Once Job had let go of any complaint about God's justice or sovereignty, or whether he was treated fairly, things changed!

First he was required to bless those three friends who had not supported his innocence! God had an issue with these three friends, here is what he says to them:

"My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has."

Job 42:8 NLT

It is a very frustrating and hurtful experience to be misrepresented to others. That is what God is saying these three friends did to him!

They were absolutely convinced that Job's calamity was caused by his own personal sin, and God's response to Job was a conditioned response. Put another way, Job must have sinned and Gods only alternative was to judge! In their minds the reverse would also have been true, God must bless innocence. Job's struggle in this story was to understand why. The three friend's struggle was that they boxed God in, they pretended to understand.

Here's what we find in the story though, Job was innocent, yet he experienced the calamity. The three friends were guilty of misrepresenting God and yet he says "I will not treat you as you deserve." So they receive grace! This illustrates why we need a deeper revelation of God when we do not understand his ways in our life.

On top of this, Job is also required to give grace to these three friends, who prosecuted him when he was innocent. The Grace comes in the form of praying for his friends. Listen to this:

"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

In this story God does not bless Job's innocence, he blesses Job's giving of grace to others. Wow!!! Job gave to his three friends what they would not give to him and what they did not deserve. He also gave them what God gave them and therefore was in tune with who God really is! What if being Godly was not just a list of how I'm doing with do's and don'ts, but measured by giving Grace. This is the hallmark of our God, he is perfect, but what makes him the God who he is to us, is that he gives us grace for our imperfections. So maybe the hallmark of being Christian is people who give grace! That is why we are most like God, not in achieving some perfect moral standard, but in giving of grace to those who have wronged us! That is how we become like Jesus!

OK, don't miss this thought and work this into your life! If you want to be truly Godly and restore, re-new and multiply God's blessing on your life, do this....

GIVE GRACE
So who can you practice your Godliness on?