Our God:  Faithful Parenting

Job 1:
1 There lived in the land of Uz a man named Job - a good man who feared God and stayed away from evil.
2 He had a large family of seven sons and three daughters
3 and was immensely wealthy, for he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and employed many servants. He was, in fact, the richest cattleman in that entire area.
4 Every year when Job's sons had birthdays, they invited their brothers and sisters to their homes for a celebration. On these occasions they would eat and drink with great merriment.
5 When these birthday parties ended - and sometimes they lasted several days - Job would summon his children to him and sanctify them, getting up early in the morning and offering a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned and turned away from God in their hearts." This was Job's regular practice.    (Good News Bible)

Job distinguished himself in several ways:
he was immensely wealthy: the richest cattleman in that entire area.
he was a man who had great reverence for God and he had an active faith in God that caused him to stay away from the evils which presented themselves to him as a businessman.
he had a large family of seven sons and three daughters.

No one becomes immensely wealthy and successful without being diligent in looking after his business affairs.
But we find another area of Job's diligence highlighted here:
He was a father who prayed regularly and diligently for his CHILDREN.
Sometimes fathers are so busy earning a living to make a way for their children in life, that they forget God altogether.
But Job saw beyond a "better" life for his children. He saw beyond material provision for their future.
He saw that if he didn't pray diligently for them, that their future in this life and afterwards would be doomed, no matter how much "better" their life looked outwardly to other people.

In this, Job was being supremely wise. Though one day he would hand over his wealth to his children, he understood that the blessing of God was of even more important.
His wealth would make sure they were outwardly provided for. But his diligent prayers would make a way for their inner life: their own faith in God.

The Apostle Peter says that our faith is more precious than gold (1 Peter 1:7), and even though Job had much that equalled gold, he understood that a living faith in God was even more precious than gold.
We learn later in this history what his diligent faith and prayer produced:
the enemy accused God of putting a hedge around Job that was so impenetrable that the enemy could not harm Job in any way.
This was the result of Job's diligence in faith and prayer.

The last phrase of verse 5 (above) says that Job made a regular practise of praying for his children. This means that he didn't pray on the odd occasion that he might remember to pray for the children.
He prayed for them faithfully and regularly. It sounds like Job prayed for them every day.

Not only that, but his prayers were focused. Verse 5 says that he prayed diligently for each of them. This means he took time over each of his ten children.
He called each one by name before God. He knew their abilities and personalities. He knew their strengths and weaknesses. He talked to God about each child according to his knowledge of them. This knowledge came from interacting with them so that he could observe them and pray with personal knowledge of them.

Then, Job prayed for them as only a father could and should. There are some parents who think that church leaders are the people who should pray for their children.
There are many fathers who believe that mothers are the people who should do the praying in the family.
But Job didn't give out this responsibility to any other person.
He prayed for his children HIMSELF.
Job understood that God required him to pray for his own children. Job understood that if he were to be a successful businessman and be diligent about that, God also required him to be a successful father.
One thing successful parents do is to pray with the love and care only a father can have, for his children.

May we all follow the example of Job in this area of faithful parenting in prayer.

Prayer:
Loving heavenly Father,
teach me today how to be faithful in praying diligently for those You have put under my care as a parent.
Teach me how to pray in a focused way for each person in my family: whether they are a minor child or an adult. Help me to pray with knowledge and understanding for each of them.
Teach me how to pray with the care and love of a parent for each one, so that they will not only be successful outwardly, but that they will also inherit my faith and reverence for YOU,   my heavenly Father.
Thank You for the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who submitted Himself to Your will and purpose for Him. He trusted You in His death, and You brought Him back from death to life,
so that I can have Your kind of life too.
Thank You, Lord,    Amen.

See you tomorrow, God willing