Hey friends, welcome back to the semi -seminary
and another week, another episode of our Bible
study series, which we're calling the Bible for
G rownups. Remember, of course, the big premise
of this Bible study is the assumption that we
as Christian believers, no fault of our own,
we were either taught the Bible as children or
we were exposed to baby Christianity later in
life and we were taught the Bible by people who
taught the Bible as children. Sometimes that
childish understanding of Scripture leaves us
with not the right answers for the questions
of an adult world. So we're trying to look at
the Bible and examine the Scripture in a new
way in which we might have adult answers for
an adult world. We continue in tonight's part
two of our extensive look at the book of Job.
Tonight we're going to see... Job having a conversation
with what appears to be at first very good friends,
but maybe good friends with bad advice. This
is kind of one of those situations when you look
at Job and you think, you know, with friends
like these, I don't think Job needs enemies.
See what you think. I'll see you on the other
side. Again, this is part two of this series
on Job. If you want to go back, I just mentioned
these are podcasts. If you want to Google or
search for the podcast, The Semi -Seminarian,
that's where you'll find these. If you want to
go back and listen to chapter or to part one.
But just a really quick refresher. What we're
talking about is this book of Job. And we find
this character of Job is somebody who has experienced.
Unfathomable loss. His children have died. All
of his goats, his donkeys, his cattle, his sheep
have either been killed or stolen. He is completely
ruined. Right? Not only has he lost all of his
children, but he's lost his fortune as well.
Okay? And this story is a story about suffering.
And it gets to the heart of a word that's a fancy
word that describes a neat concept, and that's
the word theosophy. And theosophy is an argument
about, a conversation about, there being a just
God despite the existence of evil in the world.
that the conversation is an evaluation spiritually
to ourselves, intellectually to ourselves, that
given that there is evil in the world, what does
that say about God's justness? Is God holy and
fully just the way that we say that He is? Is
God holy and fully righteous the way that He's
saved? The way that we say he is. Does God have
the power? Does God have the ability? Does God
have the desire to prevent suffering in the world?
And it's best described by that old question.
Why do bad things happen to good people? Why
do bad things... If God is all... God is good
and God is great and... You know, let's eat with
extra gravy or whatever, right? If God is so
awesome, and people who are good people believe
in God, why do bad things happen? Well, that's
what Job discusses. That's what we're going to
work to uncover, okay? And one of the things
I think this book does, and it does through our
examination of these three friends. Tonight,
we're just looking at the first friend, but we
look at these three friends and how they respond
to Job's suffering. And what we find within their
conversations are these assumptions about why
we suffer. Right? And each time Job is able to
come back and explain why their reasoning is
wrong. And so in the end, what the book of Job
is about when it comes to suffering is not, and
this is the Bible for grown -ups part here. This
is the part we have to accept as grown -ups.
Because this isn't VBS. The book of Job is not
to just explain away why suffering happens. Because
if the book just explains away why suffering
happens, then, well, I don't know, we develop
these assumptions about the nature of suffering.
It's really not why suffering happens. What Job
shows us is knowing that suffering will happen,
how are we as followers of God to suffer? What
is our role in our suffering? How can we continue
to honor God despite our suffering? It's not
about why suffering happens. It's how we are
to react as God's children in the midst of suffering.
Now again, because of the indentions and stuff
with the poetry, I couldn't print out because
the notes would have been like three or four
pages. Of paper. So I couldn't print those out
tonight. I do have a stack of Bibles over here
that I'm willing to swear anything on. But you
can, I know, I don't know where that came from.
But if you need a Bible, Job is the book just
before the book of Psalms. So somewhere in the
middle of the Bible, if you can find Psalms,
then look on either side, you're going to find
the book of Job. And what, again, we're doing
in the study, we're part two of a multi -part
series. Okay, because we'll probably what we'll
do is we're going to at least take, well, we're
going to take the first guy, the first friend
in his speech to Job tonight. Next week, we're
going to look at the second guy. Another week,
we're going to look at the third guy. Now they
have another round of these speeches. And so
we will, once we've got a snapshot of each one
of these characters, then the next time we'll
take them three at a time. Does that make sense?
So we're probably looking at this being maybe
a five or six, Seven or eight part study, and
that's what we all wanted when we started Job,
right? Let's really pick it apart and look at
this thing. So that's what we're doing. So we're
right at the ground floor, part two. Okay, so
we're right there. And so, again, again, what's
happened here is there is this divine council
in heaven where the heavenly beings are to meet.
It's very interesting to me just because there's
not, I don't really understand exactly this idea
of, I don't know, did God send out a heavenly
email, you know, a memo to all of the angels
and was like, hey, you know, November 23rd is
Founders Day. Everybody show back up, you know,
for the reunion kind of deal. It's just weird
to me, but that's how this story opens. And Satan
is there. And God and Satan have this discussion
about Job, God's servant. And Satan makes some
assertions, one of them being, you know, Job
only really loves you because you've given him
all this stuff. He says, all right, take it from
him. And then Satan comes back and says, well,
yeah, you're taking his stuff, and he's killed
his kids, by the way. But take away his health.
And then he'll certainly despise you. And Job
doesn't do that. And so we find Job racked with
health problems, destitute. His wife has went
out in the front yard where he's sitting wearing
sackcloth like a potato sack, wearing sackcloth
and dumped ashes over his head. That's what Hebrew
folks would do to show that they were mourning
or lamenting. They'd make themselves dirty. They
would show themselves to be, right? specifically
unclean, as a lament of what was going on in
their life, out of their sadness. So he's sitting
out in the front yard. He's got boils all over
his body. Some people might think it's elephantitis,
right? And his wife comes out and says, why don't
you just curse God, get it over with, and die?
I mean, seriously. And so Job has these three
friends come, and for the first week, They don't
say anything. They just sit in silence with Job.
And then after a week, one by one, they begin
to speak to Job. So this is the part of the drama
where Job's three friends come in. And we're
going to cover a lot of ground tonight. But let
me just say that they've made this appointment.
Job, we're going to come over. And they come
over to console their friend. And they sit with
him in these traditional styles of mourning.
The first character that we're going to look
at. Tonight is Eliphaz, Eliphaz right here. Okay,
now I'm just going to start reading with chapter
4, and I'm going to read for a while, then we'll
get into the discussion and break some of it
down, not all of it. And the reason why I want
to read it in big chunks, remember again, this
is Hebrew poetry. This is literary design. It's
not just a first -hand travelogue or a diary
or something. This is supposed to be experienced
in an artful way. So I'm going to read these
large tracts of Scripture as if they're poems,
because they are. Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied.
He's the first one who's going to speak to Job.
He says, if someone ventures a word with you,
will you be impatient? But who can keep from
speaking? Think how you've instructed many, how
you have strengthened feeble hands. Your words
have supported those who have stumbled. You've
strengthened faltering knees. But now trouble
comes to you, Job. And you, Job, are discouraged.
It strikes you and you're dismayed. Eliphaz asks,
should not your piety be your confidence? And
your blameless ways, your hope? Now listen to
this verse. These next couple of verses, we're
going to come back to these. Verse 7. Consider
now, who being innocent has ever perished? Where
were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed,
Eliphaz says, those who plow evil and those who
sow trouble, reap it. At the breath of God, they
perish. At the blast of his anger, they are no
more. The lions, they roar and growl, yet the
teeth of the great lions are broken. The lion
perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the
lioness are scattered. A word was secretly brought
to me. My ears caught a whisper of it. Amid disquieting
dreams of the night when deep sleep falls on
people, fear and trembling seized me. They made
my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face
and the hair on my body stood on end. It stopped,
but I could not tell what it was. A form stood
before my eyes and I heard a hushed voice say,
be more righteous than God? Can even a strong
man be more pure than his maker? If God places
no trust in his servants, if his charges, if
his angels with error, how much more those of
us who live in houses of clay, whose foundations
are in the dust, who are crushed more readily
than a moth. Between dawn and dusk, they are
broken to pieces, unnoticed. They perish forever.
Are not the cords of their tent pulled up so
that they die without wisdom? Eliphaz continues,
call if you will, but who will answer you? To
which of the holy ones will you turn? Resentment
kills a fool and envy slays the simple. I myself
have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his
house was cursed. His children are far from safety,
crushed in court without a defender. The hungry
consume his harvest, taking it even from among
the thorns and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
For hardship does not spring from the soil. nor
does trouble sprout from the ground. Yet man
and woman is born to trouble as surely as sparks
fly upward. There comes the advice. But if I
were you, Eliphaz says, I would appeal to God.
I'd lay my cause before him. He performs wonders
that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot
be counted. He provides rain for the earth. He
sends water on the countryside. The lowly, he
says, hi. And those who mourn are lifted to safety.
He thwarts the plans of the crafty so that their
hands achieve no success. He catches the wise
in their craftiness and the schemes of the wily
are swept away. Darkness comes upon them in the
daytime. At noon, they grope as in the night.
He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth.
He saves them from the clutches of the powerful.
So the poor have hope and injustice shuts its
mouth. Blessed is the one whom God corrects.
So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
For he wounds, but he also binds up. He injures,
but his hands also heal. From six calamities,
he will rescue you. In seven, no harm shall touch
you. In famine, he will deliver you from death
and in battle from the stroke of the sword. You
will be protected from the lash of the tongue
and need not fear when destruction comes. You
will laugh at destruction and famine and you
will have no fear of wild animals for you will
have a covenant with the stones in the field.
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
You will know that your tent is secure. You will
take stock of your property and find nothing
missing. You will know that your children will
be many, your descendants like the grass of the
earth. You will come to the grave in full vigor
like sheaths gathered in season. We have examined
this, he says, and it is true. So Job, hear it
and apply it to yourself. Job's response. Then
Job replied, If only my anguish could be weighed
and all my misery be placed on the scales. If
only that were the case. It would surely outweigh
the sands of the seas. No wonder my words have
been impetuous. The arrows of the Almighty are
in me. My spirit drinks in their poison. God's
terrors are marshaled against me. Does a wild
donkey bray when it is grass or an ox bellow
when it has fodder? Is tasteless food eaten without
salt or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow?
I refuse to touch it. Such food makes me ill.
Oh, that I might have my request. What? A request
of Job. Oh, Job says, of my request that God
would grant what I hope for. Oh, what is this
Job? That God would be willing to crush me. To
let loose His hand and cut off my life. Then
I would still have this consolation. My joy in
unrelenting pain that I had not denied the words
of the Holy One. What strength do I have that
I should still hope? What prospects that I should
still remain patient? Do I have the strength
of stone? Is my skin bronze? Do I have any power
to help myself now that success has been driven
from me? Anyone who withholds kindness from a
friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. Anyone
who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes
the fear of the Almighty. We're going to come
back to that. But my brothers are as undependable
as intermittent streams. You guys are no help
to me. As streams that overflow when darkened
by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow,
but that stop flowing in the dry season and in
the heat vanish from their channels. Caravans
turn aside from their routes. They go off into
wastelands and they perish. The caravans of Tima
look for water. The traveling merchants of Sheba
look in hope. They're distressed because they
had been confident. They arrive there looking
for the kindness of their friends, only to be
disappointed. Now you too have proven to be no
help. You see something dreadful and are afraid.
Have I ever said give something on my behalf?
Pay a ransom for me from your wealth? Deliver
me from the hand of the enemy? Rescue me from
the clutches of the ruthless? Teach me. Tell
me about it, he says. I'll be quiet. Show me
where I'm wrong. How painful are honest words.
But what do your arguments prove? Do you mean
to correct what I say and treat my desperate
words as wind? You would even cast lots with
a fatherless and barter away your friend. But
now, be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie
to your face? Relent and do not be unjust. Reconsider,
for my integrity is at stake. Is there any wickedness
on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice?
I just want to break up his response there. We'll
come to the end of 7 here in a second. We read
that these guys sat with Job and they didn't
say a word for a whole week and they just wept
with him and they joined in these acts of humiliation
with him, the sackcloth and the ashes and so
on. And incidentally, I'd said this last week.
I'd also said this on Sunday. What's interesting
about Job is that whenever you hear, often in
Christian circles, when you hear the book of
Job preached, they really only preach from the
first couple of chapters where Job's stuff's
pretty going okay. And then they get to the end
where God replaces everything, and they kind
of skip everything in the middle. And as I examined
the book and prepared for this particular study,
one of the things I definitely believe in It's
this stuff in the middle here, these discussions
between Job and his friends that are the real
meat of the book that really, really we need
to understand if we want to understand what's
being said in the book. OK, now, again, I also
think another reason why these chapters are overlooked
is because they're difficult to interpret. Right.
There are some of these portions of Scripture.
The caravans of Tima look for water. The traveling
merchants of Sheba look in hope. They're distressed
because they have been confident they arrived
there only to be disappointed. We could spend
the next hour just talking about the caravans
of Tima and about the traveling merchants of
Sheba. Because to the original reader, that would
have sparked a particular image in their mind.
that the authors wanted to convey in emotion.
So it's very, very, very dense in symbolism and
interpretation that's just very difficult for
us, one, not as Israelites, two, living in the
21st century to fully, fully pull apart and delve
into, okay? So there is a lot of this, I acknowledge.
That's difficult and difficult to understand
because of how difficult it is to interpret.
Okay? So that's another very, very big deal.
But I think that the problem also is that there
are people that, because they lack that understanding,
they don't really bother to delve into what it's
really, really about. Right? And so I think that
it's important between those, in all of those
chapters, between 2 or 3 and 42, to really get
into things I think that are very contemporary
to us in the church today. I believe with the
right lens, we can actually show how we as Christians,
there's a lot of contemporary message we can
take from these lessons in our world today. The
church and the believer in the 21st century.
So let's look tonight. And the reason why is
because what's really happening here is a discussion
between two believers who happen to be friends,
right? We're going to find, you're going to find
yourself, I promise you, in both Job. You're
also going to find yourself here in Eliphaz in
a second. Okay, and let me explain why. So chapters
4 through 7, but let me first jump real quick
to 16. In verse 2 of that chapter, Job calls
these friends, what's more commonly called Job's
comforters, he calls miserable. One of the ideas
for the title of the podcast was going to obviously
be, you know, with friends like these, Job doesn't
need enemies, right? Because we're going to find
each one of these friends aren't really that
great of friends. They're actually a contradiction
in terms. We can fully, truly say that when they
start to open their mouths to Job, they will
become miserable comforters. And if they had
sat like that and did that for a whole week,
and just sympathized with him and said nothing,
we professionally call this, it's called the
ministry of the present. You don't have to say
anything. Sometimes it's just being there. The
ministry of presence, right? Had these friends,
we will find after we listen to them talk, had
they kept their mouths shut and just hung out
with Job and empathized and sympathized with
him, they would have done a lot better. One man
says it's better to sympathize than it is to
sermonize. And that's a fact. This is exactly
what Job's comforters are doing. They fail to
sympathize with Job. And instead, they sermonize
and they pontificate to him. So we're going to
look at Eliphaz here in a little bit more detail
tonight. But we're going to look through everything
tonight. There's also a portion of Job's response
I'm skipping over. You can look at that. In your
private study. But I mentioned this is the first
person that we see on the scene here. Eliphaz
from Timon. Timon, he would have been an Edomite.
And the place of Edom in the ancient world was
renowned for its wisdom. So, again, one of the
symbologies or imageries of this particular character,
Eliphaz, being an Edomite, is going to build
into your picture of this guy. That's probably
a pretty smart dude. Okay? Kind of like... Wherever
Harvard is. There's Harvard and Princeton. Aren't
those all in Connecticut somewhere? They're really
close together. That area, you just come from
there. MIT. Oh, he's probably a smart guy. It
probably is. But one of the things that we'll
see all through his speeches throughout the book
of Job is that this man Eliphaz bases all of
his ideas, his in quotes, help for his friend.
Job is on his own personal spiritual experience.
He's going to offer all of his advice to Job
from his personal perspective. Chapter 4, verse
12. One night this man, Eliphaz, had a charismatic,
perhaps, experience. He says, now a thing was
secretly brought to me and my ear heard it. And
in thoughts from the visions of the night, he
had this dream where men fall in deep sleep.
Fear came upon me, trembling, made my bones shake.
Remember? Spirit passed before my face. The hair
of my flesh stood up, stood still, but I couldn't
tell what it was. An image before my eyes. Then
there was silence and I heard a voice saying,
right? And he begins to teach Job. arguing from
that point from his own personal experience.
And that argument is that God is a just God and
that God will only make a man or a woman suffer
if there's sin in their life. Right? His argument
is basically, if things are going well for you,
God loves you. If it's going well for you, that's
a proof. If things are not going well for you,
you could tell me how righteous you are all you
want, brother. But I know that if you've got
suffering, you're sinning somewhere in your life.
Right? That's this argument. But again, this
is from Eliphaz's own personal experience. Have
you ever had people say, you know, look, whenever
I was in your situation, I did this. When I had
this problem, I coped this way. And I got through
it. I overcome it doing it this way. And if you
do it the same way I did it, right, you'll get
through it as well. And if you don't, if you
can't cope by doing it that way, then there must
be something wrong with you. In fact, there must
be something in your life that's wrong. Have
people ever said to you, I think we're all guilty
of it, right? Well, from my experience, what
you need to do is, or others will say you need
this experience. You need this to happen in your
life. This is one that's kind of off topic, but
it's kind of the same thing. You wouldn't understand
you're not a parent. That kind of thing. You
know what I'm saying? You may not have ever heard
people say that. I've heard people say that.
I'm sure I've probably said that before. But
we're always trying to justify the world. And
you're not wrong for doing it. It's part of being
a human. From our own personal experience. The
immortal, the timeless lesson of Eliphaz here.
This is not just something that happens thousands
of years before Jesus. This is a problem that
is an immortal lesson of suffering that we get
from Eliphaz. who's based all of his counsel,
all of his comfort on his own spiritual experience.
Listen, everybody's spiritual experience is different.
Everybody's spiritual experience is different.
And that does not add up to a default in God.
That makes God even grander. That way, whenever
I tell you, God desires a personal relationship
with you, I mean it. But I couldn't say, God
desires a personal relationship with you, and
now if you want to conform to the church, your
spiritual experience must look like mine. Well,
which way do you want it? Right? You want a personal
relationship with God. That means that everybody's
spiritual experience is their own. And I'll say
this, right? If I've learned anything, Like seminary,
theological, college, education, in a counseling
scenario, never say to anybody, I know what you're
going through. Because you don't. You may have
gone through cancer. But maybe you didn't react
the way that this person did. You didn't go through
it the way this person did. You might have gone
through a loss, a bereavement, grief. Right?
Just as we mentioned as the trouble in the human
life. comes to us just as sparks float upward,
right? We've all had trouble, but everybody's
trouble is different and not everybody's experience
is the same. And this is where Eliphaz really
let Job down. Job's three friends will speak
in terb, and Job will reply to each one of them.
We're just looking at Eliphaz tonight, who gives
the first and, commentaries say, the gentlest
of speeches. He begins by reminding Job that
Job is a wise man who helped others. Job's message
used to be the same as his friends. It was agreed
that there was this wisdom that was all moral.
And that when they all shared, these religious
people, shared these same moral assumptions.
And that assumption is summarized. In Eliphaz's
question, if you remember, I read this, it's
verse 7 of 4. I said, remember, we're going to
come back to this, right? His entire assumption
about God, his theosity, if you will, is summed
up in verse 7. Who being innocent has ever perished?
Eliphaz's implied answer to that question is
no one, right? His philosophy is, if you perish
or suffer, it must prove you're guilty. If you
prosper, it shows that you're good. Good things
happen to good people, and bad things happen
to bad people, always and without fail. Theosophy.
Not the right theosophy, but a theosophy. The
theosophy of Eliphaz. Okay? Eliphaz challenges
Job not to get ideas above his station. Don't
be trying to get too big for your britches with
your righteousness, Job. Because you know God
doesn't like that. You know what, Job? You might
be a really righteous guy. And as being your
friend, I know you're pretty proud of how righteous
you are. And maybe that's your sin. See where
I'm coming from? Maybe you're getting a little
bit too big for your Bible britches. Maybe that
could be the title. A little too big for your
Bible britches? That's not a bad one. I'm going
to have to remember that one. Eliphaz challenges
Job, right? Maybe even in the good things, it's
bad. And he uses this strange, frightening, if
you will, story of this night apparition, a ghost,
some sort of spectral being. And he presses home
human mortality. And that the inevitability that
bad things will happen to people like Job, who
speak too proudly and aim for positions above
others. Let me read 5 verses 8 through 16. Chapter
5, 8 through 16. Eliphaz, advice again. But if
I were you, I would appeal to God. I'd lay my
cause before him. He performs wonders that cannot
be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
He provides rain for the earth. He sends water
on the countryside. The lowly he sets high, and
those who mourn are lifted to safety. He thwarts
the plans of the crafty so that their hands achieve
no success. He catches. The wise in their craftiness,
the schemes of the wily, are swept away. Darkness
comes upon them in the daytime, and noon they
grope as if it's night. He saves the needy from
the sword in their mouth. He saves them from
the clutches of the powerful. Why? So the poor
do have hope, and injustice shuts his mouth.
This is Eliphaz giving advice to Job. He counsels
Job, what? To be humble. To be humble, turn to
God. Don't try to be too clever. Right? Don't
worry too much, Job, about why all of this has
happened. Because you might have even outsmarted
your own self. For God catches the wise in the
craftiness, verse 13. A statement that was quoted
with approval by Paul because it's true in 1
Corinthians 3 and 19. The problem is that Eliphaz
is misreading what Job's actually grappling with.
What Job's real problem is. Because Eliphaz is
still going to be convinced from his own personal
perspective, right? That what Job is mourning
is the loss of his things, of his possessions,
of his, well, even of his children. But that's
not why Job, it's not why Job is mourning. We're
going to find out here in a second. Eliphaz concludes
with a beautiful and moving appeal to Job to
smit. submit to the loving disciplines of god
chapter 5 verse 17 blessed is the one whom god
corrects so do not despise the discipline of
the almighty for he wounds but he also binds
up he injures but his hands also heal you guys
have probably heard that verse before right from
six calamities he will rescue you and seven no
harm will touch you that's gorgeous In famine
he will deliver you from death and in the battle
from the stroke of the sword. You will be protected
from the lash of the tongue. Fear not from where
destruction comes. You will laugh at destruction
and famine. You'll not fear the wild animals.
24, he says, you'll know that your tent is secure.
You take stock of your property and find nothing
missing. You know that your children will be
many and your descendants like the grass of the
earth. You'll come to the grave in full vigor
like sheaths gathered in season. We have examined
this, his friends say to Job, and it's true.
So hear it and apply it to yourself. He could
almost be quoting Proverbs or maybe even in the
Christian Bible, Hebrews. Ironically, Eliphaz,
or maybe not ironically, is appealing to Job
to serve God. Out of a desire for the blessings.
Right? You need to figure out what's wrong between
you and God and fix it. Not because your relationship
with God is broken. So you can get all your stuff
back. Right? That's okay. Oh, now this is really
starting to... Why is this such bad advice? Right
idea for the wrong reasons. He's trying to comfort
his friend for a problem his friend is not grieving
over. And we're going to find out here in a second.
But it's exactly what Satan accuses Job of doing,
isn't it? Right? He's accusing Job, Eliphaz,
is accusing him of only serving God because of
the blessings. Which is exactly the same argument.
That Satan was using before God about Job. So
be careful about the tongue of your friends,
friend. Because you know what? Your friend's
tongue might actually sound a lot like Satan's
from time to time. Isn't that interesting? The
problem, the grief, the problem is that the suffering
of Job's are deeper. than the disciplining of
God. He's not suffering because he's being chastened.
But I do want to point out within the Christian
tradition, this idea of all of this wrath being
heaped on an innocent. As a Christian, we can
look and see the foreshadowing of the wrath of
God falling on an innocent Messiah, right? It'll
be a foreshadowing of that same thing we Christians
will see in Jesus. Because the same argument's
being made, right? Was Jesus a good guy? Jesus
was the best guy. Did bad things happen to Jesus?
Did they make movies about how bad things happen
to Jesus? We talk about how bad things happen
to Jesus every single week. If anybody deserved
not to have bad things happen to them because
they're good people, Jesus is good people. So
you can kind of see, that's not what the writer
of Job is not talking about Jesus. I'm not saying
that. What I am saying is that if we Christians
can see what God is doing here, and we can see
that same kind of thing eventually happening,
right? Eliphaz's sermon might have been well
meant, but it's simply spoken to the wrong person.
Because that's not why Job is suffering. So Job
now begins the first of eight speeches to his
friend. Recall from chapter 1 and chapter 2,
God does claim Job was a believer. And in the
speeches of Job, we'll see that Job will say
some wrong things. But that he is genuinely a
worshiper of the Lord. The reason for Job's anguish,
and the reason why that anguish is so terrible,
is not because of his bankruptcy or his bereavements
or sickness. Terrible as those things are, but
that he's bearing the anger of God. The reason
that Job longs for death is that if he dies soon,
there'll be a chance that he won't say anything
to deny God. Right? Job isn't scared of God as
much as he's scared of himself. If this keeps
happening, I'm not sure how long I can keep it
up without cursing God. So God, kill me now so
I don't. Right? Job now chides his so -called
friends. He calls them a disappointing water
source that promises life but offers nothing
of value. And just when he most needs their help,
they have no gospel for him, no good news. Only
the death -dealing words of a moralistic creed.
Job's desperate words cry out that their simple
system simply does not work. But they can do
nothing but repeat it. He says, now you too have
proved to be no help. You see something dreadful
and afraid. Have I ever said, give me something
on my behalf? Pay a ransom for me from your wealth.
Deliver me from the hand of the enemy. Rescue
me from the clutches of the ruthless. With their
limited knowledge and experience, they are unqualified
to judge Job's situation. The friends are evidently
more interested in defending their own assumptions
about sin and suffering. They're certainly more
concerned about their own assumptions about sin
than they are caring for their friend and what
their friend was feeling. What Job needed from
his friends, members of the same Christian family,
what Job needed from his friends, I hope you're
hearing me right, Job needed the kindness of
his friends. But what he got was criticism and
condemnation. He says, what is mankind that you
make so much of them? He's talking to God. That
you give them so much attention, that you examine
them every morning, test them at every moment.
Will you never look away from me or let me alone
even for an instant? If I have sinned, what have
I done to you? You who see everything I do. Why,
God, have you made me your target? Have I become
a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my offenses
and forgive my sins? for I will soon lie down
in the dust. You will search for me, but I will
be no more. Again, attention is given to the
plight of humanity here. It's a good question.
Why are human beings so important to God that
it appears that he makes sport of them? Job intuitively
recognizes here. And he will throughout his book.
It's the virtue in him. Again, this isn't why
we suffer. Job is showing us how we suffer. Why
are human beings so important that it seems like
God trivially hurts and causes us to stumble?
Job recognizes that God, in these instances,
God is testing him. And he again reminds God
that he's about to die. So why does God not just
pardon his sins and let bygones be bygones? In
this strange paradox of innocent suffering, Job
now pleads to be God forsaken. In the depths
of Job's despair, he finds himself suffering.
so deeply because of the lash of God that he
now chooses to be forsaken by God. Leave me alone
is the burden of his prayer to God. Because it
seems like whenever God is with him, whether
Job is awake or asleep, He is present, God is,
in anger, and Job just can't take it. We learn
from chapters 6 and 7 that the wrath of God is
an unbearable pain. Even when we compare the
loss of all of our possessions, our own physical
and mental health, the loss of our family, the
loss of our children, Even in the midst of all
of those suffering, none of it, Job shows us,
compares to the unbearable pain that is the wrath
of God. And again, for we Christians, as we close,
we can see that as a foreshadowing, right? Because
in it, we see the gospel that the cross can bring
comfort, right? That even through the actions,
how do we say, how do we explain theosity? How
do we argue for a just God despite the existence
of evil in the world? Well, when we talk about
our ways not being higher than God's ways, what
if we use the example, right, of bad things happen
to the goodest of people in Jesus? But the result
of those bad things happening to the best of
people becomes the salvation of all humankind.
We have to take that in our figuring out the
justice of God. We have to recognize there are
still tons of things that we do not know about
God's plans. Remember, Job, these things didn't
happen because God was mad at Job. God allowed
these things to happen despite the fact he was
the best dude. Right? But for a reason. What
reason? Here we are tonight. Having this same
discussion about our relationship with God in
a world that even in the 21st century from the
7th century or 10th century BCE, one thing remains
the same. Suffering still happens in our life.
Right? And as followers of God, we acknowledge.
That's just a part of the human experience. So
rather than worrying about why we suffer, we
can look to Job and find out how to suffer. Right?
And that's the ultimate beauty, I think, of what
we're going to find in the story of Job. And
coming to those conclusions means first we must
ask the right question. The right question, how?
How are we supposed to endure? How are we supposed
to show our faithfulness to God? Not why there's
sin in the world. We already know that. But in
the light, for we Christians, in the light of
our salvation, how can we cope? So we'll see
character number two next week, a guy named Bildad
the Shuhite. Bildad the Shuhite. So I hope you'll
come back for that. Any questions? You ever have,
maybe even your best friend ever give you advice,
tell you how to fix your problems, and as you
listen to that advice, you realize that's not
even what's wrong. It's interesting, this first
conversation between Eliphaz and Job not only
exposes this faulty theosophy about God, that
just because you have material wealth, God must...
love you more than those that have less. Those
that have less somehow are just by virtue of
their station in life sinners. It paints us into
a theological corner that's hard for us to get
out of. But have you ever had that friend give
you advice that you didn't ask for and you certainly
didn't need? Maybe even didn't even address the
problem you were having in the first place. Well,
that's a pretty common problem. And it's one
that is definitely at play here with this first
conversation between Eliphaz and Job. I think
the important part here is not only for us to
recognize those times where we insert ourself
into the pain of others, but... Maybe sometimes
the best thing we can do, the best way that we
can have God shine through us, is through empathy.
It's through understanding and a caring for other
people's pain. An attempt to understand why people
are suffering. Because it's in that way, if we
truly care. That we're able to meet those that
we care and respect where they're hurting. And
I think that's one of the best things that we
could do as God's servant. Not necessarily to
eliminate pain and suffering from the world,
but the tools in which people might learn to
suffer. Something to think about. Anyway, I hope
to see you here next week. Until then, be blessed.