21. Punishment?

The Anguish of Job – Meditation 21

Job 8:4 When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

When we come to chapter 8 we find the second of Job’s friends, Bildad, wading in. He’s not as diplomatic as Eliphaz. He ploughs in with no restraint. He starts off: “How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind. Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?” (v.2,3) Bildad hasn’t taken lessons in empathy or understanding and he obviously has never been through anything like Job is experiencing. No, he comes in at the intellectual level and doesn’t seem bothered about anything else. Bildad reminds me of those Christians who are more concerned to prove their point than be concerned for the person. In fact in some parts of the Christian world the harshness with which the ‘Law’ is dispensed, completely annuls the content of what is being said, because it certainly doesn’t come with the grace of Jesus. Truth separated from Grace is a horrible thing; that why Paul spoke about “speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). Love brings a gentleness with it which again Paul commends to us: “if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.” (Gal 6;1). This applies as much to correcting a wrong understanding as it does to anything else.

“Your words are a blustering wind“? Nice start! Job has been here, for he’s commented previously on the way Eliphaz just wrote off his despairing words as meaningless as the wind (6:26). Bildad has taken no notice of Job’s plea and he too takes no notice of the anguish with which Job speaks. He just sees that Job is wrong – in his eyes at least – and so berates him for it, regardless of what Job is going through. This is a very important point in the Christian world because there is a lot of critical writing around that it more concerned to score points than maintain the unity of the faith and care for the weak. Pharisees were highly un-pastoral law-keepers and it was that dimension of their lives and attitudes that brought Jesus’ anger.

“Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?” What is he saying? Does God twist or ignore or distort justice for His own ends? Implied in this is, does God bring judgment unjustly? Then he ploughs in with today’s verse: “When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.” There it is, right out in the open! Your children have obviously been judged by God for what must be their sin (because he only judges sin), so you don’t have a leg to stand on. Stop trying to appear righteous! That is what he is saying here. It is this same link that we saw with Eliphaz, except he is being more blatant, that suffering is God’s judgment and so suffering must be a sign of the presence of sin.

Yes, there is a case where self-inflicted suffering is linked with sin. Sexually transmitted diseases follow a promiscuous lifestyle. Drug addiction flows on from taking recreational drugs which don’t satisfy and lead on to hard drugs which lead to addiction. A few regular drinks lead on to lots of regular drinks which turns into alcoholism and, yes, all these outworkings can be classified as forms of suffering and, yes, they are self inflicted. But then we come to ‘natural’ catastrophes – floods, hurricanes, earthquakes. Well, the Bible does seem to indicate that the natural order was upset with the Fall, and so yes, we do live with the consequences of the Fall, but there seems a simple principle that occurs in the life of Israel, which is that God only brings judgment after He has warned many times. We have already commented on Jesus’ dismissal of this way of thinking (Lk 13:1-5). There is a general call to repent, but specific warning come through God’s prophets, and then only may we attribute specific catastrophic judgment to God. Much more common is God’s judgment that comes in the form of Him standing back and leaving us to our own devices so that unrestrained sin can bite us and bring us to our senses (see Rom 1:24-32).

Of course, as we’ve commented before, these friends have not been privy to the events in heaven, so they don’t know what is really going on here, so they resort to this mechanistic way of thinking that we are so prone to fall into, that if THIS happens then THAT must be the cause, and we have these lists of things that are linked summarized as “suffering is judgment on sin.”

The trouble with this mechanistic thinking is that it has mechanistic answers and that is what Bildad now comes up with: “ If you do THIS then THAT will happen. It’s the “if-then” logic than basic computer programmers used. Listen to it for there are two “if” conditions coming: “if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright….” (v.5,6a). There you are, it’s down to you Job, to bring an end to this. All you have to do is humble yourself and plead before God AND make sure you change your lifestyle so that you can say that you are ‘pure and upright’, then things might change! In other words, sin has got to be at the root of all this and sin is dealt with by repentance and living a righteous life. Well, yes, that is true generally – but it’s NOT here! Testing in a trial is not necessarily about sin. Here it’s about character!

The second part of this mechanistic or automatic mentality is the “then” part. If you will do that Job, THEN the Lord will do this: “he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place. Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.” If you repent and sort your life out, the Lord will come to you and restore you and make you prosperous again. Well, yes, He’s going to do that anyway, but it’s not a case of repentance needed; it’s what He’s got on His heart to do (see end of book) and He’s going to do it anyway!

Do you see the message that keeps on coming through? Our faith is not a mechanistic thing, it is a relationship with the living God, and He will do what He will do. Yes, it will be completely in line with His character, but that is far more than about rule keeping. Check out your faith to ensure you are not a mechanistic rule keeper, otherwise you will find yourself in trouble one of these days when you are being tried and tested on your knowledge of His love for you.

(For the month of August this year, we will probably take a rest from posting blogs regularly on this site but intend restarting in early September. This will, therefore, be the last in this series for the moment.)

20. Why bother with us?

The Anguish of Job – Meditation 20

Job 7:7 What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention

I have read modern atheists who cry almost exactly the same thing as Job cries here. They ask why an Almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise God should bother with such puny creatures as we human beings, who must appear as ants to Him. They ask the question out of a lack of understanding that is built on their desire to prove that He is not there. Job asked it when he wants to know why God should ensure that his life carries on when he would much rather die. That is the context of this verse. Why do you bother with mankind like you do is the question that flows out of his plaintive cries.

But our verse above is only half of the question: “What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, that you examine him every morning and test him every moment?” Do you see what Job is saying? Why is it that I seem to be under your spotlight? Why does it have to be that every moment of my present being has to feel like a test from you? Because it is, Job! That is exactly what it is. I’m sorry it is so painful but that is the very nature of such a test. The whole world is looking on and watching to see how you will respond in this test, and I have complete confidence that you will come through with flying colours!

But Job doesn’t have that revelation. We rarely do when we find ourselves in the midst of a test of faith. That is what faith is all about. That’s why Paul contrasted it with ‘sight’: “We live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 6:7). If the Lord has explained to Job what was going to happen and why, it wouldn’t be a test. If you know what’s going in the life situation, it’s not a faith thing. Remember the writer to the Hebrews when he said, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Heb 11:1). This is one of THE major characteristics of the Christian life that many Christians aren’t aware of – that our walk is one where one half of it is with our feet on the material earth, and the other half is us living in communion with the unseen God and an unseen world.

So, our cynic might say, is this world just one great laboratory for God and we are just rats in his laboratory and we are being ‘conditioned’ how to live? No, that is a very poor analogy. Consider Paul’s comment to the church at Rome : “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” (Rom 8:19). This is what is going on.

In the midst of a sinful fallen world, there are individuals who come out of the dark, responding to the call from above, who receive the light and become light and who stand out. Listen to Paul again: “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Phil 2:14,15). There it is again.

Yes, and remember one of the verses we briefly looked at yesterday: “through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,” (Eph 3:10). As the spiritual world looks on, they watch to see how we respond to the harshness of this fallen world, and they marvel and wonder when they see us cope with the enabling of the grace of God. This is the perspective that we need to hold on to.

But Job doesn’t have this perspective yet! How can he, he’s a forerunner. He hasn’t The Book, he hasn’t the revelation of the Son of God. If some are right and this is one of the oldest books of the Bible, then he hasn’t even a glimmering of the revelation that comes with the history of Israel. That’s why he cries out, “Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant?” (v.19) No, he doesn’t know about the terrible existence of hell where the wonderful presence of God is unknown. He doesn’t realise that it is only God’s presence that brings us life and sustains us and brings all that is good. He continues: “If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you?” (v.20). OK, he says, it’s possible that I am less than perfect, but it hasn’t been against you, so why have you come back on me? In his integrity he is sure that he hasn’t spoken or acted against God. It may be that he has unconsciously and unwittingly sinned but it wasn’t against God, so why is the Lord pursuing him? Have I become a burden to you? How can I a mere man be a burden to you who are Almighty God?

“Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.” (v.21) I believe you are a God who forgives sin otherwise I wouldn’t have offered sacrifices to cover my children. You know I offer sacrifices and you can see that I’m in no state to offer them at the moment, but you know my heart, so why don’t you just forgive me, get it over with and let me die, then we’ll all be happy. Well that’s not exactly what he says but that is the sentiment that is here.

Within that cry there is a great deal of understanding. He realises that sins can be atoned for, and that God’s forgiveness is forthcoming, that it is something that the Lord wants to do. Because he can’t see the big picture, and possibly because of Eliphaz’s words, he has ‘the sin problem’ in the back of his mind. It’s what we fallen human beings do; we feel guilty because ultimately we know we are. Maturity and revelation bring us to the place when we realise that God is more concerned to deal with it than we are!

Job is being squeezed by the circumstances like we might squeeze an orange, and this is all about seeing what comes out! How about you and me? What comes out when we are squeezed by circumstances? Remember, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.”

19. Out of Hopelessness

The Anguish of Job – Meditation 19

Job 7:11 Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

We said the other day, that not only is the book of Job about the testing of Job, but it was also the testing of the friends – AND it tests us. Jesus, in his teaching, indicated that how people responded to him, revealed the state of their hearts before God. How could any person with a good heart before God criticise Jesus when he did so much good, healing the sick, delivering the possessed and raising the dead. How could any righteous person criticise his teaching. No, the critics revealed the state of their hearts. It’s the same for a person who criticises a beautiful piece of music and reveals they have no music in their soul, or the person who criticises a wonderful work of art, who shows they have no comprehension of beauty or art. No, we are revealed by our responses, and Job reveals our state of heart more than most people in the Bible.

If you have come to these readings and find yourself criticising Job, you simply tell me that you have led a sheltered life and have never been through trying circumstances. People who have ‘been through the mill’, people who have been crushed by the adversities of life, tend to be people of understanding, people of gentle spirit, people of compassion. If you have missed out on the anguishes of life, be thankful. Give thanks for the Lord’s goodness that you have known. If you have walked the corridors of darkness, thank the Lord that He has brought you through, a tried and tested and purified person – and feel for Job!

Remember Job has already expressed something of what he feels: life is just one long ongoing blur of pain with no hope of anything good at the end of it, just death. In other words, as we’ve noted previously, it has imposed on him a sense of utter hopelessness. So, can we understand, that it is because he feels hopeless (no sense of a future) that he speaks intemperately. At the beginning of our verse today is that crucial word, “Therefore”. It says that as a result of all that has gone before (which we’ve just looked at) he’s not going to keep quiet, but he’s going to let out all the anguish, pain and frustration that he feels inside. He is going to speak out of the anguish of my spirit, and because he feels there is a cause to be addressed, he says he will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Note the word ‘complain’. When we have a complaint, we feel there is something wrong that needs putting right, and we do it by complaining to whoever it is who has the power to correct it. Obviously here, God has the power to do that! So he’s going to talk to the Lord about it.

Let’s see the beginning of his complaint: “Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard?” (v.12) Solomon spoke about the Lord who, “gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command,” (Prov 8:28). The picture is of the Lord limiting the extent of the sea to give mankind land to live upon. Without restraint the oceans are dangerous and destructive. Similarly some of the great sea creatures are dangerous if unrestrained by the sea. Thus Job is complaining as if to say, “Excuses me, but am I dangerous that I need reigning in by suffering?”

Then he continues as if to say, “Yet, look at what you’ve made me. Was this necessary?” (implied) : “When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions.” (v.13,14). He’s saying, “Look I am a physical wreck. When I feel so weak that I collapse on my bed and try to sleep, all that happens is that you seem to give me nightmares! There is no respite, awake or asleep!” And the result? Anything is better than this! “so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I would not live forever.” (v.15,16a). This is what it’s come to; this anguish is so great and there seems no possible end, he would rather someone came along and killed him.

Earlier on, in his initial lament, he cried out against the fact that it seemed that his life was being prolonged instead of being allowed to die, so now he concludes, “Let me alone; my days have no meanin.” (v.16b) From his terrible perspective he can see no point whatsoever to what is happening and so he wants the Lord to leave him alone and let him die but, as we observed previously, he has only partial vision, he can only see a part of the whole thing. He doesn’t realise that all of heaven is looking on and watching to see if he will uphold the Lord’s faith in him, because that is what this is all about. The Lord trusts Job to come through this well, just like us today, the church: “through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,” (Eph 3:10) The way we respond on earth to such trials, can bring glory to God as the heavenly watchers see God’s grace in us.

Don’t be surprised at how Job is responding because he is under the worst forms of suffering possible. Remember that even Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane shied away from the ordeal in front of him: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” (Mt 26:39). We are dealing with natural human responses here and, yes, today we can take comfort in the revelation that we now have that. “my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:19), but that doesn’t mean that it’s not an ordeal, and Job didn’t have that revelation yet. No, Job only has half a picture – the bad half – and it seems hopeless. He can’t see the end of the story where he will be completely restored. That’s the trouble, so often, we can’t see the end of the episode through which we are going. If we could it might help considerably. The writer to the Hebrews referred to Jesus, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross.” (Heb 12:2). Jesus totally trusted everything he knew about his Father, that the end of this was going to be great joy in heaven, which is why, in Gethsemane, he concluded that earlier prayer with, “ Yet not as I will, but as you will .” (Mt 26:39). For us today, with the revelation we have, we must trust to the knowledge that “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8) and that, “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28 ). We have all these helps today. Job didn’t have. Job is walking in virgin territory and it’s difficult for him.

18. Incomplete Vision

The Anguish of Job – Meditation 18

Job 7:6,7 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again.

I have observed something to do with our weather: when it has been raining solidly for two weeks, you just can’t imagine it stopping and tomorrow being sunny. I’ve also noticed a similar perception to do with our life circumstances. I remember a couple of Christians who had some neighbours who were totally hostile to them. This hostility carried on for years and they gave up believing it could ever be any different, and then one day suddenly the wife from next door paused up, on the way down the path, and spoke to one of my friends quite civilly and pleasantly. Suddenly it seemed, the ice was broken. In each situation we find ourselves confronted by circumstances that just go on and on and which, we feel, can never end. The apparent impossibility of it all, and the ongoingness of it, shuts down our thinking and our vision is limited, so we stop believing.

This is actually a very important thing to understand because it is something that many people struggle with, probably not being aware of what is happening. The person whose father beat them and abused them as a child, is locked into negative thinking when they think of God as a Father. They cannot comprehend the concept of a loving heavenly Father because of what their memories tell them. They have an incomplete vision. The person who has been through a harsh life, often feels negative towards God, not understanding that He yearned to help them. Instead they look back over the years and deny God can be a God of love. In these various ways we operate under an incomplete or limited vision of reality. We only see part of it.

Anguish crushes, distorts and twists our understanding and we lose contact with reality. What Job feels is not reality, but it is because of the terrible anguish he is going through.  Listen: “Does not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired man?” (7:1) Notice that key word, ‘hard’? That reminds us of the third man in Jesus’ parable of the talents, “Then the man who had received the one talent came. `Master,’ he said, `I knew that you are a hard man.” (Mt 25:24). It’s a hard world because He’s a hard God, is the mentality (wrong mentality) of some. In the midst of pain and anguish we only see a hard world and forget the good times, the times of the happy family, of the good harvest and the great achievements.

He continues, “Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages, so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me.” (v.2,3) He compares himself with a slave longing for the day’s drudgery to end, or the hired man waiting until the moment when the work finishes and he can receive his pay. He sees his present experience as an ongoing, unending period that is futile and hopeless, filled with ongoing misery. It just goes on and on: “When I lie down I think, `How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss till dawn.” (v.4) There’s an experience many of us can empathise with, the night(s) when we’ve found ourselves fully awake and then the night just seems to drag on and on and on until eventually, after an eternity, dawn comes.

But it’s worse than that: “My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering.” (v.5). It’s not sleeplessness that is his concern (if only that was all it was!) but this awful physical state of itching, irritation and pain that cannot be escaped. It is a horrible ongoing experience, “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.” (v.6). The days come and go, come and go, almost as a blur and he wonders will there ever be an end, and if there is, it is one without hope. That’s what this ongoing anguish does for you; it drains away all hope!

Then he cries out directly to the Lord: “Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath.” (v.7a). It’s like he says, Lord, why are you bothering with me, for my life is so fleeting, I’ll soon be gone, and he concludes, “my eyes will never see happiness again.” (v.7b). In the midst of the anguish it seems that this is all it can ever be. Indeed there is no hope of anything more, ever again. This life is transient, so fleeting, he thinks, “The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more. As a cloud vanishes and is gone.” (v.8,9a). Fleeting and hopeless and no future: “ so he who goes down to the grave does not return. He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.” (v.9b,10) That’s it! The end!

If we’ve never been in this place, perhaps we find it difficult to grasp the awfulness of it. Read again Job’s words that we have recorded and commented upon here. In the midst of this terrible anguish, life seems a terribly hard experience (and that is all there is!) and so he just longs for it to come to an end, but the end he has in mind is not a recovery, not a restoration; it is merely death. (He doesn’t have the privilege of hope, of there being a good outcome). This life on one hand seems to drag on and on and on, and yet on the other it just seems so transient. As the end approaches, all he can see is death and then he will be gone.

This is indeed an incomplete vision! As the apostle Paul faced death again and again, he concluded, “our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Phil 3:20,21). But that is the eternal future. For the present he was able to go on and say, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4:13) and “my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:19). This was a man who could testify, “as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger …dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” (2 Cor 6:4-10). This man walked a different path to Job yet it was often a path of anguish, but this man knew a Saviour who provided for him in the midst of the anguish. May we be the same!

17. Needs within Despair

The Anguish of Job – Meditation 17

Job 6:14 A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

Our opening verse today sums up what follows. Job has just expressed his sense if inability to help himself. This is an important point for those of us who would call ourselves ‘friends’ or even ‘comforters’. In the depths of despair, our friend feels utterly unable to do anything about it. I have rarely experienced depression, but on the odd occasion when it has occurred, I have been aware that there was no point someone saying to me, “Come on, snap out of it!” You just feel utterly incapable of doing anything that will change what you feel. Now that may not be so in reality but that is what you ‘feel’ at that point. Job identifies himself as a ‘despairing man’. That is what he feels – despair – a sense of utter loss and hopelessness. Have you realised that these studies are not only about how to be a comforter, but also about the depths that human experience can go to?

What is Job’s primary need in this state of despair? Devotion of his friends! What does devotion mean in this context? It means stick-ability! The ability to stay close to our friend! Now that needs thinking about. Our friend has gone down into the depths of despair and they feel alone, utterly isolated in their blackness. What they need is a sense of someone alongside them, there in the blackness, someone who understands it and is there for them, utterly accepting and without judgment. I have commented before about a girl I knew who was in the depths of mental illness, in the blackness of utter confusion, and yet, as I related to her, I sensed the presence of the Lord with her, right there in the midst of that confusion, a loving, caring and accepting Presence, there for her. Can we be Jesus to our friend in these circumstances? Only with the grace and enabling of God!

That is what Job needs, but what has he received? See how he continues. He paints a vivid picture: “But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow, but that cease to flow in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.” (v.15-17) Oh, what a condemnation of us perhaps! My brothers are undependable. Job wants people he can depend upon, people who will always be there for him, but they are not like that, these ‘friends’. They are, he says, like streams that get filled and deep in the winter but in the summer dry up and disappear.

He paints the picture some more: “Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go up into the wasteland and perish. The caravans of Tema look for water, the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.” (v.18,19) He imagines Arab caravans in the wilderness, searching desperately for water in these streams, but there is done, just like he’s searching desperately for a life-giving resource in his friends. He sees how those Arab traders respond to their plight: “They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed,” (v.20) just like he had been. When his friends had turned up there had been confident hope, but as Eliphaz started out, he was disappointed. He concludes: “Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.” (v.21). They had come and seen him and saw him as ‘ something dreadful’ and their hearts fell and they were fearful. What, they thought, had happened to him? What had God done to him? And they jumped to wrong conclusions.

As he thinks about this, he muses, what have I ever asked from you except simple friendship: “Have I ever said, `Give something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth, deliver me from the hand of the enemy, ransom me from the clutches of the ruthless’?” (v.22,23). Had he ever made demands of them that required them to pay out, or come to his aid against enemies? No, never. He only asked for simple, accepting friendship. Look, he says, I’m open for you to show me if I am genuinely wrong: “Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.” (v.24). I realise that honest words can be painful, but I’ve listened to what you’ve said and you prove nothing: “How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove?” (v.25) Why are you bothering to try and correct the words of a despairing man, words which you want to write off as just meaningless like wind : “Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind?” (v.26). This seems so heartless that you give me the impression that, “You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend.” (v.27).

And then he makes a final plea: “But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face?” (v.28) Please, look me in the face. I’m trying to be honest, I wouldn’t lie to you, I would tell you if I had sinned (implied). He goes on, “Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.” (v.29). Please, step back from this stand you’ve taken against me, be fair, because this is my integrity and my reputation you are talking about here. And finally, “Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice?” (v.30) Please, listen carefully. Am I saying anything that is patently wicked? Have I not always been careful what I say, please be gentle with me!

These are the pleas of this man of integrity whose only ‘sin’ is to be in the midst of immense suffering for apparently no reason. The reason, as we had the privilege of seeing, is that he is going through God’s testing process, but it’s a process that doesn’t only test him; it also tests his three friends! If we are such a ‘friend’ we need to realise that when our friends are in trouble, it is also a test for us!

16. Fruits of Anguish

The Anguish of Job – Meditation 16

Job 6:1-3 Then Job replied: “If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas

Eliphaz has come to the end of his first speech and it is left to Job to make a comment. He doesn’t initially make any reply but just reiterates what he feels about his state. Understand that a person in this sort of anguish can’t focus on anything other than the pain they are suffering. Foolishly I used to think that going into hospital must be a good opportunity to rest up and read and seek God. However, I’ve learnt that sick people aren’t in any state to feel anything other than their pain or anguish. If you haven’t been there, keep quiet, don’t make any rash comments. In sickness, pain and anguish you are in no state to seek God; perhaps that is why so much of Jesus’ ministry was about healing people. In the past I have experienced back pain or tooth-ache and just didn’t know where to put myself. In the back pain I did learn to call out to the Lord, but the tooth ache was so bad you could hardly do that. Pain does do its work in our sanctification and part of that may just be to realise He IS with you, but never romanticise it for it goes against everything our bodies tell us.

Job focuses on his anguish. He imagines his anguish being weighed and says it is so great it would outweigh the sand of every beach in the world. A powerful picture to convey it, but that’s what he feels. But look what he next says: “no wonder my words have been impetuous.” (v.3b) Wow! There is self-knowledge here in the midst of his anguish. He realises that he is being hasty in the way he has spoken – but that is what extreme anguish does for you! It is not an excuse but a reason why he has spoken as he has. Then he continues, “The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshalled against me.” (v.4) He attributes what is happening to the Lord, for the Lord is sovereign so it must ultimately be down to Him. He is not railing against God when he says this; it is just a statement of fact. What has happened to him operates like poison in him and pulls him down so that he feels afraid.

He uses a further analogy to describe what is happening: “Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder?” (v.5). What is he saying? He says that animals don’t make plaintive sounds when they are well fed, the implication being that they do when they are in lack. He is suggesting that it is natural to cry out in distress when you are suffering like he is. Even those with testimonies of receiving God’s grace when they have suffered terrible injuries also testify that initially they cry out in anguish, “Why me? Why me, God?” It is natural to go through that phase.

He continues: “Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavour in the white of an egg? I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill.” (v.6,7) Look, he says, you don’t receive and eat tasteless or unpleasant food without some flavouring added. The implication is that the words of his first friend have been like tasteless food – unpalatable. There may have been truth there but there was no grace to make it easier to take.

Then he returns to what he has said in chapter 3: “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off!” (v.8,9) He doesn’t want to argue; he just wishes God would end it by taking him off this planet. That’s how desperate he is feeling. Never under-estimate how bad someone in this position is feeling. But then he reveals a fear of what could happen through this trial: “Then I would still have this consolation– my joy in unrelenting pain– that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.” (v.10). If the Lord took him then, even in the pain, he would have joy in knowing that he had not denied his Lord. That is the fear that he has, that somehow in the ‘impetuous’ words (v.3b above) he might deny the Lord. He would rather die than that. Wow! How many of us could say that? He realises that in his pain and anguish he is weak and vulnerable and in that weakness and in that vulnerability he could speak wrongly about God, and he doesn’t want to do that.

We see in this an uncomfortable truth, that very often it takes trying circumstances to bring out of us the truth of what we are really like or, to put it the other way round, we are revealed as we truly are only through the pressure of bad circumstances. At the time of Jesus’ trial, the disciples (and we’d probably have been the same) revealed their immaturity in the way they didn’t cope with his arrest, trial and execution. How different were their reactions later in life when, taught, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ten of the remaining ‘twelve’ gave their lives for their Lord. We’re all going to die one day; can we come to a place where the way we die glorifies our Lord?

There is some more to come that reveals Job’s self-knowledge: “What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?” (v.11). He would love to be able to stand strongly for his Lord but he is aware that he has no strength and so seems to have no hope of enduring gracefully, and having no hope it seems he has no motivation to be patient to wait for God’s deliverance. He is aware of his weakness and his need of help if he is to stand, but he questions whether he can, which is why he wants God to end it and take him soon. He expands on this: “Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?” (v.12,13). He realistically looks at himself and says, I’m not stone, I’m not metal, I’m just flesh and blood, feeling utterly powerless, because all that I knew and got my strength from has been taken. I am now nothing. There is here a realization within him of his natural helplessness; he’s been brought to the end of himself. He faces death and relishes it. That’s what it’s like in such circumstances and it can only be God who brings resurrection life and hope.

If we are comforters, realise that hope only comes when God makes His presence known in the face of such terrible circumstances. We can speak the words, we can recite the Scriptures, but in the face of death, hope this side of the grave is almost entirely absent – until the Lord speaks and comes. We can counsel people, speak words of encouragement to people but, ultimately, they need a touch or a word from the Lord. Our role is simply to be channels of that contact.

15. Discipline

The Anguish of Job – Meditation 15

Job 5:17 “Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty

Oh no! Does Job need to hear this in his anguish? Although the cane was still in use in my school days, fortunately I never received it. I received clips round the ear, detentions and, on one occasion a visit to the headmaster’s study, but never the cane, I’m glad to say. Punishment is unpleasant. It’s supposed to be; it’s supposed to deter us and put us off doing something or of doing it again. Ultimately it is to bring about a change in behaviour in us – and it’s not pleasant!

Now correction is something that arises often in Scripture, for example, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16,17) Yes, that is in one of the more famous verses of the New Testament. God’s word sometimes has to rebuke or tell us off, correct or put right our thinking or behaviour, and train us or bring about changes in us. That is what correction, training and discipline is all about. Solomon was very strong on it: “he who hates correction is stupid.” (Prov 12:1). Why is that? It is because sin in us warps our thinking, distorts our perception, creates off-kilter attitudes, and leads us into silly patterns of behaviour, and none of those things do us any good. We need to change but another facet of sin is that it doesn’t like being told what to do, so we need God’s help to change.

So here is Eliphaz still beating up on Job. We’ve said a number of times already that he is basically judging Job and assuming that his plight is to do with sin. The implication of this verse today is that, “Of course you are a sinner and so God is having to beat it out of you with harsh circumstances, so think well of what is happening to you!” But of course, again as we’ve said several times, that isn’t what this is all about. If you can narrow it down to a tight description, we might simply say that God is testing Job’s resolve and his faithfulness and, no doubt, giving him a number of lessons along the way.

Eliphaz is very positive about it though. Yes you are a sinner and God is correcting you, but correction always has a good outcome; that is the gist of what follows. Listen to him: “For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.” (v.18). It’s all right, he says, He may have wounded you, but He’ll also heal you up afterwards. Well that happens to be true, but for the moment it’s not a great deal of help! He continues: “From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will befall you. In famine he will ransom you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword.” (v.19,20) The ‘six’ and ‘seven’ usage was a cultural way of saying ‘many’ or ‘lots of’. In other words lots of things can go wrong but he will rescue you and save you from harm, keeping you from death. Yes, but Job wants to die! That’s how bad he feels. This may be true but it doesn’t make Job feel better!

See how he continues: “You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes. You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth.” (v.21,22) Yes, he says, when it goes bad God will protect you from the gossips and you won’t go to the same destruction. You can laugh at death. Well, yes again, that is true, but you actually need to get God’s grace to cope like that. You can’t do it on your own, so perhaps a nice act here by Eliphaz would be to say, “I feel with you in your anguish. May I pray for you that either God will release you from it or give you grace to cope with it, because I don’t know that I would be able to cope in your shoes without his help?”

Then he goes on: “For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you. You will know that your tent is secure; you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.” (v.23,24). Perhaps we might put that, “You will be at peace living in God’s world and know that your home will be secure and everything you own will be secure.” What! Just a minute! Job has just had his home taken and his flocks taken and his family taken! So what is Eliphaz saying? Once you have been disciplined and straightened out, this is how things will be. Right! Thanks!

He finishes off: “You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth. You will come to the grave in full vigor, like sheaves gathered in season.” (v.25,26) Yes, this only confirms what we’ve just said. Once God has sorted you out, everything will be wonderful again. Implication: you’re in a mess and need God’s discipline to sort you out – THEN everything will be fine again. And this man is a friend????

But how often do we deal with people like this? How often do we point fingers? Someone has said the Christian army is the only army that shoots its soldiers when they are down. That was not how Paul saw it. We’ve seen it before; let’s see it again: “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Gal 6:1-3). If Eliphaz had been in Job’s shoes, I wonder how he would want to have been treated? Line on line here, Eliphaz is revealing his ignorance of the true facts of the situation and is just piling up more and more evidence of his own spiritual poverty. Jesus reached over and touched the leper (Lk 5:13). If only Eliphaz could have touched Job meaningfully. If only people would ‘touch’ me meaningfully when I’m down, if only I could always ‘touch’ people meaningfully when they are down, what a different church it would be!

14. Dubious Counsel

The Anguish of Job – Meditation 14

Job 5:8 But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.

Perhaps it is important that we remind ourselves of Job’s state of mind before we consider Eliphaz’s counsel. Remember that, after all his possessions and family were taken, Job’s response was, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (1:21) That was a marvellous illustration of someone who just submits themselves to God’s sovereign will because God knows best and we have no claim on any possessions. Then came the bodily affliction and when his wife provokes him, his reply was simply, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (2:10) and the record states, “In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.” (2:10b) Yes, after that Job had rued the day he had been born and the fact that he continues to live while in such pain, discomfort and anguish, but in no way is he chiding God and he has very little over which to repent.

Now all that needed saying if we are to see the import of our verse today: I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. In itself, on its own, it looks quite simple and acceptable. It is going to lead into talk about God’s discipline and it follows talk that infers Job has blown it, so in fact it is actually a suggestion that Job should repent and call on God for forgiveness but, as we’ve just seen, that’s not what is needed and the bigger picture shows than this was not all about Job’s sin, but simply about testing Job’s faithfulness.

Does Job need to appeal to God? Does he need to lay his cause before Him? Job has already declared his acceptance of God’s will in the opening chapters. He has accepted that for whatever reason this has come from God and God’s will is supreme so there is nothing more to be said. Eliphaz doesn’t agree. He thinks Job needs to be crying out to God. This is a crucial point here.  Job is most unusual in that the Scriptural record declares a) he was an upright man, and b) he rested in God’s sovereign will.  Now perhaps we might concede that it is natural in such circumstances to want relief (which chapter 3 shows Job clearly wants) and to ask God for mercy to relieve him of this affliction, but that is the most that can be said with what we know about him and the origins of this situation. Yet those don’t seem to be the grounds that are in Eliphaz’s mind when he talks about appealing to God. He is still on the ’sin-judgment-discipline’ train of thought which is clearly not a right path.

His approach here also needs comment: But if it were I, I would….. What he is saying is, “You are doing this, but I would do that,” which is another way of gently saying, “I think you are wrong. I think you are in the wrong and I think you need to change and do something about that.” However you look at it, it is a subtle challenge to Job’s position and Job’s beliefs.  It is saying, “From my standpoint I see it like this…. and I realise that that isn’t how you see it.”  That’s what this sort of language says.  It is the language of gentle conflict rather than loving acceptance.  It is the language of one who wants to put another straight, bring correction to his wrong way of thinking and wrong beliefs.  It may be gentle but it is still that.

Now it would be unfair not to mention the verses that follow, where Eliphaz speaks of the faithfulness of the Lord.  He is using it as a means of persuading Job to face up to his errors and confess and repent.  God is good, so you can trust him to respond well to your repentance, is really what he is saying in the following verses. There are some subtle implications behind it all though, which bear considering.

• “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. He bestows rain on the earth; he sends water upon the countryside.” (v.9,10) i.e. God is great and all powerful and a wonderful provider. It’s all right, Job, He’s a good God.

• “The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.” (v.11,12) i.e. He cares for the lowly and those who mourn but is not fooled by the crafty who He deals with and sorts out. If you are lowly, Job, He will lift you,  but if you play crafty with Him, He will deal with you.

• “He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away. Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night.” (v.13,14) Hmmmm! He will deal with those who are not straight forward with Him, so you’d better be upfront with God now, Job.

• “He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth .” (v.15,16) Hmmm again! Yes, He does look after the needy and the poor. Is this an implication that, because He doesn’t appear to be looking after you Job, you aren’t the poor and needy and this is judgment on your affluence?

It is difficult to assess the truth of what Eliphaz is getting at here (which is why commentators vary) but it does seem that he is speaking truth about God in such a way that it could possibly condemn Job.  How much better to have said, “Job, I don’t understand all that is happening to you, but one thing I do know, and that is that God does love you,” but Eliphaz hasn’t had that revelation yet (as many of us still haven’t!), and so all he is left with is truths applied in a negative way.  May we be those who can pick one another up with an acknowledgement of our own frailty and the simple reminder that God does love us, even if we can’t see how the present circumstances reveal that.

13. Troubled mankind

The Anguish of Job – Meditation 13

Job 5:7 Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

As we start in chapter five, Eliphaz continues to roll out his world view that he uses to seek to bring Job to a place of repentance. The only trouble is, as we’ve seen from the early chapters, this isn’t about Job’s sin. He hasn’t sinned. For some of us, the idea that a person hasn’t sinned causes a difficulty. Recently I was in a conference where the speaker asked us, “Who here hasn’t sinned today.” Not wanting to cause an upset I kept quiet, but my heart said, “I haven’t, or at least I have not been conscious of sinning. If I had, if the Holy Spirit had convicted me of a wrong thought, word or action, I would have repented of it, but that had not happened. Do we struggle over this? The apostle John said, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.” (1 Jn 2:1). Most of the time we should not be sinning as children of God led by His Spirit but, yes, there will certainly be occasional times when we will get it wrong and need to repent.

So Eliphaz continues: “Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?” (v.1) Which angel can you call upon who will side with you and listen to you, knowing you are in the wrong (implied). That’s what he is saying. How different from today when we know we have an advocate. The apostle John who we quoted above continued, “But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (1 Jn 2:1b) Isn’t that wonderful! Jesus who is seated at his Father’s right hand speaks up for us when we get it wrong, because he’s died in our place to deal with that particular sin!

Then Eliphaz brings more oblique criticism: “Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.” (v.2) He is obliquely warning Job against feeling resentful and implies if he does get resentful about what is happening to him he reveals himself as a fool and will be killed by that resentment. If Job feel envious about his friends who aren’t suffering as he is, that too will be destructive. More and more oblique condemnation! This is not what Job needs to hear, but perhaps it is all part of the testing process that he is going through. Eliphaz’s condemnation continues as he brings authority to what he’s just said: “I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed. His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.” (v.3,4) Surely this has got to apply directly to Job. It is too close to what has happened to be coincidence. Could Eliphaz have two people of acquaintance whose family appears to have been cursed and crushed? Again he is indirectly implying that Job is a fool. Not nice!

Then he turns to an analogy based on what he has seen, upon this very situation: “The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.” (v.5). Yes, when this rich man is brought down the poor and needy swarm in and “consume his harvest” and grab for everything there is. Everything of his is up for grabs. But why is he saying this? Because he wants to apply it in his analogy: “For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.” (v.6) When these people come and plunder the rich man’s harvest, it’s not the soil or the harvest that cause the hardship or even the people taking the harvest that is just lying there in the fields. No, that came before. The hardship and trouble was caused by sin (implied). “A man reaps what he sows.” (Gal 6:7). That is true. Sin does bring its own harvest, but you can have trouble without having sinned and that is what this whole story is all about and Eliphaz doesn’t understand that because a) he hasn’t been in the courts of heaven to see what caused all this and b) he has this simplistic view of sin and judgment that is not the whole picture.

He concludes this part with that verse that is so well known that we have at the start of our meditation: “Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.” It is so simple this philosophy. In the same way that sparks from a fire naturally go up in the heat, so it is natural for any human being to suffer. Suffering, says this doctrine, is a natural part of human life. And there we have a half truth. Yes, we live in a fallen world where sin and its effects prevail and so we suffer, but that is only half of the picture. The other half is that we have a loving God who sends a Saviour for us, to help us, deliver us, life us, encourage us, heal us, and generally bless us.

Yes, get all miserable about the tough world in which we live in if you have to, but the picture is far bigger! That is a godless picture left like that, but this world is not God-less, this is His world and He is here with us in it! He is here to redeem us and deliver us in it. Sometimes He redeems us by delivering us out of this world into the next (e.g. James Acts 12:2), and sometimes He delivers us from death and prison in this world (e.g. Peter – Acts 12:5-11). Sometimes he brings healing and deliverance (e.g. man at Gate beautiful – Acts 3) and sometimes He asks us to live with it (Paul – 2 Cor 12:7-9). Sometimes He calls for us to die as martyrs (ten of ‘the twelve’) and sometimes He grants us to die of old age (the apostle John). Don’t try and make a doctrine out of what God will do, because He’s not a machine. He decides on the basis of His wisdom, what is the right thing in every situation, and it will be unique for that situation – but He will be there for us working for our good in it (Rom 8:28). That is the wonder of this story and of our lives, God is there in the background working out His purposes and they are for our good.

I wonder, when we get to heaven, if we encountered Job, what he would say to us? Wow, yes, it was tough for a few days (weeks or months?) and the anguish was almost unbearable, but actually I had an encounter with God like I’d never had before and I was a different man afterwards and it was good. But that is all yet to come. For the moment Job is having to tolerate pain and anguish – and a ‘friend’ with some unhelpful religion! We need the bigger picture, Eliphaz! Trouble isn’t all there is!

12. A Dubious Vision

The Anguish of Job – Meditation 12

Job 4:12-15 “A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it. Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.

The area that Eliphaz moves into next will certainly upset some people. I mean, “A spirit glided past my face”, what us that about???? Some will write this off as just some weird thing because “there can’t be any such communication with ‘the other side’” while other will uncritically accept it and say, “Great!! Both are wrong and we need to be wise and understanding of the truth. The apostle John wrote, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 Jn 4:1). In other words, says John, check out these strange things. Don’t take them automatically as something from God.

When we find ourselves with this sort of situation, we need to check the nature of the experience, check the content of the message and check the outcome or fruit of what it says and how it leaves us feeling. Let’s do that here.

First let’s check the experience itself. Amid disquieting dreams in the night. He starts off from a place of apparent nightmares. Not a good place to start from if you are discussing revelations from God, an indication of a mind not at rest. But then, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. This wasn’t in response to a revelation from God, this was just a feeling of dread. Something nasty was happening. Now certainly in Scripture when the Lord reveals Himself there is often ‘the fear of the Lord’ because He is awesome, but fear that is disassociated from revelation is concerning. Then we find, A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. That is quite a different experience from anything else we find in Scripture. Dreams or visions are almost quite normal in the Bible but one of the things about such things that bring revelation is that although they come bringing divinely supernatural revelation, in the way they come they tend to be quite ordinary. This is not an ‘ordinary’ experience. Is every mystical experience of God? Definitely not! Even angels in Scripture are sometimes so ordinary that they are mistaken for ordinary men.

Let’s look next at the content of this apparent revelation. “Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?” (v.17) Excuse me? Is there any question of this? Why was this spirit saying this to Eliphaz? Was it to pass on to Job (there is not mention of that guidance) or was it just to confirm Eliphaz in his wrong thinking? The enemy loves to encourage us and confirm us in our wrong thinking! Is there anyone involved saying that God is not righteous? Is there anyone saying that they are more righteous than the Lord? This sounds like a put-down of mankind. Why? Certainly the Lord is above question; of that there is no doubt. Let’s see where it goes. “If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error” (v.18). Where did this come from? Is that true? Does God not trust any of His angels? Surely He does for He sends them out as messengers. Who has He charged with error? Which angel? Well, Satan. Ah, this sounds like sour grapes then. Is this an indication of where this ‘message’ originates? How does it continue: “how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!” (v.19). So, it appears to be saying, if some angels fell of the rails and received God’s censure, how much more will human beings whose lives are very transient and so easily destroyed? That is a real put-down view of humanity. You are weak and you are failures and you are easily crushed. That almost sounds mocking. How does that line up with Scripture? Is this really how God feels about mankind?

“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule.” (Gen 1:26). That’s our starting place – made in the image of God. Listen to how David, the man after God’s own heart saw us: “what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet” (Psa 8:4-6) That is not a negative put-down view of mankind. That says that we have tremendous potential. Yes, mankind has sinned, yes mankind has fallen, yet God has not written mankind off. Remember the most famous verse in the New Testament: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16). ‘The world’ here refers to the people of the earth. God doesn’t have a pessimistic view of mankind, He loves us and that is why He sent Jesus. What does He offer us? Eternal life, a life in eternity with Him!

Finally, what is the fruit of this ‘word’? Well for Eliphaz it is a confirmation that man is weak, man is a failure, man has no hope and man is a sinner who deserves God’s judgment. Now of course all that is true but it is only half the picture as we’ve just noted above, and so if you dump someone with just this half of the picture you’re going to leave them feeling pretty down. Does this word bring Job closer to the Lord? No it makes him feel worse. It just confirms he is doomed. Listen, by contrast to what Paul taught about prophecy from the Lord: “everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.” (1 Cor 14:3) Wow! That IS different! If it was a word from the Lord it would have strengthened, encouraged and comforted Job – but it didn’t!

What are the basic lessons here? First, don’t accept every weird and wonderful experience or word as from the Lord. Check it out. Check out the circumstances of how it came, check it out against Scripture to see if it conforms to the overall picture and, finally, check it out to see the fruit or effect of it. Does it bring repentance which releases life, joy and hope, and does it simply build up and encourage. Those are fruits to be looked for. If it pulls down, condemns and makes the person feel bad, throw it away. God is in the business of bringing life not condemnation (Rom 8:1). Don’t let legalistic, doom bringers bring you down. Jesus has come to set us free from our sin, our guilt and our shame, not to rub our noses in it! Hallelujah!