5.19 Job 4-7

Deb Monroe

5.19.2020

Job 4-7

Today’s reading contains Eliphaz’s response to Job’s suffering. Eliphaz tells Job that he must be guilty of sinning and non repentant otherwise God would not have harmed him in this way. Eliphaz says that innocent people are not cut off from God, therefore Job’s trials came about through his own sinful doings. An interesting fact is that Eliphaz is from Temanite, a land known for its wisdom, though Eliphaz has no knowledge of God’s meeting with Satan!

A key verse is Job 4:7. Eliphaz asks “Who being innocent has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?

This reading has changed my view of God because at first sight what Job’s friend says sounds correct, sounds accurate. But God’s ways are above our own. His knowledge is beyond measure and we should think hard before trying to predict him or lay claim to understanding his ways. Indeed He is cloaked in mystery!

For me, I’ve recognized that giving advice or having explanations for other’s trials or blessings is quite premature. I think we can guess about what God may be doing but speaking in absolutes really underestimates God’s power and wisdom! After all, I’m merely human and need to humble about that and remember that He is bigger and beyond my comprehension.

I will go with God but being slower to speak and quicker to listen. I will monitor how I speak and seek to listen to other’s emotions without meeting it with rationality or judgment.

I saw Jesus in the key verse. I see that Jesus was innocent and upright yet his father planned for him to be cut off and perish! God is so wise and omnipotent! He knows all! How can we act as though we know what he is doing?!