Thus begins one of the great books of the Bible; the Old Testament story of a very godly rich man who lost everything, including his health. All of this was through no fault of his own. He lived before much of the Bible was written. He did not have the benefit of our New Testament scriptures; indeed he lived well before the time of the Psalms and Isaiah, so he did not have even the promise of a Savior to comfort him in his affliction. Even the very concept of life after death was uncertain. All that was known was to deal with God directly. But how? Although several of his well meaning friends tried to comfort Job, they only succeeded in making him feel worse.

Through it all, Job trusted God and honored him. However, things still did not improve. Finally, at the end of his rope, Job spoke directly to God about how he felt he had been given a raw deal. God spoke back about how He was the one in control. One of the things he asked Job to do was to pray for his friends. It is interesting to note that after a contrite Job prayed for his friends, only then did God restore his health and his wealth. Double!- for his trouble (Job 42: 10) .

The lighthouse is a symbol of prayer. Be a lighthouse of prayer in your immediate sphere of influence. There is a prayer evangelism movement based on Luke 10 select a few unchurched local people to pray for. A very short time regularly is fine; it is not necessary to know all about them or even to speak to them (although I wouldn't want to discourage that). It could be a neighbor, a co-worker, or a classmate. Ask God to intervene in their lives and speak a blessing over them. After all, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and the goodness of God is as sticky as it gets!