Author: Jon Green

In Job 6, Job’s agony spills out of his mouth, unedited and raw. It spills out in response to the calamities he faced, and the pain made worse by the rebuke of his friend Eliphaz.  

Earlier, Eliphaz had criticized Job for being impatient (4:5). He reminded Job that the righteous prosper and the unrighteous don’t (4:7-8). Then, he put out some oversimplified advice that Job should seek God, commit his cause to God, and then he’ll get delivered from his troubles (5:8-27). Eliphaz’s words understandably upset Job even more, and Job expressed his disappointment with his friends (6:15-21) and questioned what exactly Eliphaz’s rebuke was rebuking (6:25). 

If you’re in a valley today, hear the cry of Job’s heart and how the weight he feels is ”heavier than the sand of the sea” (6:3). Job feels he has no strength left to hope anymore and nothing good to be patient for (v. 11). He feels utter hopelessness, and yet God is still in his story.

If you feel like that, you can say it—to God and to others. We don’t have to pretend all is OK to be a real Christian. And you can remember that God is still in your story. You may still be on chapter 6.  He’s knitting all this together (Romans 8:28), even if you hit an all time low. And if you feel like you’ve worn out the ears of your friends, remember that you can call to God in your moaning in the evening and morning and noon, and he hears your voice (Psalm 55:17). And one day, he will wipe every tear from your eyes, and whatever is paining you today will pass away with the old order of things (Revelation 21:4).  When the end isn’t in sight and you don’t know where this is all going, there is still hope when you don’t feel even a little hope anymore. 

Eloquent. Poetic. These words describe the twenty-seven verses that make up the close of Eliphaz’s first response to Job. Eliphaz’s initial thoughts on Job’s lament begin in chapter four, where Eliphaz hypothesizes that Job must have sin in his life because “the Upright do not suffer.” In today’s reading, Eliphaz’s thoughts are continued.  

As readers, we know that Job is not being punished for his sin, so we also know there is nothing he needs to repent for, but his friends do not know that; neither are they able to grasp God’s greater purpose in all of this. They are doing their best to reason with Job to get him to acknowledge God and beg for repentance.  

Story is an effective teaching medium, and Eliphaz uses it to cut to the quick and explain his point. Eliphaz claims to have witnessed the life of a Foolish Man whose house was cursed, whose children suffered injustice, and whose harvest was robbed from him. Sound familiar? If not, this story is eerily like Job’s predicament. One could imagine the hurt Job felt after those words. He might have been so discouraged to the extent that the powerful truths ofEliphaz’s following words might have fallen on deaf ears.  

Eliphaz goes into a magnificent monologue declaring God’s glory and wonder, and lays out a pattern to follow for moments when God feels distant. He first challenges Job to appeal to God. Then he goes on to validate God’s nature by listing some examples of God’s Work; how he performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, how his miracles cannot be counted, how he sets the lowly on high and gives hope to the poor. How great our God is! When we are faced with an impossible situation, our perspective can be radically changed when we look at the record of accomplishment of the Lord Almighty and reflect on his radical and miraculous acts. What he has done before, he is more than able to do again. He is faithful to see ALL his promises through to the end. There is no end to his goodness or his greatness.  

The second point that Eliphaz makes is that those who God corrects are blessed. He takes the next few verses and declares God’s goodness to Job. Eliphaz reminds Job that even though God may wound, he also heals (v. 18); that he will continually rescue in times of hardship; that God protects and provides.  

All that Eliphaz relates to Job regarding God’s nature is abundantly true. His intentions were also good. But unfortunately, the application was lost on Job because it brought no comfort to his afflicted soul. Eliphaz was not aware of the mystery of God’s purpose in allowing all these calamities to befall Job. An important insight to take from this passage is this: Always take time to recognize God’s sovereignty in the confusing moments of life. When we allow ourselves the margin to look at our lives through God’s sovereign plan, we are reminded that we exist for God’s glory, not our own. His plan is perfect and although we may not be able to recognize how our hardship fits into his plan, it does not mean that God is any less close, or does not see us in our pain. If our faith is in him, he promises an expected end, a peace that surpasses all understanding. He is our reward. Life is in Him. 

In Job 4, we see Eliphaz calling upon Job to remember the advice that he has given to others. Eliphaz is from Teman, a city that is known as a center of wisdom. Eliphaz begins his speech by asking, “If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary?” This may sound rather blunt; however, Eliphaz and Job are close confidants. Eliphaz sat wordless with Job for an entire week to show his empathy and care for him. He felt compelled to speak and confront Job with what he saw as his problem. Eliphaz pointed out Job’s contradicting lament, recorded in Chapter 3. Job has comforted others in their times of need and is now in despair in his own time of need. 

Eliphaz quickly steps in when he notices Job’s despair and questions him further, showing Job that his despair has caused him to lose confidence and hope. Eliphaz is insinuating that Job’s problems have come upon him because of some sin that Job has committed, and that he should confess and repent. In verse 7, Eliphaz gets to the heart of his speech by stating that no one has perished if they are innocent. To further his point, Eliphaz tries to reason with Job, saying that he would not complain unless he also believed that he was guilty of some sort of sin. Eliphaz is only speaking from his own observations and experiences as to why these things are happening to Job. 

Job and his friends have built their lives on the belief that God helps the good and brings suffering upon the bad. It makes sense as to why Eliphaz is implying that Job’s suffering is the result of God’s judgment. As readers, we know that Eliphaz’s assumption is false. Eliphaz attempts to recover at the end by stating that we have all fallen short of the glory of God and that man is sinful, meaning that Job is not alone. Although no doubt well-intentioned, Eliphaz fails to comfort Job or reveal the true reasons for his suffering.

Oftentimes we find ourselves putting on a face and pretending everything’s all right. Job, however, shows us here that faithfulness looks just the opposite. In Job 3, Job lays out his pain and sorrow before the Lord. He doesn’t hide anything, pretend like it’s all rainbows and roses, or even attempt to fix any of it himself. Instead, he calls out to the creator of the universe. Job has an intimate enough relationship with the Lord that he could fall before Him and vividly express his deep anguish and grief. Even a man as godly and blameless as Job could bring his raw and real pain to God. So can we.

How often do we think that when we face tough problems, it’s up to us to fix them? It’s like we think if we just buckle up or tough it out or smile through it, we can come out unscathed. For most of us, it’s a byproduct of the world we grew up in–it’s up to us to figure it out. Determination, perseverance, and self discipline are from the Lord (2 Timothy 2:7), but we can encounter problems when we start to believe that we are capable of handling our problems on our own, without God. 

Job’s words in this chapter are words of lament. It is OK for us to lament, too. But it is also important for us to remember that the beauty of the Gospel is that we do not have to carry our burdens and sorrow on our own. If we could patch ourselves up, make ourselves pretty, and fix all our bruises and mistakes, we wouldn’t need Jesus. The truth is, no matter how hard we try, we just can’t take away the pain, sin, and brokenness of this world. But there is a God who can. God sent his one and only son to die on the cross for our sins to take away the shame, guilt, pain, and death we deserved. 

There is immense freedom in this! Freedom to fall at the feet of the Creator of the universe and bring him all of your hurts, hang ups, and brokenness. You don’t have to fix yourself before you come. In fact, his only requirement is that you come–broken (Matthew 11:28). Come today to the one who loves you and cares about you. To the one who sees you in your suffering. To the one who loved you enough to send his Son to die for you, so that you might have eternal peace and joy in Him.

At this point in the story, God has already brought attention to Job’s faithfulness once. In response, Satan was allowed to destroy everything Job held dear: possessions, livestock, even his children. In this chapter, we see God bring up Job’s faithfulness yet again to Satan. By this point, Job would probably prefer to feature less prominently in God’s esteem. Had he been aware of the conversation going on in heaven, he might even wish he had cursed God earlier in Job 1 just to fly below the radar. 

But the obvious point in the story is that Job has no idea that this cosmic interaction is even taking place. He is simply living his life, taking the hits as they come, aware of nothing else but that God has blessed him until now and that all of those blessings have now been stripped away. He has no context of greater purpose–no knowledge that his faithfulness and patience will ever be documented and read for generations as a testament of godliness. There was no awareness of eternal stakes or concerns about his legacy that bolstered him. All he knew was that everything he once had was gone and there was no certainty that his own life wouldn’t next be forfeit. 

And in this devastating situation, his response was simply, “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” Were any of us in this same situation (and a number of us may have been in a similar one), how easily would we choose to not only trust God, but humbly and willingly receive such circumstances from His Sovereign hand? Somehow for Job, the trust in who God was superseded all questions about what He was doing. His heartfelt response is echoed in the sentiment shared by Paul in his letter to Timothy. In the midst of suffering, Paul says, “I know whom I have believed in”, not that he knew what he had believed in. It seems that the humble resilience of both of these icons of faith rested on the fact that their foundation was not built on what God was doing, but on who they knew God to be.

In the darkness that often is life in this fallen world, the tenets that mark the “blameless and upright” people of God are the beliefs that, regardless of circumstance, He will be proven sovereign and He will be proven good.

How do you respond when the bottom drops out beneath you? When the sun is shining, there’s money in the bank, and we’re healthy, it’s much easier to praise the Lord and smile. But what’s your response when:

• you get cut from the team?
• you unfairly get a bad grade on a test?
• your boss belittles you and insults your intelligence?
• your son frustrates you yet again? 
• your spouse seems to love her job more than her family?
• a loved one receives a life-threatening diagnosis?

In Job 1, we see a man who was blameless, upright, feared God, and “was the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1:3b). The Lord said, “There is no one on earth like him…who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8). Job faced temptation like the rest of us, but he walked away from sin.

Job was the best of the best and was richly blessed with a large family and an abundance of wealth, livestock, and servants. Satan told the Lord that Job obediently walked with the Lord only because he had everything he needed. Take it away, and his faith will go away. So the Lord allowed Satan to do whatever he wished with Job (except he could not harm Job himself). Satan brought major trial after major trial, culminating in the loss of Job’s 10 children.

The bottom dropped out beneath Job. Can you imagine what it must have felt like to lose just about everything in one day? To lose everything you own and to lose your very own flesh and blood? Most of us would probably do as Satan predicted—we would curse God to His face (v. 11). 

Yet, we see something beyond extraordinary in Job. He grieved (tore his robe and shaved his head), but then he fell to the ground and worshipped the Lord. Can you believe it? Job did not sin by accusing God of wrongdoing. Instead, on the worst day of his life, Job praised the name of the Lord.

We see why Job earned the description of being the greatest among all the people. Job’s response should challenge us to do likewise. When we face trials of many kinds (which are guaranteed according to Jesus in John 16:33), will we be found faithful and worshipful like Job, or will we choose to curse God and walk away?