6-25-14. Job 5:1-27. BRING YOUR APPEAL TO GOD-my devotional

Job 5:1-27                                                                                     Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 5:7                                                                            6-25-14

“But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.” (NIV)

Lord, thank you for blessing our lives with the living word of God. Your word and the truth that is nestled within it satisfies our hearts and our minds. Meditating on your word brings us great joy, strength, hope, stability and inner healing. Where would we be without your words? There would be nothing to sink our spiritual teeth into. May your word be in the forefront of our lives. I pray in the name of the Word of God Incarnate, Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord.

Part 1: Lay Our Cause Before God. (1-8)

Verses 1-8, “Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?² Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. ³ I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed. ⁴ His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender. ⁵ The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth. ⁶ For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground. ⁷ Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. ⁸ “But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.” (NIV)
There are truths embedded in his discourse. In verse 1 we learn the truth that we need to cry out to God and seek answers in him. In verse 7 we learn that trouble comes upon everyone. No one can avoid it.  In verse 8, we learn that we must make our appeal to God, even if we are suffering, even if we might feel like we are objects of God’s wrath. Yes, even if we know we are on the wrong side of the truth, we still need to come to Jesus and cry out to him for answers and deliverance. We need to always trust in him grace and mercy. We could appeal to God, laying our cause before him.

There is something wrong with Eliphaz’ words. His basic assumption was wrong. He is basically stating that suffering comes upon us when we are foolish in the site of God. The suffering and loss we are experiencing is all a part of our own sins and failings. He assumed that God was punishing Job for some sin. Eliphaz’ world view is pessimistic. He was rebuked by God in 42:7 for misrepresenting God. “After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”   Eliphaz was misrepresenting God.

God is not like that. The Bible says that God is love. (1 John 4:8) The very core of his essence and being is love. There is no circumstance where God can not love. Having faith involves in trusting in the unconditional love of God. Jesus, even when suffering and dying on the cross, never doubted the love of his Father in heaven. No matter what suffering we are enduring, we must never think that God is punishing us because he hates us. We must know that God loves us and there must be a reason why his is allowing us to be led along a certain path.

Part 2: Have Wisdom To Comfort The Suffering (9-27)

Verses 9-27, “⁹ He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. ¹⁰ He provides rain for the earth;  he sends water on the countryside. ¹¹ The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.¹² He thwarts the plans of the crafty,  so that their hands achieve no success. ¹³ He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away. ¹⁴ Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night. ¹⁵ He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful. ¹⁶ So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth. ¹⁷ “Blessed is the one whom God corrects;  so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.¹⁸ For he wounds, but he also binds up;  he injures, but his hands also heal. ¹⁹ From six calamities he will rescue you;  in seven no harm will touch you. ²⁰ In famine he will deliver you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword. ²¹ You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes. ²² You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the wild animals. ²³ For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you. ²⁴ You will know that your tent is secure;  you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing. ²⁵ You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth. ²⁶ You will come to the grave in full vigor, like sheaves gathered in season. ²⁷ “We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself.”

Eliphaz had something right. He made some simple observations from the human experience and from nature and deduced that God indeed performs miracles that cannot be fathomed; for he gives rain to the earth and he lifts up the lowly. No one can deceive God. (Paul quotes verse 13 in 1 Cor 3:19.) It is also true that God’s discipline is a blessing–that he wounds so that he can heal. Observations like these is how the ancients could discover that God is love. They did not have the Bible as we have it. It is thought that they lived in the time of the Patriarchs. But they could observe God’s truth being played out all around them and with the help of the Holy Spirit they can interpret it all properly. Think of St Francis of Assisi. He was a crusader and the son of rich textile owner. But, on furlough from battle, he sat in the fields and saw the flora and the fauna. He heard the birds and the rabbits and heard the breeze. His heart was strangely moved and he gave his life to Christ.

We can make observations from nature and the human experience, but in order to interpret things properly, we need to let go of all of our prejudices and preconceived ideas. We need to allow God to apply his glasses to our eyes and take off the colored shades that we have placed ourselves. If we are humble enough for God to do this to us, then God will help us to know him better and he will help us to discern what is happening in our lives and in the world properly. On our own, this is impossible. We need the Lord to help us for without his help we are mired in our own prejudices and rendered powerless. Lord, free our hearts that we can see your beautiful heart and your work of love in the world.

One statement that Eliphaz goes too far in making is when he promises Job that God will rescue him from all his calamities (19-27). This is, in some ways, a health and wealth Gospel message. He was implying that if we get it right before God, then we will be always be blessed in this world. Yes, God may bless us in a physical sense. He may or may not alleviate our suffering. God will not rescue us from that which he wants to grow us through. He may want to bring glory to himself, and mature us and grow us in Gospel faith, through our suffering and hardships.

Eliphaz thought that his counsel would bring comfort to Job, but it could not. He was implying that if Job straightened his own life out and got himself out of the pit, then God would bless him and restore him. But Job was helpless in his predicament. He did not need to hear that he must do something that he was not capable of. He needed to know about the love and grace and mercy of God and share that with Job. If he didn’t know this life giving truth, it would be better if he would quietly pray for his friend. He could have shared his life experiences, but stop and presenting his interpretations of those experiences as Gospel truth. He should not have said, “We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself.” (NIV) Ultimately, if you have the Bible then share the word of God simply, confidently, with a heart full of love and faith trusting in God to save the helpless.

Yes, there is always something we can do to comfort the suffering. We can share what we know and maybe it is better to sit in silence and quietness and listen and pray. Anyone can do that.

Prayer: Lord, I cannot understand your ways. Teach me more about you and help me to share Christ with those who are suffering.

One Word: Bring your appeal to God, no matte what you are going through.