For a full description of the (Y3) reading plan, see the “About” page.
- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Job 4-5
I have to question Eliphaz’s research capabilities. Near the beginning of his first speech to Job he says, “In my experience” (Job 4:8a). At the end he says, “We have investigated this, and it is true!” *Job 5:27a). In between those two statements are a whole lot of assumptions about how God’s justice works. My first thought at Eliphaz’s naiveté is, what had he experienced or investigated that led him to these conclusions? When I look around, it is far more prevalent to see the wicked getting away with and even prospering in their wickedness while the righteous struggle and suffer. So I can’t imagine that Eliphaz’s experience was very broad or his research too in-depth.
Which takes me to my next thought. The breadth of our experience and depth of our investigations are really quite irrelevant. The two combined are no match for God’s wisdom and knowledge. Which is why, to repeat a verse I quoted yesterday, we must, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Pr. 3:5). Our own understanding leads us astray, and our own experience lies to us. That is why it is best to shape our perspective on life around the foundational truth of God’s sovereignty. In other words, among other things, God is never wrong and always just. So when life doesn’t make any sense to us, instead of trying to force-fit the truth into our desired box, we need to just admit that we don’t understand and put our trust in God.
Job 6
Job’s friends had nothing to base their accusations on other than Job’s circumstances and their own misconstrued ideas of justice. If I am really honest with myself, I’d have to say that I, too, have been guilty at times of assuming people’s negative circumstances are a direct result of their own actions. True, this is often the case. But I have no business responding to people based on assumptions or calling them out for things I don’t know for certain. Instead, I need to focus on letting God love them through me.
Job’s pain was very real. It can be difficult, to say the least, to hold fast to faith under such duress. That’s why we are called to encourage and lift one another up. As Job said, “A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends, even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.” (Job 6:14). If a person is suffering innocently, like Job, they need all the help they can get. And if we know for certain that a person has strayed from God in some specific way, standing with hand on hip pointing an accusing finger will do nothing to help that person return to God.
Job’s friends were too intent on judging Job to be of any help to him. Instead, they actually made his situation harder to bear. I hope I can learn from them and be a better conduit of God’s love when my friends and fellow Christians are suffering. I hope I can learn to stop trying to make sense of things and simply encourage people to cling to God and stand firm in faith.