All our close friends intend good with their words mostly because they cannot bear to see us in pain.  It makes them uncomfortable and many times most judgemmental.  We must have done something wrong that can be fixed and forgiven so that the pain subsides and we can all get back to “normal.”

But pain is normal.  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4 

God uses our pain to strength our faith and spiritual resolve to trust and obey Him. 

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”—Jesus, John 16:33

Jesus was with God at the time of Job’s trials and afflictions. Jesus was physically with His disciples when he told them to “take heart” when it looks as if their world would end!  There is a power greater than the pain of this world who will overcome all troubles and trials and will be used to draw us closer to Him, the Overcomer of it all!  Hold that thought as Job’s friends come with “a little advice,” humanly speaking.

Chapter four introduces the first round of speeches. Job’s friends came and just sat with him in the dust and ashes of discouragement and dismay.  Each one has been silent for seven days!  (Job later confessed he wished they had stayed that way! 13:5). But “Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered.” Did he address the pain in Job’s heart? No, he replied to the words from Job’s lips; and this was a mistake.

A wise counselor and comforter must listen with the heart and respond to feelings as well as to words. A broken heart is not healed with logic, but with love. Yes, we must speak the truth, but we should do that in love (Ephesians 4:15).  We must put aside how we feel in the awkwardness of others’ pain and show them how much you care by how much you love.  I’ve seen it with my own eyes, haven’t you?  We all respond to love more than judgement when we are at the depths of our pain through trials.  We need someone who listens without thinking how they will respond with how to fix it.  We must all learn to be that person who listens with God’s love embedded in our hearts.

Job 4

Eliphaz

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

² “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?

⁷ “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.

¹² “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?’

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

I have learned from my own struggles with troubles and trials that at times God will use the most likely to offer reminders of God’s love more than my most trusted spiritual mentors.  Allow God to lead us in troubles to those He has chosen to help us.  It could this very person He wants to show His glory at work in ways that lead them closer to Him. Look for God’s love in those God sends and readily respond to their love.  You will know who they are!  Pause and thank God for them now—I am!

As for us who believe and want to help?  Be careful what you say and how you say it and determine through prayer if you need to say it at all!  Yes, we must never underestimate the power of words to encourage or discourage people in the battles of life.  James passionately teaches us;

“All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” James 3:7-10, read the whole chapter for the full affect!)

The right words, spoken at the right time, and with the right motive, can make a tremendous difference. Your words can nourish those who are weak and encourage those who are defeated. But your words can also hurt those who are broken and add to their burdens. So be careful what you say and how you say it.

For Job, we must go deeper still to more fully understand what it going on with the friends “advice meant to fix.”  We turn to Warren Wiersbe, Bible scholar and commentator;

“This is the basic premise of all three friends: Do what is right and life will go well for you; do what is wrong and God will send pain and punishment. God’s judgment may sometimes be gradual, like the growing of a crop for harvest (v. 8); or it may be sudden, like the coming of a storm or the attack of a lion (vv. 9–11). But we can be sure that judgment will come; for God is a righteous Judge. 

Most people will agree that ultimately God blesses the righteous, His own people, and judges the wicked; but that is not the question discussed in Job. The immediate, not the ultimate judgment, concerned Job and his three friends and also David (Psalm 37), Asaph (Psalm 73), and even the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 12:1–6).

Eliphaz presented two arguments to prove his point: experience (4:12–21) and observation (5:1–7). He based his first argument on an eerie experience he had one night when he saw “visions” and heard a voice. This he backed up with an argument from observation. Neither of Eliphaz’s sources replaces the Word of God.

Is this statement (v. 17) a direct revelation from God? Probably not; the whole experience doesn’t seem to fit God’s pattern for revealing truth. For one thing, it lacks the authority of “The Word of the Lord came to me saying” or “Thus says the Lord.” And God doesn’t usually sneak up on people and scare them. We don’t know for sure, but Eliphaz may have had a dream, meditated on it, and gradually transformed it into a vision.”—Wiersbe Study Bible

Either way, the message is the same: a human life is brief and frail, and a person can never be righteous enough in himself or herself to please God.  Only God is good and righteous and the one and only who has authority to judge.

One thing is sure: Eliphaz was not telling the whole story about God and humanity. Yes, humans live in houses of clay that eventually turn to dust; and a person’s life can be snuffed out like swatting a moth or pulling down a tent.

But each human being is also made in the image of God, and the God who made that person is a God of grace and mercy as well as a God of justice!

Stay tuned…more to come!

Oh Lord,

We need your help and power to tame our thinking and our tongues. Help us to think Truth, You. If we are led by you to speak; form our words, drenched with your love, so the words will be helpful not harmful.  May we also be receptive to Truth from others with your love, too. Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh and feed our souls, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us.

In Jesus Name, Amen