Job 3:23. “For the thing which I greatly feared has come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”
PAIN. What can I do when there is nothing I can do? This pain is too hard to bear.
When there is no relief and I am pierced right through – Is there no one who can this burden share? Others cannot seem to help and there is no real relief – And I am totally at my wit’s end. Furthermore, beside this pain is a terrible grief – Is there not some comforting friend; Who can come alongside and take some of it away? “My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” Then I am stopped to think, God allowed this today – There are things happening that I cannot see.
My faith is surely tested and my fortitude too – God knows me better than anyone else. Still, I am wondering if before this event is through, Will I fail my Lord – will I even know myself? How can God get glory when I am powerless – so weak? What possibly could He gain from this? There are so many questions and the answers I seek – I know my life is bound up in His. Through this dark valley I thought I could pass, And leave a good testimony behind. But now I am in it, I find it very hard to cast My burden on Him and relief to find.
O Lord who knows all, on Thee I call, Please take this pain away from me. But if it is Thy will to leave it with me still, Grant me some glimmer of hope to see. In this distress, please help me to bless Some who may be in worse straits than I. Give me the faith and some special kind of grace, So that I truly on Thy will do rely. If there are some lessons, some real good reasons That I can learn through this trial – Then help me to seize them in this difficult season So that my Savior and Lord I will not fail.
“O Lord God, I know I haven’t been through Job’s trials – at least not very many of them. But for the trials of this day and the responsibilities too – please give Thy servant the needed grace and faith to trust Thee and serve Thee without question or quibbling. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”
Job 4 - 5 IS EXPERIENCE THE ANSWER? Likely Eliphaz was the oldest of the three men who came to comfort Job, but each of them came with pat answers to the question, "Why does suffering happen to good people?" Eliphaz opens his comments in a patronizing manner indicating his confidence in knowing why Job suffered. He considered he was the source of wisdom because of his experience in observing life for many years and experiencing many of the things that happen in life. He figured he had the experience needed to explain to Job why his problems were so great, and was passing on his advice from first-hand knowledge by the power of observation. His attitude was, "I have personally observed how God works and I have Him figured out." His answer to the dilemma was based on EXPERIENCE.
His approach to Job after a few diplomatic words was, "I have been there, done that," and I know what others don't know because of my wisdom of years and experiences in life. Then after acknowledging Job's piety and helpful concern for others, a paraphrase of what he said was something like this, "You are a good man, however, since you brought it up and I have been sitting here in silence seven days, I will now tell you why all this has happened to you. You are a secret sinner. There is something in your life you have been hiding."
This philosophy is held by many people today, if not by most people. "Bad things happen to bad people. Good things happen to good people." This has been watered down by many so they say, "Do the best you can, and God will overlook the rest." Some things Eliphaz said were okay, but his opinions regarding life were only opinions and not facts. He assumed a good and innocent person will not suffer. He also assumed that people who do suffer, do so because of past sins. His application to Job was he was suffering because he had done something wrong in God's eyes.
It is true that whatever we sow we reap. It is true that if we complain, foment division and rebellion, punishment will eventually come. But is also very easy for us to make false assumptions based on our own experience. It is of God's mercies that we ourselves are not consumed. So, after Eliphaz's diplomatic words he said something like this, "Do you mind if I tell you something? Whether you mind or not I am going to tell you anyway. You are a wimp, a fake, a weak man who looked like he had everything together. You could tell others what you thought they should hear and do, but you can't follow your own advice."
Not everyone is qualified to advise on spiritual matters. A spiritual man can give spiritual advice that come from a biblical perspective. Even though a man may be up in age and had a lot of life's experience, that in itself does not qualify us to speak for God. Our own opinions are not valid if they are not consistent with what God says in His word. To mislead people can easily happen if we consider ourselves to have a kind of expertise based on our education, human experience and age. God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts.
Those who know God communicate with God in prayer and listen to God speak through His word guided by the Holy Spirit. Such people can know God from experiences with Him and know why bad things happen to good people. In the Bible we have examples of what we should do and should not do. When we keep God's truth in context and submit to it, we can understand things from His divine perspective, rather than our own so very finite experience.
From the lofty place of his inflated ego Eliphaz looked down on Job and said, "I have seen ..., " and further, "Who has perished being innocent?" This man was wrong and was being used by Satan to misrepresent God. He was implying God destroys His children who sin. We know from the scriptures that God disciplines His children, but never destroys them with a "blast of anger."
This same man claimed to have had a special experience with God when he had a dream that was so vivid that the hair on his head stood up. What was the wonder of this dream or what was so profound? His statement was almost like a child would say, "Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?" The obvious answer is, "Of course not." Eliphaz was simply making a big thing about himself, not about God and man. This very trivial comment demeaned his experience claim.
Some people have a way of telling other people how things are and how things should be done, and they have never experienced it themselves. Eliphaz was a man like that. He was of no help at all to Job. Some of the things he said we right but did not apply to Job's problem in any way,