Round Two with Job’s Friends.

     Eliphaz spoke up again  and once more said that Job must have acted dishonestly towards his brother or not helped others where he could have. His view of God was that He must have been punishing Job for something he had done wrong!     How often we bring God down to our level! Every time we say, “I can’t see how God can allow this or that…”  we are making Him like us. We have to remember that God is God, His ways are far above our ways  (Isaiah 55:8-9) and He can see the wider picture of all things, the end from the beginning. He is infinite, we are only finite and very limited at that.

   Job began his answer….  “Oh, if only I knew where to find Him! I would lay my case before Him! I cannot find Him to put my arguments forwards because He is everywhere, from the east to the west! But I know I’ve followed His ways closely, and treasured His words. Others have ignored Him and He has let them go their way. They may be exalted for a short time, but it all turns to nothing in the end!”

  Then  Bildad spoke up again, but didn’t have much to say this time. As he contemplated God’s existence, he was lost for words… “Dominion and awesome might belong to God, and we can’t fathom His greatness. What can we, who are no better than worms,  say in the face of this?”

    Job had an answer for all of this….  “What’s the point of you talking? We all know of God’s greatness over His creation, the heavens and skies, the moon and the stars, and these are just the tip of the iceberg!”      Job continued this speech by then telling what his life had been like before these tragedies had come upon him. God’s blessings had been upon him in every way, he said, and he had experienced God’s presence with him at all times. His children were around him, and everything he had was prospering ….  “Those I met in the street were polite and always ready to speak with me”, he went on, “I was always ready to help people, and they blessed me for it. I was always fair and honest with others and they would listen to my advice. Nobody argued with me or answered back, and I lived like a king! Now people mock me and those younger than me won’t even speak to me! People keep way from me. I’m in constant pain, and it feels as though God himself has deserted me! My skin is tortured and I feel no better than the jackals or ostriches!”

   Job then went on to talk of his integrity before God….he had never entertained evil thoughts towards to the opposite sex, he had always been honest in his dealings, and helped those less fortunate. “I‘ve always trusted God for everything! I had an open home for anyone who needed a bed for the night, and I never did anything that needed to be covered up. Oh! If only there was someone who would stick up for me!”    Job truly felt forsaken and alone and although his friends were there with him, they were no comfort at all!  There may be times in our lives when we have felt like this, but we have the comfort of knowing that God never leaves His people. Paul could talk of all the bad things that had happened to him, but even though he suffered physically and begged the Lord to take his problem away, he had the comfort of knowing the Lord was saying to him, “My grace is sufficient for you!”  (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) So in our bad times, we too, can hang onto the fact that God sees and knows and will strengthen us to keep on going. Job chapters 22- 31