Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing this burden for your son and his wife. It is right to bring this loss before the Lord and to ask Him to work in their lives and in their marriage.
The story of Job speaks to a time like this. That book is among the oldest in Scripture, from a culture very different from ours, yet the deep questions it raises are the same ones people still face. A man who loved God and turned away from evil suddenly lost his possessions, his livelihood, and his health, and was left with little more than his own breath. He did not understand why. Heaven knew more than he did. The enemy had been watching him closely and claimed that his faithfulness was only because God had placed a hedge around him and blessed him. When that hedge was tested and those blessings were taken, Job still did not curse God. He bowed and worshiped and said that he came into the world with nothing and will leave with nothing, and blessed the name of the Lord.
That helps us in two ways as we pray for your son. First, the loss of a job is not by itself a sign that God is displeased or that some hidden sin must be the cause. Job's friends came to comfort him but then became harsh comforters. They insisted that suffering must mean hypocrisy or wrongdoing and told him to simply get right with God and everything would be fixed. Job knew that God is fair and just, and he also knew their explanation did not fit. In his pain he cried out many things from grief, not from settled truth, and Scripture faithfully records those cries without making them doctrine. We learn not to add to his burden with quick accusations, and not to build our hope on words spoken out of distress. We look instead to what God has clearly revealed.
Second, Job longed for someone to stand between him and God, to lay a hand on both and bring him near. That longing is answered in Jesus Christ, who alone is the mediator between God and man. Through Him we can come with confidence, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and trust that our Father knows what we need.
So we are praying with you in that confidence.
We ask the Lord to give your son peace that guards his heart and mind in Christ, even while he does not understand all that has happened. We ask that God, who sees him and knows his work and character, would open doors that no person can shut and give him favor with those who make hiring decisions. We pray that if it is the Lord's will, He would provide work that is better suited and better provided for than what was lost, and that in any case your son would see God's hand and give thanks. We pray that he would use this waiting time to seek the Lord earnestly, to listen to His word, and to walk uprightly.
We also pray for his wife, that she would be a true helper and encourager to him. Not one who adds weight with criticism or cold comfort, but one who upholds him in prayer, speaks kindly and with hope, and cheers him on in the Lord. We ask God to bless and strengthen their marriage as a lifelong covenant before Him, to deepen their unity, and to cause them to seek Him together first, trusting His promise to provide what they need as they walk with Him.
May the Lord show them His uncommon favor, not only in outward provision but in a deeper knowledge of His presence, His justice, and His mercy, and may their testimony through this trial bring honor to Jesus, in whose mighty name we pray, Amen.
The story of Job speaks to a time like this. That book is among the oldest in Scripture, from a culture very different from ours, yet the deep questions it raises are the same ones people still face. A man who loved God and turned away from evil suddenly lost his possessions, his livelihood, and his health, and was left with little more than his own breath. He did not understand why. Heaven knew more than he did. The enemy had been watching him closely and claimed that his faithfulness was only because God had placed a hedge around him and blessed him. When that hedge was tested and those blessings were taken, Job still did not curse God. He bowed and worshiped and said that he came into the world with nothing and will leave with nothing, and blessed the name of the Lord.
That helps us in two ways as we pray for your son. First, the loss of a job is not by itself a sign that God is displeased or that some hidden sin must be the cause. Job's friends came to comfort him but then became harsh comforters. They insisted that suffering must mean hypocrisy or wrongdoing and told him to simply get right with God and everything would be fixed. Job knew that God is fair and just, and he also knew their explanation did not fit. In his pain he cried out many things from grief, not from settled truth, and Scripture faithfully records those cries without making them doctrine. We learn not to add to his burden with quick accusations, and not to build our hope on words spoken out of distress. We look instead to what God has clearly revealed.
Second, Job longed for someone to stand between him and God, to lay a hand on both and bring him near. That longing is answered in Jesus Christ, who alone is the mediator between God and man. Through Him we can come with confidence, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and trust that our Father knows what we need.
So we are praying with you in that confidence.
We ask the Lord to give your son peace that guards his heart and mind in Christ, even while he does not understand all that has happened. We ask that God, who sees him and knows his work and character, would open doors that no person can shut and give him favor with those who make hiring decisions. We pray that if it is the Lord's will, He would provide work that is better suited and better provided for than what was lost, and that in any case your son would see God's hand and give thanks. We pray that he would use this waiting time to seek the Lord earnestly, to listen to His word, and to walk uprightly.
We also pray for his wife, that she would be a true helper and encourager to him. Not one who adds weight with criticism or cold comfort, but one who upholds him in prayer, speaks kindly and with hope, and cheers him on in the Lord. We ask God to bless and strengthen their marriage as a lifelong covenant before Him, to deepen their unity, and to cause them to seek Him together first, trusting His promise to provide what they need as they walk with Him.
May the Lord show them His uncommon favor, not only in outward provision but in a deeper knowledge of His presence, His justice, and His mercy, and may their testimony through this trial bring honor to Jesus, in whose mighty name we pray, Amen.
