The Twice-Blessing

Job 42:12

So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

We often look at the life of Job and bemoan what he had to go through. It is easy to look at his life and to feel sorry for him, but I think the great thing about Job is not how he came through the trial, though that is a great thing to look at; I believe the great attribute about Job is what he did after the trial was over. Job could've easily looked at his life and gotten comfortable after the trial was over, but instead, he worked hard to get back on his feet.

Now, here's the key we often miss in Job's life. Job was blessed twice as much as before the trials came, because he worked twice as hard to get those blessings. We want the twice-blessing, but the twice-blessing does not come without twice the work. Yes, Job was blessed twice as much as he was before the trials came, but he had to work twice as hard to get those blessings. Do you think that those trials and the health issues that he had did not affect his energy level? Anyone who’s ever endured sickness knows that you come out on the other side with a little less strength than before the sickness came. However, Job did not let that stop him from working twice as hard, and the twice-blessing came because he worked twice as much as he did before.

There is no secret to success other than hard work. Too many people want to read success books and think it will always be easy to find success, but I promise you that, with every success book you read, hard work is at the very center of the success it talks about. Nobody finds success by sitting and thinking about the formula for success; those who find success are those who work hard.

However, settling for success should not be enough for the believer, but we should want the twice-blessing that God wants to give us. Now those blessings will not come without hard times. Before Job had twice the blessing, he had to endure seven times the trials. This is what we don't want. We want to go through life easily without hard times and be blessed twice as much, but before you can have the twice-blessing, you must endure the great trials. Every person who has ever known the twice-blessing also knew great trials that preceded that blessing. You can pray for God to bless you twice as much, but what you are actually asking God to do is to give you great trials because the twice-blessing does not come without the great trials.

Moreover, many have made it through the trials, but have never seen the twice-blessing, because they became complacent once the trial over. Complacency has squelched the twice-blessing many times. I would hate to go through trials for God to want to give me the twice-blessing and not see it because I sat and did nothing.

My friend, if you are going to obtain the twice-blessing, you must work twice as hard to get it. Anybody can have the twice-blessing, but not everyone is willing to work twice as hard to get it. If you are afraid of hard work and hard times, and avoid them at all costs, you will never know what it is like to have the twice-blessing. God wants to give the twice-blessing to every one of his children, but they must be willing to work twice as hard to get it, for God only gives his blessing to the proportion that they are willing to work.