree. Some say two months. Some say 18 months. Some say we may be fighting an unending wave of pandemics like this for years to come.

Of course, no one wants to hear that. We like to know how the story ends. Not only that, here in a country known for Disney fairy tales and rags-to-riches success stories, we like our stories to conclude with the words, "And they lived happily ever after." Or at the very least, "things went back to normal again."

At least on the surface, the Book of Job has a happy ending. After 39 long chapters being quarantined away from the world in his grief and illness, with only his closest friends by his side (most likely at an appropriate six foot distance), Job makes a full recovery in today's scripture passage. We read that the Lord restored Job's fortunes and his family, gave him twice as much wealth as he had lost, and all his friends and relatives came to throw him a big party. How many of you are already planning your post-Coronavirus coming out parties? Don't forget to invite your pastor, okay?

Lessons for the pandemic from the Book of Job:

1.