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7-28-14. Job 15:1-35. Eliphaz Was Blind To The true Picture-my devotional

7-28-14. Job 15:1-35. Eliphaz Was Blind To The true Picture-my devotional

the shriveled hand

Job 15:1-35                                                                                           Kevin E. Jesmer

Key verse 15: 7-8                                                                                   7-28-14

“Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? 8 Do you listen in on God’s council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?”

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for your Word that feeds our heart, mind and soul with good, satisfying things. In a world where everything is perishing, spoiling and fading away, there you are Lord, with your Word and your Spirit. Jesus is the Bread of Life. You provide manna from heaven. Your Spirit is like living water to our thirsty souls. I have searched the world for what satisfies and I can say it is found in a personal relationship with you Lord, my Bread of Life and my Living Water. The Kingdom of God is within us. Thank you for being there. People are so impressed with world travelers. But the most impressive are those who travel into your presence in their hearts and minds. It is like being a spiritual adventurer, discovering the secrets of the Kingdom of God each day. This is more satisfying then world travel. Help our people to know that true satisfaction is not found in costly excursions, but found in soul searching quests to see you, Lord Jesus. This is a free gift. Open our eyes to what is truly valuable. I pray in the name of the one who leads us on life’s greatest adventure…Jesus Christ.  

Part 1: Speaking From Theological Correctness Or A Heart of Love (1-17)

Look at verses 1-17, “Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: 2 “Would a wise person answer with empty notions or fill their belly with the hot east wind? 3 Would they argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value? 4 But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. 5 Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. 6 Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you. 7 “Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? 8 Do you listen in on God’s council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? 9 What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have? 10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father. 11 Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? 12 Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, 13 so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth? 14 “What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous? 15 If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, 16 how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water! “ (NIV)

Why do we do want to take the first step, in a relationship with a suffering person, by bringing out our theological correctness? (Sometimes we do this even when we are theologically incorrect.) In Job 15:1-17, Eliphaz had been sympathetic, but in this, his second speech he becomes more impatient and rebukes Job for not listening to him. Eliphaz appears ruder, more intense, and more threatening and is agitated by the statements made by Job. He began by saying that Job’s words were empty and useless, and he thinks that Job must be a great sinner and his sins are so grievous that his punishment is just. Eliphaz claims that what Job is saying is nothing but wind. He belittles Job’s faith. He accuses Job of being deceitful He is repeatedly condemning Job while claiming that he isn’t condemning him.

Eliphaz assumed that his words were as true as God’s. He claims that his friends are wiser than Job. He claims to have been counseling Job but that Job is unappreciative and wasn’t listening. They object to Job’s words but they never say what words they reject. Eliphaz suggests that Job will suffer even more because he does not listen to the counselors, which are his friends and himself. His words spring forth from being theologically correct but not from a heart full of love for a “brother” in need. He reveals is religious arrogance.

We must be careful that we don’t just spew out Biblical truths to people without realizing their hearts and their circumstances. People do not care about what we know, they care about how much we are care. People rarely remember what we say, but they do remember, for many decades how we made them feel. This is the truth. It does not matter if we know our Christian theology and Christian history and the sources of all that we believe, when it come to reaching out to those who are suffering. We need a heart of compassion and not just bringing out our theological correctness.

We want people to know how much we know and how correct we are. It has to do with our own pride and desire to seem “right” in the eyes of other people. We want to be “right” even if it hurts other people, ignoring their own suffering. We want to be “right” even if it ruins a relationship for a lifetime.

I believe we need to be like the person who has a shriveled hand. (Mark 3:1-5) Our self-righteous, religious arrogance, can be like a shriveled hand that we do not want to expose to Jesus for healing. We want to hide it. We want to remain safe behind our religiosity. But we need to confess…admit the need for healing and then extend the hand and allow Jesus to heal it. It will be a painful experience, but God will work and heal the heart. Then we can be humble, compassionate, wise shepherds who can truly minister to the suffering.

Part 2: Circumstances Don’t Represent The True Picture (17-35)

Verses 17-35, “17 Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen, 18 what the wise have declared, hiding nothing received from their ancestors 19 (to whom alone the land was given when no foreigners moved among them):” 20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him. 21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. 22 He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness; he is marked for the sword. 23 He wanders about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. 24 Distress and anguish fill him with terror; troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack, 25 because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty, 26 defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield. 27 “Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh, 28 he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble. 29 He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. 30 He will not escape the darkness;    a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away. 31 Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return. 32 Before his time he will wither, and his branches will not flourish. 33 He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms. 34 For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. 35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.” (NIV)

Eliphaz finished this discourse with a description of a wicked man. From verses like 21 we can sense that his description is directed against Job. Job is accused of being against God and so God is making it so that Job’s hypocrisy is being found out through his suffering and loss. In his words there is no hope for Job. Job is deceived and so all of his trust and faith are of no consequences. But, knowing Job’s circumstances, we know that there is no validity to this description.

.     Why does God allow Job to be tormented like this by friends who are not good counselors? Why not send some humble people of faith who can counsel and serve Job in all the right ways? I believe that the Lord allowed the “painful” discourse of these friends to be included in the Bible in order to show us that circumstances in our life rarely represent the true picture of what a person is going. through.

We have our own prejudices about why people are suffering. Have we come to the right conclusions? In Job 15:1-35, Eliphaz and his friends did not come to the right conclusions about Job. They were totally wrong about the reason behind Job’s suffering. They were unaware of the spiritual battle that was going on in the spiritual realm. We need to approach people with humble, unassuming hearts, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and not fixing our eyes on what we think is the source of their suffering. Assume the best of people. Assume people are innocent until they are proven guilty. If it wasn’t said it didn’t happen. Trust that God is working everything out in that person’s life and then decide to minister to their need in love, compassion and understanding, and most of all humility.

Prayer: Lord, help me speak to those who are suffering with a heart full of love and not just theological correctness. Help me to see their struggles from God’s point of view.

One word:  Open our eyes to see the true picture.




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