There will always be a “yeah, but” among our family and friends who challenge what you say and do with a comeback. You know them. You’re probably thinking of them right now, aren’t you?!  If you cannot think of your yeah, but; you probably are the one who always wants the last word! 

I must admit, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” when we begin our sentences with “yeah, but” as a way to spout our wisdom without research when given the chance. Yes, there are moments when we express our “yeah, buts” from a heart of love for someone going astray from God with their thinking and actions.  But other times we just want to have a say in someone else’s life because it makes us feel superior as we point out the faults of others. That way our own faults are kept in the background.    

Job has expressed himself to God and to his friends who are sitting with him in the dust of despair.  “Yet, will I trust Him” is Job’s mantra even after the boils and brokenness in his life.  God is still God, he proclaims.  Now, his friends, one by one, comeback with their “yeah, buts” as Job ponders life, gives answer to his friends, while asking God to name his sins that caused his suffering.  His friends stand ready to name his sins for him.  But this advice is not what Job desires.  He wants to hear from God. But his friends want to speak for God as if that is their work. 

Job 15

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!

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.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How do we respond to others suffering one calamity after another?  What is our first thought? Be honest.  Do we look for the sins they must have committed instead of looking into they eyes of the sufferer? Do we look over their lives, evaluate, then judge where they have been negligent and foolish in their lives?  I’ll just leave that right here.

Job’s friends continue to give their opinions concerning the reason for his troubles. Eliphaz argued that suffering resulted from sin along with accusing Job of being less than reverent as he spoke with God.  The other friends will follow with their own “yeah, but” opinions and each time Job will respond to them.  It will get dicey before it gets better.  Hang on!

Suffering is never easy to understand. Because he assumed that suffering resulted from sin, Eliphaz could not comfort his friend; it merely made Job feel worse and Eliphaz more superior!  People who judge do not make good comforters!

To be more like Jesus, the goal of all who believe and live to please God, suffering is part of the whole package.  “Yeah, but, I don’t like to suffer!” We might not say these words out loud; but we are thinking it when life get uncomfortable and unexplainable!  Suffering, as difficult as it is, needs to be regarded from God’s perspective. He allows certain situations in our lives for reasons beyond our understanding. Our job is to continue to reflect who He is in our response to suffering. In the story of Job; Job is not the star of the story—God is!  Hold that thought as we continue!

Consider the suffering of the saints who declared Jesus as Savior and LORD of their lives. They were beaten, spit on, dragged into the streets with false accusations, imprisoned for days, months and years, but sang hymns about the One who saved their souls—so others would know Jesus, too—even their enemies! 

Here is proof of deliberate mindsets—having the minds of Christ and the hearts of God from various saints who endured with an eternal joy;

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. —James 1:2-4 ESV 

James writes that to avoid suffering is to avoid the lessons learned from the experiences of suffering that builds our faith!

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”—Paul, Philippians 3:8-11, ESV                               

Paul is deliberate in his mindset! To know Jesus involves experiencing the same divine energy that raised Jesus from the dead with power that transforms lives, overcomes sin’s hold on us and heals our brokenness. When we share in His sufferings; we become like Jesus, our Savior who becomes Lord of all we think, say, and do!  Jesus must be at the center of our lives.

Paul speaks to those in judgement of others about the Holy Spirit of God who lives in all who believe.  God’s Holy Spirit of wisdom is from whom our wisdom comes from as we seek to have the mind of Christ.

“’What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.’

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.”—Paul, 1 Corinthians 2:9-16

^“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21

Peter, The Rock upon whom Jesus built His church, expresses his deliberate mindset in these few words—follow in His steps.  What did that specifically mean to Peter who followed Jesus daily for three years, reprimanded lovingly by Jesus, learning from his mistakes, crying in defeat of his humanness, broken by seeing Jesus, his friend suffer, die, but be raised again?  To Peter, following in the steps of Jesus means living as He lived by demonstrating humility, patience, and love, particularly by enduring suffering without retaliation and entrusting justice to God. It requires actively mirroring His character, forgiving others, and trusting God even during difficult, challenging, or unfair circumstances. 

Through the prophet, Micah, God tells what is required of us to be more like Him;

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

This is having and consistently developing the mind and character of Christ in us.

Lord,

We fall short but you comfort us with forgiveness because of the love you have for us. Cleanse our hearts of all that does not belong. Renew our minds that transform our behaviors. Comfort us in our suffering as you build our resolve to follow in your steps. To you be all glory, honor, and praise forever and ever, Amen!