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Job 15-17

Thursday Evening Bible Study

May 14, 2015

Introduction

Job is going through the worst time anyone could imagine.

He’s lost all his possessions.

His children have died.

His health has failed.

What makes all this even more confusing is that Job is a good guy.

God has decided to allow Job to go through this difficulty because He is proud of Job, not mad at him.

God wants to show the world what a godly man will do when he is going through a difficult time.

Keep a couple of things in mind as we study Job:

Sometimes Job is wrong in his conclusions.

Sometimes Job’s friends are also wrong.

They can even say things that are true, but they might not be true about Job.

Be careful about building doctrine upon some of the things said in the book of Job.

Neither Job’s words nor those of his friends are meant to build doctrinal truths on.

They simply show us how people respond to difficulty.

We’ve seen a pattern in Job where one of his friends speaks, and then Job responds.

We’ve been through one complete round of debates with each friend having a say.

This is now round two.

We will go through a total of three rounds.

15:1-16 Eliphaz: Job is clueless

:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

:1 Eliphaz the Temanite

:2 “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?

:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or by speeches with which he can do no good?

:2 fill himself with the east wind

Job is just a windbag.

He’s filled with nothing but hot air.

:4 Yes, you cast off fear, And restrain prayer before God.

:4 restrain prayer before God

Eliphaz is saying that Job’s lack of respect (fear) towards God is people from praying.

Job does have a little bit of a problem with his concept of God, so there’s some truth to the idea that Job doesn’t respect or trust God in the matter.

But at least he’s been talking with God.

Job’s friends on the other hand have yet to offer a prayer toward God.

Lesson

Honesty with God

Some people, like Job’s friends, think that you should only come to God when you have your life straightened out, and you can come and offer pious, respectful prayers.

Some people don’t like straight forward honesty.

Illustration

A small town prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand in a trial-a grandmotherly, elderly woman. He approached her and asked, “Mrs. Jones, do you know me?” She responded, “Why, yes, I do know you Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a young boy. And frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a rising big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.” The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do he pointed across the room and asked, “Mrs. Williams, do you know the defense attorney?” She again replied, “Why, yes I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. I used to baby-sit him for his parents. And he, too, has been a real disappointment to me. He’s lazy, bigoted, he has a drinking problem. The man can’t build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the shoddiest in the entire state. Yes, I know him.” At this point, the judge rapped the courtroom to silence and called both counselors to the bench. In a very quiet voice, she said with menace, “If either of you asks her if she knows me, you’ll be jailed for contempt!

I think some people think that God’s like those attorneys and can’t handle the truth.

I think God can handle it when we’re honest with Him.

He prefers we talk to him honestly than not talking at all.

Keep in mind that when God finally speaks up, He will respond to Job, not to Job’s friends.

Look at the honesty in David’s prayers in the Psalms, such as,

(Psalm 22:1–2 NKJV) —1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? 2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.

That’s the kind of prayer that Job’s friends might not pray.

But David did.

And so did Jesus when He hung on the cross. Jesus quoted David’s prayer.

We need to learn respect and “fear” towards God, but God also wants us to be honest.

:5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty.

:6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you.

:7 “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you made before the hills?

:7 Are you the first man who was born

Eliphaz is questioning Job’s wisdom in his complaining.

He’s saying that Job hasn’t been around long enough and he doesn’t know enough to be challenging what God is doing.

This is exactly what God will challenge Job about when God finally speaks up.

(Job 38:1–4 NKJV) —1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: 2 “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? 3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.

Lesson

Truth from the wrong people

We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that truth is based upon how good or how nice the person is that’s speaking to us.

If a person is being mean or misunderstands us, then we have the right to throw out everything they say and consider it worthless.

Truth is still truth, no matter who is speaking it.

We need to be asking ourselves, “Is there something I can be learning here?”

Statements aren’t true because the person speaking is mean.

Statements aren’t true just because the person speaking is nice.

Statements are true because they’re true.

When the Jews were making their plans to have Jesus arrested and killed, one of the worst men made an amazing statement:

(John 11:47–52 NKJV) —47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. 48 If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” 49 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.

Caiaphas meant that Jesus’ death would keep the Romans from wiping out the Jews, yet it actually had a deeper meaning.

Jesus would die to pay for the sins of the world.

If any of the disciples had been in that council at that time, and heard Caiaphas say what he said, how many would have paid much attention to what he said?

Yet he actually spoke truth.

:8 Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

:9 What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us?

:9 What do you know that we do not know?

Both Job and his friends will say something similar to this.

They are treating these “debates” as some sort of competition, as if the one who says the most interesting, unique things wins.

Comforting people doesn’t come from winning a debate competition.

Comforting starts with compassion and understanding.

:10 Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, Much older than your father.

:10 the gray-haired and the aged

Eliphaz is reminding Job that these three friends are all older than he is. He ought to respect them and be paying attention to them.

Lesson

Wisdom and age

If you have to remind people how old and wise you are, there’s a problem.

Someone once said, “When an older man and a younger man are together, the older man should never bring up his age and wisdom, and the younger man should never forget it.”

:11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, And the word spoken gently with you?

Lesson

God’s comfort is enough

God’s comfort IS enough.

(2 Corinthians 1:3 NKJV)

:11 the word spoken gently with you

Lesson

Fake Gentleness

Eliphaz is implying that he and the others are the ones that God has sent to bring Job comfort.

He’s claiming that they’ve spoken “gently” to Job.

We don’t hear the tone of voice that Eliphaz speaks with. He may be speaking with a gentle tone of voice, but the words are very, very harsh.

I hate it when people speak quietly but condescendingly to you, as if they have it all figured out, when they don’t.

:12 Why does your heart carry you away, And what do your eyes wink at,

:13 That you turn your spirit against God, And let such words go out of your mouth?

:14 “What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?

:15 If God puts no trust in His saints, And the heavens are not pure in His sight,

:16 How much less man, who is abominable and filthy, Who drinks iniquity like water!

:15 If God puts no trust in His saints

saints – qadowsh – sacred, holy, Holy One, set apart

Eliphaz may be referring to angels here.

Eliphaz is the oldest one, and is doing what old men do. He’s repeating himself. He already said:

(Job 4:18 NKJV) If He puts no trust in His servants, If He charges His angels with error,

He’s referring to fallen angels who are no longer following God. (2Pet. 2:4)

(2 Peter 2:4 NKJV)

(Jude 6 NKJV)

:16 man, who is abominable and filthy

Lesson

Reasons for trouble

Eliphaz is saying that if even angels have sinned and gotten into trouble with God, how much more man who is even more abominable.

Eliphaz is again stating truth. Man is sinful.

(Romans 3:10–12 NKJV) —10 As it is written: 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable;

(Romans 3:23 NKJV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

It is also true that trouble exists in this world because of our sin.

Some people like to blame everything on God, when in fact mankind brought all the trouble.

This is a result of the “curse” that came upon mankind and the world as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin:

(Genesis 3:16–19 NKJV) —16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”

The problem with Eliphaz’ reasoning is that he too falls into that category, a sinner.

If Job is going through his tough time simply because he is a sinful man like everyone else, then how is it that you can say that Job’s problems are caused by his sin when Eliphaz isn’t going through the exact same thing?

15:17-35 Eliphaz: Wicked will perish

:17 “I will tell you, hear me; What I have seen I will declare,

:18 What wise men have told, Not hiding anything received from their fathers,

:19 To whom alone the land was given, And no alien passed among them:

:20 The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, And the number of years is hidden from the oppressor.

:20 The wicked man writhes with pain

This is not always true.

Job has already pointed out a problem that many of us have, that it seems like wicked people just get away with everything and have no problems.

(Job 12:6 NKJV) The tents of robbers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure— In what God provides by His hand.

The Psalmist also said the same thing:

(Psalm 73:4–5 NKJV) —4 For there are no pangs in their death, But their strength is firm. 5 They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men.

:21 Dreadful sounds are in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him.

:22 He does not believe that he will return from darkness, For a sword is waiting for him.

:23 He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand.

:24 Trouble and anguish make him afraid; They overpower him, like a king ready for battle.

:24 Trouble and anguish make him afraid

:25 For he stretches out his hand against God, And acts defiantly against the Almighty,

:26 Running stubbornly against Him With his strong, embossed shield.

:26 Running stubbornly against Him

:27 “Though he has covered his face with his fatness, And made his waist heavy with fat,

:28 He dwells in desolate cities, In houses which no one inhabits, Which are destined to become ruins.

:29 He will not be rich, Nor will his wealth continue, Nor will his possessions overspread the earth.

:30 He will not depart from darkness; The flame will dry out his branches, And by the breath of His mouth he will go away.

:31 Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself, For futility will be his reward.

:32 It will be accomplished before his time, And his branch will not be green.

:33 He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine, And cast off his blossom like an olive tree.

:34 For the company of hypocrites will be barren, And fire will consume the tents of bribery.

:35 They conceive trouble and bring forth futility; Their womb prepares deceit.”

:35 They conceive trouble and bring forth futility

Eliphaz’ whole point is that Job has brought all this trouble upon himself.

Job is the “hypocrite” (vs. 34) that has brought all this destruction.

Lesson

God will judge

What Eliphaz is saying is absolutely true as objective truth.

God will one day judge the world.

Even though an ungodly person may prosper and become rich and fat in this world, they will one day stand before God in judgment.

The problem is that this truth does not apply to Job.

Job isn’t being judged by God.

Lesson

Don’t count on it now

If you think that a wicked person is always going to be caught and brought down in this life, you are going to be disappointed.

There are going to be some people who will live comfortable, luxurious lives in their wickedness, and you’re going to wonder how this could be fair.

The truth is that the judgment will come, but for some, it may not come until after they die.

One of the things Eliphaz is implying is that if you turn from your sins, then life will be happy and wonderful and you will have no problems.

But this is false.

This is at the core of what Satan was challenging God with – that Job only served God because God blessed Job.

We shouldn’t serve God because life will be better. We should serve God because He is God.

16:1-5 Job: Miserable comforters

:1 Then Job answered and said:

:2 “I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all!

:2 Miserable comforters are you all

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Are you going through a difficult time?

How well are your friends doing with bringing “comfort”?

Do you have a friend going through a difficult time?

How do you think they would describe your “comfort”?

:3 Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?

:3 words of wind

They called him a windbag (15:2). He gives what he got.

(Job 15:2 NKJV) And fill himself with the east wind?

Windbags are people who talk a lot but don’t really say anything.

Video: The Front Fell Off

:4 I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul’s place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you;

:5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

:5 I would strengthen … comfort

Lesson

Helping others

If you want to treat other people right, think about how you would be like to be treated.

Jesus said,

(Matthew 7:12 NKJV) Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Those who have been through great difficulty can sometimes be the best comforters because they know how to be treated.

Paul wrote,

(2 Corinthians 1:3–4 NKJV) —3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

We can comfort others when we’ve received God’s comfort.

We can comfort with what we’ve received from God.

strengthen

Strengthen – our words should bring hope to others. They should stir up courage and strength in those we speak to.

comfort

Comfort

16:6-16 Job: God is after me

:6 “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased?

:7 But now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company.

:7 made desolate all my company

(Job 16:7 NLT) “O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family.

:8 You have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face.

:9 He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.

:10 They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me.

:11 God has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.

:11 turned me over to the hands of the wicked

I think Job is talking about his friends here.

:12 I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target,

:13 His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground.

:13 His archers surround me

God has His snipers aiming at me.

:14 He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior.

:15 “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust.

:16 My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

16:17-22 Job: Struggling to trust God

:17 Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure.

:18 “O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place!

:19 Surely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high.

:20 My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God.

:20 My friends scorn me

Lesson

God and friends

Job is learning a valuable but difficult lesson.

We all need friends.

We all need people in our lives to help us in difficult times.

But there are going to be times when all the people that you have learned to count on won’t be there for you.

David wrote,

(Psalm 27:10 NLT) Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close.

Corrie Ten Boom wrote,

“You’ll never know the Lord is all you need, until the Lord is all you have.”

:21 Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor!

:22 For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return.

:21 that one might plead for a man with God

Lesson

Jesus will plead for us

In the Roman Catholic tradition, people are taught to pray to the saints in heaven and ask them to intercede with God on their behalf since they’re closer to God than we are.

We can do one better.

Why ask Mary or Peter to pray for you when you can ask Jesus?

Jesus is our advocate, our “defense attorney”.

(1 John 2:1–2 NKJV) —1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Some defense attorneys will lie and manipulate the loopholes in the law to get a guilty man set free.

That’s not how Jesus operates.

Jesus pleads with the Father for us, and He can do it because He is the one who has already served our sentence. He has paid for our sin.

Jesus continually to pray for us.

(Hebrews 7:25 NKJV) Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

He doesn’t just pray for us one time, but continually prays for us and makes sure we will get to heaven, to be “saved to the uttermost”.

17:1-9 Job prays

:1 “My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me.

:2 Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?

:3 “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me?

:3 put down a pledge for me with Yourself

(Job 17:3 NLT) “You must defend my innocence, O God, since no one else will stand up for me.

None of Job’s friends seem to want to take a stand for him. Job asks God to.

:4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them.

:5 He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail.

:5 who speaks flattery to his friends

(Job 17:5 The Message) Those who betray their own friends leave a legacy of abuse to their children.

:6 “But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit.

:7 My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows.

:8 Upright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.

:9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

:9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way

Lesson

Keep serving

Even though good, upright people are astonished at what is happening to Job, they will keep on doing what it right.

When we see righteous people suffer, we get confused.

The story of Pastor Saeed Abedini

Saeed was a Muslim in Iran, but became a Christian in 2000. In Iran, it’s illegal for a Muslim to convert to Christianity.

He married an American, became an American, then continued to travel back and forth to Iran to serve the Lord.

He has been imprisoned in Iran since 2012

We need to keep praying for his release.

He is still serving Jesus, even in prison.

If He is serving, shouldn’t we?

Sometimes we are too “addicted” to comfort.

When we are going through a rough time, we want to stop everything and wait until we find some sort of “comfort”.

Video: One Time Blind - Comfort

We need to keep doing what it right.

17:10-16 Job: I’m hopeless

:10 “But please, come back again, all of you, For I shall not find one wise man among you.

:10 come back again, all of you

Job seems to be taunting his friends to keep trying with their arguments.

He is not convinced there is a single wise man among them.

:11 My days are past, My purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart.

:12 They change the night into day; ‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.

:13 If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness,

:14 If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’

:15 Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it?

:16 Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?”

:15 Where then is my hope?

Lesson

Hope in Jesus

We need to be careful as to where we put our hopes.

If we put our hopes in our circumstances getting better or changing to be what we dream they could be, we may end up being disappointed.

But if our hope is in Jesus, we’ll never be disappointed.

We need to keep our eyes on the rewards that Jesus has for us, knowing that He will make everything worthwhile, but not necessarily in this life.

(2 Corinthians 4:7–18 NLT) —7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. 11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you. 13 But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.” 14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. 16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Illustration

An old missionary couple had been working in Africa for years and were returning to New York to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid. They discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions.

No one paid any attention to them. They watched the fanfare that accompanied the President’s entourage, with passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man.

As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary said to his wife, “Something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes much over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us.”

“Dear, you shouldn’t feel that way,” his wife said.

“I can’t help it; it doesn’t seem right.”

When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers were full of the President’s arrival, but no one noticed this missionary couple. They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East Side, hoping the next day to see what they could do to make a living in the city.

That night the man’s spirit broke. He said to his wife, “I can’t take this; God is not treating us fairly.”

His wife replied, “Why don’t you go in the bedroom and tell that to the Lord?”

A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face was completely different. His wife asked, “Dear, what happened?”

“The Lord settled it with me,” he said. “I told him how bitter I was that the President should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one met us as we returned home. And when I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put his hand on my shoulder and simply said, ‘But you’re not home yet!’”

-- Ray Stedman, Talking to My Father

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Introduction

Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid to die? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved? Target 3300 words Video = 75 wpm

Job is going through the worst time anyone could imagine.

He’s lost all his possessions.

His children have died.

His health has failed.

What makes all this even more confusing is that Job is a good guy.

God has decided to allow Job to go through this difficulty because He is proud of Job, not mad at him.

God wants to show the world what a godly man will do when he is going through a difficult time.

Keep a couple of things in mind as we study Job:

Sometimes Job is wrong in his conclusions.

Sometimes Job’s friends are also wrong.

They can even say things that are true, but they might not be true about Job.

Be careful about building doctrine upon some of the things said in the book of Job.

Neither Job’s words nor those of his friends are meant to build doctrinal truths on.

They simply show us how people respond to difficulty.

We’ve seen a pattern in Job where one of his friends speaks, and then Job responds.

We’ve been through one complete round of debates with each friend having a say.

This is now round two.

We will go through a total of three rounds.

15:1-16 Eliphaz: Job is clueless

:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

:1 Eliphaz the Temanite

Eliphaz is the kindest of Job’s friends and is also probably the eldest. He’s not going to be so kind this time.

:2 “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?

:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or by speeches with which he can do no good?

:2 fill himself with the east wind

Job is just a windbag.

He’s filled with nothing but hot air.

:4 Yes, you cast off fear, And restrain prayer before God.

:4 restrain prayer before God

Eliphaz is saying that Job’s lack of respect (fear) towards God is people from praying.

Job does have a little bit of a problem with his concept of God, so there’s some truth to the idea that Job doesn’t respect or trust God in the matter.

But at least he’s been talking with God.

Lesson

Honesty with God

Some people, like Job’s friends, think that you should only come to God when you have your life straightened out, and you can come and offer pious, respectful prayers.

Some people don’t like straight forward honesty.

Illustration

I think some people think that God’s like those attorneys and can’t handle the truth.

Video: A few good men

I think God can handle it when we’re honest with Him.

He prefers we talk to him honestly than not talking at all.

Keep in mind that when God finally speaks up, He will respond to Job, not to Job’s friends.

Look at the honesty in David’s prayers in the Psalms, such as,

(Psalm 22:1–2 NKJV) —1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? 2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.

We need to learn respect and “fear” towards God, but God also wants us to be honest.

:5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty.

:6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you.

:7 “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you made before the hills?

:7 Are you the first man who was born

Eliphaz is questioning Job’s wisdom in his complaining.

He’s saying that Job hasn’t been around long enough and he doesn’t know enough to be challenging what God is doing.

This is exactly what God will challenge Job about when God finally speaks up.

Lesson

Truth from the wrong people

We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that truth is based upon how good or how nice the person is that’s speaking to us.

If a person is being mean or misunderstands us, then we have the right to throw out everything they say and consider it worthless.

Truth is still truth, no matter who is speaking it.

We need to be asking ourselves, “Is there something I can be learning here?”

Statements aren’t true because the person speaking is mean.

Statements aren’t true just because the person speaking is nice.

Statements are true because they’re true.

When the Jews were making their plans to have Jesus arrested and killed, one of the worst men made an amazing statement:

:8 Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

:9 What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us?

:9 What do you know that we do not know?

Both Job and his friends will say something similar to this.

They are treating these “debates” as some sort of competition, as if the one who says the most interesting, unique things wins.

Comforting people doesn’t come from winning a debate competition.

Comforting starts with compassion and understanding.

:10 Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, Much older than your father.

:10 the gray-haired and the aged

Eliphaz is reminding Job that these three friends are all older than he is. He ought to respect them and be paying attention to them.

Lesson

Wisdom and age

If you have to remind people how old and wise you are, there’s a problem.

Someone once said, “When an older man and a younger man are together, the older man should never bring up his age and wisdom, and the younger man should never forget it.”

:11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, And the word spoken gently with you?

(2 Corinthians 1:3 NKJV)

(2 Peter 2:4 NKJV)

(Jude 6 NKJV)

(Romans 3:10–12 NKJV) —10 As it is written: 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable;