“He prays to God, & He is favorable to him, so that he sees His face with joy; for God restores to him his righteousness (his uprightness & right standing with God) — with its joys.” - Job 33:26 AMPC
Hello, & welcome to another Wednesday blog post! Today, we are continuing on in our study, titled "Spiritually Sprouting". We are currently on the sub-topic of prayer, & this post, a breakdown of a really neat verse I found in Job (see above), is mainly about the relationship with God that we develop through prayer. I had a good time writing this, & I hope you have a good time reading it!
"He prays to God"
As we’ve confirmed multiple times, a relationship with God is TWO-way. It is not only God speaking to us, or only us speaking to God, but it requires effort, communication, & commitment from both sides. If you feel that you aren’t connected to God, you can start by praying. Talk to God, pour out your heart to Him, & give Him the gift of your time. You wouldn’t want a relationship with someone if they cared nothing about you & never even bothered to talk with you, right? Imagine how it breaks God’s heart when we push Him aside to pursue other things. As important as interpersonal relationships with people are, be reminded of how much more important it is to have a thriving relationship with God. All humans are created in the image of God, so the joy we derive from human relationships is but a tiny fragment compared to the joy & fulfillment that comes from a relationship with God.
But, remember this: it’s not only about what God can do for you. It’s also about what you can do for Him. You are specially designed & created for the purpose of glorifying God in your life, & you have amazing potential to do wonderful things for God. He has instilled in you your very own talents & abilities, which He designed to be used for His glory. But you see, in order to unlock our full potential, we must immerse ourselves in the Source of those gifts (God) & come to know Him quite personally so that we may learn how to use our gifts for His glory. Even beyond that, a relationship with God is such a beautiful thing. It’s something we are designed to have, & deep down, it’s something that we all crave, because it’s literally written in our DNA (remember how God created Adam by breathing His own life into him?). God created us to have fellowship with Him & to have an ever-growing relationship with Him, & He doesn’t want it any other way.
"He (God) is favorable to him"
God is different from other kings & from the authorities in this world. He does not make us grovel before Him & beg for mercy in order to receive what we have need of, & He doesn’t neglect us in order to care for Himself. Our God is favorable to us. He cares so deeply for for us in every way that He finds joy in being our provision & in blessing us beyond our ability to comprehend! God’s favor is a gift that we continually receive when we have a relationship with God. Even at the beginning of your relationship with Him, when you were saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), you received “unmerited favor”, which is the definition of grace.
God has always loved us, & He blessed us even before we knew Him, but the more you grow in a relationship with God, the more favor you will begin to see. When you know God, you recognize the work of His hands & the blessings that He is giving you, & it opens your eyes to what you can do to bless God. The beautiful thing about this, though, is that God does not benefit Himself when He gives us favor, but He simply does it to show His love for us. You see, there is nothing we could ever do to fully repay God for what He does for us as His children, but that’s exactly the point. God doesn’t want to be repaid. He offers the free gift of salvation to us simply because He loves us, & because He wants what is best for us.
God doesn’t have an ulterior motive for blessing us. Like we said, God is different from the kings of this world. He gives us everything that He has, & He doesn’t do it to manipulate us or to deceive us or to buy our acts of repentance, but He does it because He loves us. God’s favor is based on His love for us & not on our being worthy to receive it, but as we increase the strength of our relationship with Him, He blesses us with more & more, because He trusts us to be faithful stewards of what He gives. He empowers us with His blessings, so that we can in turn use those gifts for God’s glory, at which point others will notice & wonder what it is that makes you so strong & successful, & that gives you an open door for sharing God’s love & explaining what He has done for you.
"He (man) sees His (God’s) face with joy"
When you don’t personally know someone, you don’t really have a connection with them. You may know of them, but you don’t have a close relationship with them. Before we came into relationship with God, we were outsiders. We didn’t know God, & His face was hidden from us because of our sinfulness. But, Jesus’ sacrifice leading to the free gift of salvation opened the door for us once again. After we are restored to a right relationship with God, we can actually see God’s face. Right now, we cannot see Him in the physical sense (with our eyes), but now that we know God, we can recognize the work of His hands & His heart for us, as well as all of mankind. Even more than that, we can now come boldly into His Presence & worship Him without anything standing in the way. We can make petitions & requests, & He hears them.
Most of all, we can know God, & to know God is the single best thing in the entire history of the universe. It is such a privilege that we take for granted, & I think that it is due in part to the fact that we cannot physically see God while we are here on earth. It can cause thoughts of doubt to crop up in our minds, & it can be discouraging to not see God with our physical eyes, but we must remember that the spiritual things are just as real as the physical things. Just think, before the universe existed, God thought of it in His own mind. He spoke the words, & sheer nothingness became the beautiful world that we live on today.
Just because we cannot see God, it doesn’t mean that His presence is not with us or that He is not aware of our doings. On the contrary, as Christians, we have God’s own Holy Spirit with us, no matter where we go or what we face. Knowing this gives us a sense of heart peace, & to think that our God cares enough about us to dwell in our own hearts is nothing short of amazing. The glory of God is so vast & so incomprehensible, but at the same time, we understand it, & when we experience it, we feel at home in it because we were never designed to experience anything less. In God’s Presence, there truly is fulness of joy (Psalm 16:11). This kind of joy is the purest form of joy in existence, because it connects us to God, the Source of true joy. It is not something based on circumstances or conditions, but it is a direct result of being in the Presence of God Himself.
"For God restores to him his righteousness with its joys"
Despite our efforts, we eventually fail. We fall short, we miss the mark, & we succumb to temptation. By our own strength, we can never be perfect. But, that’s where Jesus came in, living the perfect life & being the perfect example of what a child of God looks like. It wasn’t done in order to shame us, but rather it opens our eyes to see how life really should be lived. Jesus did what no other human could do. He was absolutely pure in every way, yet He came down to the lowest place of anyone, served everyone, & bore our punishment for sin, sacrificing Himself to show His love for us & to give us the ability to have a relationship with God, just as He Himself has.
Because of this, we all have been ransomed. The price has been paid, & Satan no longer has authority over us. Though we were beaten down, worn out, & unable to know God, we now have the ability to be restored. Though we were lost, we have been found. Though we were guilty, we have now been made spotless. Though we still struggle with sin, we have the Holy Spirit to strengthen us & lead us on in paths of righteousness. We now have the ability to talk personally with our God & Creator, & we can worship Him in spirit & in truth. We can now receive wisdom from Him, & we can show His love to those around us.
We can now have hope, because God loves us, He has beautiful plans for us, & nothing formed against us will prevail. We can live life from a place of strength & power, & we can understand God’s plan & purpose for our lives. We can minister to others, being kind-hearted servants, & we can be leaders, showing other people the ways of God. Most of all, we can know God, which is the sole best thing we could ever ask for. We no longer have to feel guilty when we fall short, & we no longer have to fend for ourselves in this world. We have a Father who loves us so immensely that words cannot describe it. We have no need to worry about our tomorrows, or even our todays, because God is with us. He is for us. He has restored us.
If this post touched you, I would love for you to share it with someone! Remember that God loves you, & He will never leave you. He is faithful, & He will never give up on you.
Blessings, Allison