May 4 - Job 4-7
Now, Job's friends begin to speak to him in a sincere effort to help him. However, their words do not really bring comfort because they misunderstand how God is working in Job's life. What they say is basically correct, but they do not understand that God sends trials to the righteous as well as punishment to those who sin. Therefore, they assume that Job is being punished for some sin. This assumption just makes Job feel worse, because he knows that it was not his sin that brought on the trial.
Eliphaz makes a good point. There is no one who is totally innocent before the Lord. No mortal is more righteous than God. Job was not perfect. None of us is perfect. Eliphaz realized that trouble was a part of life. His counsel to Job was to turn to the Lord, because He is merciful, and even when He punishes us, we can turn to Him, and He will restore us. That is good counsel, except for the fact that Job did not sin to bring on all of this grief.
Then, Job admits that his grief is very heavy, and he spoke some rash words. That is always possible when a person is under great stress. Sometimes we speak before we think it through. When Job said that he wished he had not been born, it was because his grief and pain was so great that he wanted to escape from them. He felt he could not bear the pain, and he wondered why God had even allowed him to be born. All of this rash talk was because of pain. Job tells his friends that they should realize this. They should show kindness to the afflicted even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. Friends should be kind and know that the pain of grief causes depression. They should not be too harsh in judgment when a person is in the midst of heavy grief.
Job wants everyone to know that he still has his righteousness. His pain is great. He feels like he has no hope. He still can't sleep well, but there are times he retreats to the bed for comfort. He complains out of the bitterness of his soul. He is not bitter toward God, but his soul is bitter from all of the sadness and pain. Job wants to know "why." In his search for answers he is trying to make sense out of it all. Since it does not make sense, it hurts even more. He feels like he could handle it if God would just let him know why He allowed this to happen to him. The reality is that we should not need to know why. We should know that there are some things that only God knows. Therefore, we should trust our loving heavenly Father. We should know that He always does what is right, and He always does it out of love. This is so hard for us as humans. We want to know why, and we can't understand why we don't know why. The reason is that we are not God, and we will never be God. Only God knows all the "whys" of life. We are His children, and we must trust His love and judgment. This is what Job was wrestling with, and it is what gives us problems today.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 8-10.
Eliphaz makes a good point. There is no one who is totally innocent before the Lord. No mortal is more righteous than God. Job was not perfect. None of us is perfect. Eliphaz realized that trouble was a part of life. His counsel to Job was to turn to the Lord, because He is merciful, and even when He punishes us, we can turn to Him, and He will restore us. That is good counsel, except for the fact that Job did not sin to bring on all of this grief.
Then, Job admits that his grief is very heavy, and he spoke some rash words. That is always possible when a person is under great stress. Sometimes we speak before we think it through. When Job said that he wished he had not been born, it was because his grief and pain was so great that he wanted to escape from them. He felt he could not bear the pain, and he wondered why God had even allowed him to be born. All of this rash talk was because of pain. Job tells his friends that they should realize this. They should show kindness to the afflicted even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. Friends should be kind and know that the pain of grief causes depression. They should not be too harsh in judgment when a person is in the midst of heavy grief.
Job wants everyone to know that he still has his righteousness. His pain is great. He feels like he has no hope. He still can't sleep well, but there are times he retreats to the bed for comfort. He complains out of the bitterness of his soul. He is not bitter toward God, but his soul is bitter from all of the sadness and pain. Job wants to know "why." In his search for answers he is trying to make sense out of it all. Since it does not make sense, it hurts even more. He feels like he could handle it if God would just let him know why He allowed this to happen to him. The reality is that we should not need to know why. We should know that there are some things that only God knows. Therefore, we should trust our loving heavenly Father. We should know that He always does what is right, and He always does it out of love. This is so hard for us as humans. We want to know why, and we can't understand why we don't know why. The reason is that we are not God, and we will never be God. Only God knows all the "whys" of life. We are His children, and we must trust His love and judgment. This is what Job was wrestling with, and it is what gives us problems today.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 8-10.