READ: Job 4:1
CHALLENGE: Do the Right Thing and Trust God
Let’s keep in mind what Job has said in chapter 3. He’s truly in agony and has no peace.
Eliphaz speaks and is most likely the oldest and most respected. He’s also the nicest of the friends. A bit more gentle in how he talks about things. He will wind up giving 3 speeches.
We have some misnomers.
- THE RIGHTEOUS SHOULD NOT BE DISCOURAGED
Vv2-6 – “If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking? 3 Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands. 4 Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed. 6 Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?
This is such an oversimplification. You just need to rely on your righteousness and all will be well. And Job gets challenged on how discouraged he is. You shouldn’t be discouraged. Why not? Why can’t you hurt? Why does hurting mean you won’t suffer?
His friend recalls his former patterns and there will be a reason that he specifically points out what he does. Remember back to your way of life. Sometimes it’s good to recall where we’ve been. Remember those days you trusted God for an answer to prayer. Days of being excited to serve the Lord? Days of helping others? Days when you used to laugh? Days when you didn’t endlessly work? Don’t forget those good days and remember where you’ve been. Let’s not forget any good place we’ve been.
He points him back to what is considered outstanding behavior.
Job instructed many
This is a super important word and foreshadows where this conversation between Job and his three friends is headed. This word “instruct” doesn’t only mean to sit in a classroom and teach people. This refers to the kind of instruction that happens when someone did the wrong thing and there are repercussions. It’s a moral guidance type of training.
The word means to “admonish” and “chastise”. It denotes a “correction that results in education”. They used to spank and that was called the education applied to the seat of learning. And as you felt the painful sting from parents you were “corrected”. Chastised. Directed back to the right path.
There are times when people get off the path and they get “rebuked” with the hope that they do not keep making the same mistake over and over again. When our children were little, pain was part of them learning to listen to us as their parents. We gave corrective instruction in the form of chastisement.
God talks about discipline in Hebrews 12 and suggests that discipline is born out of love. You don’t bring pain on someone because you don’t love them. You bring temporary hurt to bring long term fruit in their lives.
Hebrews 12:5-7 – And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
The results are the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Sometimes you have to take hard stands in people’s lives. You do it because you love them. I didn’t punish my children just to punish them. We were working to correct disobedient behaviors. There are times when mere talk doesn’t cut it – there has to be consequences.
Job had the guts to make sure that people were doing the right thing. His instruction was corrective and I’m sure there would be people who would owe him their very lives because of it. The Bible praises those who turn others from a bad path to save their lives.
You couldn’t be a coach without having the team do some extra pushups or sprints to get their attention. My children would have seen the most corrective teachings out of me.
Job 5:17 – “Blessed is the one whom God corrects, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.”
Here’s the reason that Job’s friend brings up the word. They believe that he is suffering because God is correcting him for bad behavior. In their minds, he did something wrong so God inflicted these calamities. You chastised people and now you’re upset that God is chastising you. Do not despise the discipline of the Lord.
Job strengthened feeble hands
Feeble hands lack strength and were weakened to the point where they let them drop. It’s a term that refers to becoming disheartened. He gave them strength and helped them to carry on. Perhaps like Hur and Aaron holding up the arms of Moses during a battle. As long as his arms were up they were winning. So they set Moses on a stone and each man stood next to him and helped him to keep his arms up in the air. He could not have done it without them. We need that sometimes!
Are we ever that extra set of hands that made someone’s life better? It’s interesting that you’re strengthening someone’s hands. Perhaps jumping in and giving support. This does not mean that you do all the work for them. It just means that you help them to get back on their feet.
I don’t mind helping people to get something started but I’ll be happy to hand it off to you as soon as you’re able to do it. I’m not enabling you to do nothing, I’m helping out.
I had a lot of help at the game night and this made life much easier. Many participated and no one was wearing out per se. That’s a good thing. Job helped people.
Your words have supported those who stumble
What does it mean to stumble? It means to totter or stagger from weariness. It could also refer to stumbling into sin and he was helping to catch them and get them onto the right path. Perhaps like Jesus who came to call sinners to repentance.
Some of the falls I have taken hurt. Especially when I go down hard without warning. One second I’m on my feet and the next I’m on my face! There are times you need that hand up.
If our role is to catch those who are stumbling, we shouldn’t cause them to stumble. The Bible is clear when it warns us not to do things that will cause people to fall into sin. Jesus said woe to those who cause a little one to stumble. Paul said that we should not live in such a way that causes someone to trip up into a sin.
Job was helping the stumbling. We have Celebrate Recovery in an attempt to help people center their lives on Christ.
You have strengthened faltering knees
We need to strengthen those whose knees are weakened and about to buckle.
1 Thessalonians 5:14 – And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
It’s interesting how Job’s behavior mirrors what Paul says to the Thessalonians. Warn the wayward. Job did that. Encourage the disheartened. Job did that. Help the weak-kneed people who need a hand up. So interesting how far back this thinking goes in humanity.
And do it with patience. Sometimes we expect everyone to be strong as you are but they’re not. They are not and the weakened don’t need to be yelled at. They need strengthened.
It’s kind of tricky sometimes. You might interpret a child’s behavior as lazy when there was actually something else going on in their lives. My job is not to pile up on someone who is truly repentant. The unrepentant, yes. Every situation is so different.
So, his friend asks a question, should not your piety be your confidence? Hey, if you’re really doing right, things will come around. Why are you discouraged. Why are you down! Chin up! Don’t be discouraged. Why not?
You’re doing the right thing so God will bless you. You’ll be fine. You don’t need to be sad. Let’s keep in mind, that the hurting don’t need a preacher per se. They need a friend to comfort.
- YOU REAP ONLY WHAT YOU SOW
Vv7-11 – “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? 8 As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. 9 At the breath of God they perish; at the blast of his anger they are no more. 10 The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.11 The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
- Innocent People Aren’t Punished
You don’t perish if you’re innocent. The upright are never destroyed. Never? These are the kind of exaggeration words that we should not use. Never destroyed. Nothing ever bad happens to good people? I have taught in premarital counseling that you should avoid the words always and never because it seldomly is. Soon you’ll have an argument – “I don’t ALWAYS do that!
Who being innocent has ever perished? Are you kidding? He couldn’t see the cross, but Jesus would be one example. We’ve all known great people who passed away far too early. We’ve known some wicked ones who lived far too long. Look no farther than Hollywood.
God punishes sin. This has to be some kind of bedrock theology, right? Clearly, God does. Wicked people perish. Meaning, wicked people like us and wicked people not like us. We’re all sinners. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 1:18 – The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God sent his son because we would “perish” if he didn’t. So the theology espoused is true. However, this precept does not capture every nuance in a person’s life. For Job’s friends there is only be good and be blessed or be bad and get smoked. If you get smoked, you must have been bad.
You reap what you sow
If you plow evil, you will reap it. You sow trouble and you’re going to reap trouble. This is the law of retribution. Good people get good stuff and bad people get bad stuff. I would say that often it’s true. You cannot argue with a law as universal as reaping and sowing. However, sometimes you’ll reap things that you did not sow.
Galatians 6:7-9 – Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
There’s a lot of truth to this. If you cause trouble you get trouble. And some need to realize that they have trouble because they brought it on themselves. They have storms because they are a storm.
There’s no way in their world could Job suffer unless Job did something specifically. You did something. God breaks the teeth of lions. It can only be this way. I do believe in absolutes and in absolute justice but this does not preclude that innocent people suffering. Job is innocent and he is suffering. Let’s not be blaming the hurting.
Here’s the fact, we don’t see the entire picture of life. Sometimes that hardships today bring great opportunities later. Only God sees the entire picture and perhaps someday in heaven we will take a far different view than our limited perspective here. That’s a much more fair stance than is – Job, you blew it. You need to repent. Only bad people suffer. You’re suffering. Obviously you’re bad.
What is our theology of God? There’s a great chance that it needs to be bigger.
- DON’T BE SPEAKING FOR GOD
Vv12-21 – “A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it. 13 Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on people, 14 fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. 15 A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. 16 It stopped,
but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice:
17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker? 18 If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, 19 how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth! 20 Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces; unnoticed, they perish forever. 21 Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’
This is such an interesting passage and the only one like it in the book of Job. A word was brought to me. “I have a word”. “God spoke to me”. How many times are those words uttered and words on behalf of God are spoken.
Stick to the Bible. Make sure your words are coming from him. A word was brought to me and whispered in my ear. But I was sleeping. It was scary. I was shaken by this dream. A spirit glided past my face? A voice. A dream. A spirit. It was a form and it said in a hushed voice.
And what’s the secret revelation? It’s like the movie a Christmas Story where Ralphy is decoding his secret message and it says, “Drink More Ovaltine”. Kind of disappointing because that’s not a secret. Right? No human is more righteous than God. How can you even argue that? Definitely. No human measures up to the Lord.
It’s a remarkable thing when people speak for God or claim a special revelation. God has told me to tell you. And then you state something we all know. It’s common knowledge. And it’s interesting how people claim to speak for God but then magically say what they already think.
They want to prove Job sinned and this secret knowledge is part of a club they are fashioning to bludgeon him. They say that when the liberal theologians reworked Jesus to get back to the real historical Jesus. Voila, Jesus looked just like them! They literally made Jesus to think exactly like they already thought.
Why not something remarkable. Like what if he could have predicted him having a family again some day? Or if he would have told him exactly why it was happening.
What about, “God told me to give everything to charity – like Jesus said to the rich man”. No, what you hear is, “God told me to tell you to give to me”. Well, that sounds an awful like something you would say.
We’re told to test the spirits. Compare what you’re being told with the Word of God. Don’t believe every spirit. Don’t believe every person who claims to have a word either.
What fascinates me is that while God does appear to Job at the end of the book. Job doesn’t get all this revelation. He doesn’t hear why it’s happening for instance. Job states that you don’t always know where God is. He said that he could look for him and not find it. It’s obvious that Job is not claiming to have direct revelation from God at all times.
Yet from some, we freely hear from them that God told them things all the time. God is talking to you more than he talked to Job? The most righteous person on the planet?
I believe God speaks in the Word but unless your words line up with this, I have questions.
I will agree that we do live in houses of clay. Life is short and there are no guarantees about tomorrow. So we should live wisely. Make the most of every opportunity.