Double for your Troubles!

It was today after church service, I went to McDonalds to get myself something to eat. When I arrived at the drive-thru, I initially ordered a McDouble mini meal, but after remembering that my mother had already cooked, I then changed my order to just three chocolate chip cookies. After approaching the first window to pay, I then approached the second window where the lady asked me to pull down and that they would bring my cookies out. No one likes waiting, but I waited, and waited, and waited for those three cookies. Finally, a guy comes out and gives me a McDonald's bag with two McDouble sandwiches, and a large fry. I then told the guy that this was not what I ordered, but he let me keep the meal. I then had to wait again for those three cookies. After waiting, a lady came and apologized, and gave me double the cookies for my wait. After she said this, God gave me the message, “double for your trouble.” 

 

Everyone has troubles. Troubles are a part of life, and believe it or not, God does not promise us a life free of troubles! Even God himself says in John 14:1, "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble."  However, God does promise to give us blessings just for the troubles we go through...when we are obedient to His Word. This reminds me of a man whose name was Job. If you're not familiar with the story of Job in the Old Testament, let me say this, Job was a blameless, upright, patient, and God-fearing man...but he had troubles. In Job 1:13-19, Job's troubles begin after four messengers came with news of one disaster after another, and by the end of the day, Job lost his livestock, possessions, and his family. Note: Job lost everything after God took Satan up on the challenge that Job was only faithful because of all God had blessed him with. Satan then went on to destroy all Job's livestock, steal his possessions, and ultimately kill his family. But because Job remained faithful, the Bible says that God gave Job twice as much as he had before!

 

In this post, I'm going to focus in on Job, Chapter 42, verses 10-16 where God blessed Job with double for his trouble. We read,  

¹⁰ When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! ¹¹ Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.¹² So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. ¹³ He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. ¹⁴ He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵ In all the land no women were as lovely as the daughters of Job. And their father put them into his will along with their brothers. ¹⁶ Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren.

Here we see that Job received double everything of all that he had before. God doubled Job's wealth and his family. Not only that, but Job lived one hundred forty years after his troubles ended. Let me tell you this, God wants to bless His people. Not only that, but God promises to bless us when we fear him and walk in obedience. I remember in 2008, I lost everything. I lost my dog, my job, and my car. Like Job, I couldn't begin to understand why all of those things were happening to me, but I didn't lose my faith in God, and I didn't forget Satan's job description.  In John 10:10, God says, ¹⁰ The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. But God! He blessed me with another dog, the same job but with higher salary, and another car that was paid in full. Wow! Double for my trouble!!!  Isaiah 61:7 says, For your shame ye shall have double; and for your confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall posses the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

In sum, we all will have troubles in life, but they are only temporary. Be it family troubles, financial troubles, friend troubles, and/ or physical troubles...but we can learn from Job's example. We see from Job's example that he maintained patience, respect, and trust in God even in the midst of troubles.  Although Job's troubles began after God allowed Satan to test his righteousness and faithfulness, God also allows Satan to test us today. And like Job, you may not understand what is happening or why it's happening to you, but ask God to show you. While many people think of patience when they think of Job, he was also a wonderful example of faith in endurance. Let Job's story be a wonderful source of encouragement to you. Last but not least, we must remember that Satan is the taker, God is the giver!!!!