Fathers with Adult Children: Job — Loss, Trust, and New Life
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
(Job 1; Job 42:12–17)
Before Job is a suffering man, he is something else first.
He is a father.
Job at the Beginning — A Father Who Prayed
The Book of Job opens with an image of quiet faithfulness. Job’s children are grown. They live in their own houses. They gather often for feasting and fellowship.
And Job prays.
“When the days of their feasting were gone about, Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.” (Job 1:5)
Job does not attempt to manage his adult children. He does not control them. He brings them before God.
This is where fatherhood often arrives when children are grown — not at authority, but at intercession.
The Day Everything Was Taken
Then comes the day that defines Job’s story.
Messenger after messenger arrives: Job’s wealth is gone. His livelihood destroyed. And finally, the blow no parent expects:
“Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine… and, behold, there came a great wind… and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead.” (Job 1:18–19)
All ten children are lost in a single moment.
Job does not curse God. He does not explain. He worships.
“The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21)
This is not indifference. It is faith clinging to God in the midst of grief.
The Long Road Between Beginning and End
Much of the Book of Job unfolds between these two moments — the loss in chapter 1 and the restoration in chapter 42.
Job questions. His friends accuse. God is silent.
When God finally speaks, He does not explain the why. He reveals the Who.
“I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.”Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:5-6)
Only after this encounter does the book turn toward renewal.
The Ending — New Life Given
We are told plainly:
“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.” (Job 42:12)
Job’s possessions are restored abundantly. His life is extended. And then Scripture says, without qualification:
“He had also seven sons and three daughters.” (Job 42:13)
These are not abstractions. They are not symbols. They are not accounting devices.
They are new sons and daughters, given in mercy.
Scripture does not suggest that Job lived childless for another 140 years, sustained only by memory and future hope.
Rather, God grants him once again the lived experience of fatherhood — with all its joys, responsibilities, and affections.
The loss of Job’s first children is not erased. Their deaths mattered. Their absence shaped him.
But God does not leave Job barren of family for the remainder of his life.
This is restoration — not denial of grief, but life renewed after it.
Daughters Named, Children Honored
Scripture then does something rare: it names Job’s daughters — Jemima, Kezia, and Keren-happuch — and tells us that no women in the land were found so fair.
More striking still:
“Their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.” (Job 42:15)
This is not a legal necessity. Job has sons. This is generosity shaped by suffering.
A father whose heart has been enlarged by loss now acts with uncommon grace.
A Full Life — Not an Easy One
Job lives 140 more years. He sees children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren — four generations.
And the book ends quietly:
“So Job died, being old and full of days.” (Job 42:17)
Not full of explanations.
Not free of scars.
Full — because he had seen God and received mercy.
A Word for Fathers Today
Some fathers see reconciliation. Some carry grief that never fully lifts. Some receive mercies they never expected.
Job reminds us that faithfulness does not guarantee protection from loss — but neither does loss exhaust the kindness of God.
God may allow deep sorrow. But He is not stingy with life afterward.
Job begins as a father who prays. He ends as a father who rests — surrounded once more by family, sustained by grace.
Closing Prayer
Lord, Teach us to pray for our children when they are near,and to trust You with them when they are beyond our reach.
Comfort those who grieve. Renew those who hope.And grant us grace to receive the mercies You give —without denying the losses we have known.
We place our children into Your faithful hands. Amen.
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The mercies of God What a theme for my song
Oh I never could number them o'er
They're more than the stars in the heavenly dome
Or the sands of the wave beaten shore
Chorus
For mercies so great, What return can I make
For mercies so constant and sure
I'll love him, I'll serve Him with all that I have
As long as my life shall endure
They greet me at morn when I waken from sleep
And they gladden my heart at the noon
They follow me on into shades of the night
when the day with its labor is done
His angels of mercy encompass me round
Wheresoever my pathway my lead
Each turn of the road some new token reveals
Oh For me life is blessed indeed
- Thomas O, Chisholm, 1935
O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. – Psalm 90:13
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