Job 4-7 With Friends Like This ...

“The three friends were silent for seven days, and Job later wished they had stayed that way,” my commentary said.  Eliphaz answered the words from Job’s lips and not the pain in Job’s heart, it said.  “You do not heal a broken heart with logic.  You heal a broken heart with love.”

Eliphaz’s theology was the classic God punishes sin and blesses obedience so Job must be sinning.  Eliphaz likely had a dream that he gradually transformed into a vision that was probably not a direct revelation from God, yet he used it to counsel him, it said.  “One thing is sure:  Eliphaz was not telling the whole story about God and man … man is also made in the image of God, and the God who made him is a God of grace and mercy as well as a God of justice.”

His second argument came from his observations about life.  “The problem with arguing from observation is that our observations are severely limited.  Furthermore, we can’t see the human heart as God can and determine who is righteous in His sight.”

“If Job is in trouble, concludes Eliphaz, he caused it himself because he sinned against God.  Therefore, Job must repent of his sins and ask for God’s forgiveness.  Eliphaz decided that Job needed to seek God and commit himself to him.  He had no idea that that’s where Job had been when all this started.  Job instead asked for sympathy from his friends.  “They didn’t feel the heaviness of his suffering nor the bitterness of his suffering.  Job felt like a target at which God was shooting poisoned arrows, and the poison was making Job’s spirit bitter … and Job’s friends were adding to the poison.  What Job needed were words of encouragement that would feed his spirit and give him strength … he was hungry for love and understanding … Prolonged and intense suffering can make a person feel powerless to handle life and this can lead to hopelessness … Hopelessness can lead to a feeling of uselessness, and when you feel useless, you don’t want to live.  This explains why Job wanted God to take his life.”

Job also appealed to the Lord.  He felt watched by Him unnecessarily, as if He were guarding him constantly.  He then requested forgiveness.  “If I have sinned, then forgive me.  Why should I be a burden to You and to myself? … It was not a confession of sin, for Job still maintained his integrity; but it was an opportunity for God to deal with areas in Job’s life that he knew nothing about.”

Father, the last few years remind me of this story.  It seems like things just keep pining on even though I cling to You and trust You.  Help me to discover what Job discovered about You.  Don’t let me feel so much hopelessness that I want to give up.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford