Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.
– Job 33:29–30
This is Elihu speaking in Job 33, who comes on the scene near the end of the Book of Job, and says more things that are true, and helpful, and wise than the other friends who’ve been surrounding Job.
Job 33:29–30 reminds us of God’s work of restoring us from sin.
And these two verses are so good because they’re a reminder of a truth we see all throughout the Bible, that God will work in many different ways. “God does all these things twice, three times with a man to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life”. In other words, God will work in all kinds of ways in our lives to keep us, and to pull us back, bring us back from the pit of sin or self-sufficiency in this world. And this is really good news, to know that God loves us so much that He will pursue us, and do any number of things to draw us back to himself, and to the light of life that he’s designed us for.
Now, we know, here in the story of Job, that the suffering he’s experienced is not due to particular sin in Job’s life. At the same time, what Elihu is saying here certainly applies to when we do sin in our lives. Praise God that he will show us the consequences of our sin and will draw us back to himself. We need God’s love to keep us, save us, deliver us continually from ourselves and our propensities to sin.
And at the same time, even when we walk through suffering that may not be a specific result of particular sin in our lives, much like Job is experiencing here, we can know and trust that God, and all the things that are happening around us… This is Romans 8:28–30. We pray according to this all the time, that in all these things God is working good, redemptive purposes in our lives. He’s drawing us closer to himself. He’s drawing us deeper into the life and light he’s designed us to live in. So we can trust God’s good, redemptive purposes in our souls to bring us back continually from sin, from self-sufficiency, to the light of life he’s made us for.
Job 33:29–30 reminds us that God works everything for our ultimate good.
And so we pray. God, we praise you for the way you pursue us, the way you run after us, the way you graciously, mercifully do not leave us to our sin or ourselves. But you are constantly, in all things, working to redeem us, to make us new, to draw us closer to yourself and to the life you’ve designed us to live. And so, God, we pray that you would work all the things in our lives that you’re doing right now for that good, for our good in you, for your glory through us.
God, we trust in you. We pray that you would help us to trust in you. Help us to see, that over and above all things, even the worst things that we might experience, that you are good and you are always working for our good, even in a Genesis 50 kind of way. What others do that is evil and intend for evil in our lives, you are sovereignly working for good.
Jesus, we praise you for showing us this, for willingly going to the cross, enduring evil, sin, suffering, death on the cross for us. And God, for your ordaining of all of that for our good, for our salvation. So help us then to pray, just as Jesus prayed, not our will but yours be done, trusting that your will is good for our lives.
And God, we pray that you would help us to spread your redemption, your love, your mercy, your grace to run after people around us today who need your love and your grace. And Jesus, help us to be pursuing people who are in need of Jesus today in our praying, in our sharing the gospel with them, in our serving them.
Prayer for the Dholi People
And God, help us to do this with the peoples around the world. We pray specifically today for the Dholi people of India, for 268,000 Hindi-speaking, Hindu men, women, children, who have little to no knowledge of the gospel. God, we pray that you would bless your church in India from other places for the spread of the gospel among the Dholi of India, that they might be reached with the light of life that’s found in Jesus alone.
We pray all this according to your Word, which we love, in Job 33:29–30. In Jesus’ name, in the name of our Redeemer, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
