Tag Archive | Job’s friends

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 12 & 13

Jan13

Days 12 & 13. Reading in Job 32 – 34 and 35 – 37. (Posted on Monday.)

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what you found meaningful. We can encourage each other.

.Job 32.

There’s a new guy on the block. Elihu has been there the whole time, but as the youngest, he’s kept quiet until now. His views differ from the three “wise” old men who spoke before him.

“I am young in years, and you are aged. Therefore, I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.”  “It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.  Therefore, listen to ME. Let ME also declare my opinion.“

He says he’s about to burst from waiting to answer! “I MUST speak, that I may find relief; I MUST open my lips and answer. I will not use flattery toward ANY person.”

Oh, dear. I’m not sure I want to hear what this young whippersnapper will say.

  • Lord, help me remember that wisdom comes from YOU. You are the only wise God. Help me not to disdain either the aged or the young enthusiast or to center my whole life on the words of one person/group. May I always look to You and your Word with help from the Holy Spirit.

Job 33. 

Right off, Elihu puts Job at ease, identifying with him as one also is “pinched off from the piece of clay.”  He’s human, fallible. He assures Job he has no need to fear him as his words will not be heavy on him. But he tells Job he’s wrong in saying God does not answer him.

Elihu lists two ways that God speaks to man. 1) in dreams or visions, God warns man. 2) in pain, God rebukes man.  Hmmm.

He tells Job that God allows suffering to bring a person to Himself and for spiritual benefit. (This seems true, at least in my own life.) Then Elihu offers Job a chance to speak. If not, Elihu tells Job to listen, “for I will teach you wisdom.”

Job 34.

Elihu then goes on with HIS speech to both Job and the other three men.  He gets a lot correct, but there are some parts he mis-remembers, attributing to Job what his other “comforters” said. (For example, Job said he was sinless, which he did not claim.)  However, Elihu does mention some pretty awesome truths about God in his speech, saying He is just, holy, impartial, and omniscient.

Sadly, Elihu starts to echo the three who went before him, “Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight. I would that Job was tried to the end because he answers like a wicked man. He adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”  (Sigh.)

(Three more chapters of Elihu tomorrow.)

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Job 35.

“Shame on you, Job.” is basically what Elihu says (in his wisdom). He tells Job that it doesn’t matter if he sinned or not because God is ‘too high’ to be affected by them. “If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?”

He tells Job why God does not answer his prayers and questions. It’s because of pride (vs. 35:12), a wrong motive, and he’s not patient enough.  Oh, Elihu, you are not so wise as you say. YOU don’t know much about Job’s condition either. It’s your own “human” understanding. 

  • Lord, I am like Elihu sometimes, if only in my thoughts. I think I can figure out “the mind of God” by my own human reasoning. “SURLY, this must mean that!” I say.  Humble me, Lord. Your ways and thoughts are so much higher than mine.  Teach me not to judge. Teach me to wait. Help me see my own needs.

Job 36.

Now that Elihu has leveled Job to the ground, he presumes to instruct Job about God’s opinion. (“I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.”) He now seems no different from the three older gentlemen before him. THEN he adds the words that make me choke. “For truly, my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.”   What???  Poor Job.

But Elihu does say something new in verse 15. “He (God) delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.” 

  • Suffering, trials, and persecution do make us more open to God’s words. Sometimes, that’s the only time I will listen. A gentle tap on the shoulder will go unnoticed, but a “slap up alongside my head” will get my attention.  Illness, sorrow, or a rebuke from a loved one will undoubtedly send me to prayer and His word. Why is this so? Oh, Lord, soften my heart!

Job 37.

Elihu then “waxes eloquent” about the majesty of God in creation. This is wonderful to read. All creation does reveal God like Psalm 8 says,  “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.” (vss. 1-2)  “When I look at Your heavens the work of Your fingers, the moon, and stars, which You have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (vss.3-4)  

Elihu reminded Job (and us) that all the mighty things God does in the heavens and with weather are for a purpose. “Whether for correction or for His land, or for love, He causes it to happen.” (vs. 13)

  • Wow. I had to stop and think about this. Yes, I believe God is totally sovereign in all things. Yes, there is always a purpose to what He does (His glory and our good, according to Romans 8:28), although, like Job, we may never know (can’t even begin to comprehend) what that is. 
  • Just now (January 2025), I’m thinking of the total disasters that wind and fires have brought to Los Angeles County in the last week.  God is sovereign. This fiery “apocalypse” was NOT out of His control. Many do and will ask, “Why?” (And many will gladly place the “blame” on anyone.) It is a “wake-up” call, whether to the hearts of believers and unbelievers or merely to earthly officials and their responsibilities.
  • Job didn’t know the reason for his suffering (or for his friends’ badgering, for that matter). But we get a glimpse of the purpose in the first chapters. That in Heaven, before the evil one, GOD GETS GLORY for Job’s faith in his suffering. 

Thank you, God, for using Elihu to say this one thing, if nothing else. 

And it’s good that this young, wise “kid” ends his speech by pointing Job (and us) to God and His Majesty because God stands ready to speak in the next four chapters.  ARE WE READY TO HEAR?

 

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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 7

Jan7

Day 7. Reading in Job 14 – 16. 

I’m rereading through God’s Word again this year, but I’ll write/blog about it differently. Instead of only an overview of the text, I want it to be more personal.

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other.

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Job 14.

As a lawyer before God the judge, Job pours out his frustration. Some of it is not pretty. He knows that even a newborn infant is born with sin and will die at God’s discretion. He knows he will die and asks God to leave him alone so he can enjoy his time left. 

Then, Job seems to vacillate between believing and not believing that there is life after death.  Even an old tree that’s been cut down hopes to sprout again at the taste of water. But where is a man after he’s laid in the grave?   

Job asks God to “hide him in the grave” until His wrath passes. To appoint a set time to remember him. “If a man dies, shall he live again? (His answer seems to be Yes.) “All the days of my service, I would wait, till my renewal should come. You would call, and I would answer You.”

  • There are times of stress and anxiety when I would just like to go to sleep and stay there till the troubles are past.  I don’t want to face, endure, or deal with problems. I can sympathize with people sunk in extreme troubles who numb themselves with sleeping pills, alcohol, drugs, etc.  To a tiny degree, I understand what they and Job are experiencing.   
  • Oh, Lord, help me to cling to you for my strength and to be compassionate towards others.

Job 15.

Old Eliphaz is back. He’s now condemning Job for attacking God!  “Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash, that you turn your spirit against God and bring such words out of your mouth?”

He condemns Job for thinking he knew more than “the old men of wisdom” who were there with him.  Eliphaz says, “What do YOU know that WE don’t know? Both the gray-haired and the aged are here, (we are) ones older than your father.”   

  • What he says is NOT TRUE. I have white hair, I am “aged,” but I am certainly NOT WISE! Age does not automatically equal wisdom. You’ve heard of ‘old fools’?”

Then (nose in the air, I picture) Elephas berates Job. “I (a gray-haired wise one) will show you. Hear me, and what I have seen, I will declare.” Then he explains how it’s the WICKED MAN who writhes in pain, who hears dreadful news, whose prosperity is destroyed, who does not believe he will return from the dead.  (Yep, he’s pointing at Job.)

The next part is funny because WE know what happens to Job in the last chapter.  Eliphaz says that a wicked man’s (Job’s) wealth will not return, he won’t depart from darkness, and emptiness will be his final payment.  HA!  Just you wait, Eliphaz!

Job 16.

I don’t know how Job can keep coming back. Under such a hostile barrage, I would be squirming, face in the mud, unable to open my eyes.  But Job (you have to cheer for him) speaks back.

He calls these wise men “miserable comforters” with “windy words that have no end.” Job says, Yeah, if he were healthy and “wise” like them, HE could speak like they do.  “I could join words together against you and shake my head at you. I could strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.” (He’s being sarcastic.)

But then, Job slips into depression and laments what God has done to him. (Don’t blame him for this. Think of his loss, sorrow, pain, and miserable, finger-pointing friends. Even JESUS, on the cross, cried out, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?)

  • Surely, now God has worn me out
  • He has shriveled me up
  • He has torn me in His wrath and hated me
  • He has gnashed His teeth at me
  • I was at ease, and he broke me apart
  • He seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces
  • He set me up as His target; His archers surround me.
  • He breaks me with breach upon breach
  • He runs upon me like a warrior.

(These could almost describe his friends!)  And yet… OH, SEE HOW JOB TRUSTS!!! 

“Even now, behold my witness (advocate) is in heaven, and He who testifies FOR me is on high. My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God that HE would argue the case of a man with God, as a Son of man does with his neighbor.”

  • Yes, let me remember too that I have an “advocate in Heaven,” one who pleads my innocence before God because of His own shed blood. (Like the song says, God looks on HIM and pardons ME.) And I have the Holy Spirit who dwells in me and comforts me.

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 5 & 6

Jan6

Days 5 & 6. Reading Job 6 – 9 and 10 – 13.

(Sunday & Monday posts are together.)

I’m rereading God’s Word this year. And I hope to blog about it differently. Instead of writing only an overview of the text, I want it to be more personal.

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what you found meaningful. We can encourage each other.

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Job 6 

Job has just listened to a long speech by his friend, Eliphaz, who has accused him of sinning.  “That’s why you are suffering,” he seems to say. “Repent and get better.”

Yes, Job is a sinner, as we ALL are, since Adam & Eve’s gross disobedience in the garden. But a specific sin is not the reason for Job’s horrendous state of loss, poverty, and ill health.  

Job is frustrated.  He doesn’t deny he’s a sinner, but he does say, “I have not denied the words of the Holy One.”  He asks his friends to look at him, really LOOK. “Please turn; let no injustice be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake. Is there any injustice on my tongue?“

Job 7.

Then Job turns his weary eyes upward and speaks his woes to God. He pours out his complaints to God,  just like I do when I’m having a hard time.

  • “Why is this happening, God?  Have you forgotten me?  What have I done to deserve this?  I’m just human, as You well know!  Maybe I should just die.” 

Job 8.

It’s time for Job’s second friend to offer his wisdom.  Bildad is also sure that Job’s sin has caused his troubles and that he should repent if he wants out of them.  “If you are pure and upright, surely He will rouse Himself for you and restore your rightful habitation.”

  • I’ve only mildly experienced this kind of judging.  But, I confess, I  have criticized others and often given them my “superior” advice, just like Eliphaz and Bildad.  “If only they would do this! (or NOT do that!), then they wouldn’t be in this mess!” “They should have prayed first or listened to that sermon.”  “If they would just follow good habits, they wouldn’t be sick, or fat, or….. !”
  • O LORD, how like Job’s friends I am!  You’ve said “Judge not, lest you be judged,” and still I do it. EVEN THIS MORNING!!!   I confess, Lord. Cleanse me and help me to imitate Your great mercy for others!

Job 9.

Job responds to Bildad’s lofty speech, saying that he KNOWS God is the holy, wise, and powerful Creator and that Job himself is powerless and low.  But then, he asks if God is FAIR?  “He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”  Job feels helpless. Desperate, he cries, “I shall be condemned; why do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet You will plunge me into a pit….”  WOW!

  • How often have “I” said, “That’s not fair!”  Or even thought, “GOD is not fair.”  But I need to remember that He is sovereign. He controls everything in perfect wisdom.  I do not have the mind of God. His thoughts and ways are SO MUCH higher than mine.  (Isaiah 55:8-9)  And so, even if I never see the whys and wherefores of what’s happening in my life, I NEED TO TRUST HIM ALWAYS.  “If He slays me, yet will I trust Him,” should be my heart’s desire as it was Job’s (Chapter 19).

Then Job says something that immediately causes thanksgiving to flood into my heart…..because I remember Jesus.  Job says, speaking of God, “There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.” 

Hallelujah!  We have Jesus Christ!  

1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”  Hebrews 7:25, speaking of Jesus, says, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

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July 10.

Job is still answering Bildad’s comments, but he’s appealing to God as well. He asks the question WE ALL ASK — Why? “Let me know WHY you contend against me. Does it seem good to You to oppress, to despise the work of your hands, and favor the designs of the wicked?”

Deep in his heart Job KNOWS God loves him, he just can’t figure out all this disaster. “You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. YET these things you hid in your heart; I KNOW this was your PURPOSE.

  • I really DO KNOW that God loves me, but like Job, I need to grab hold of that rock of truth with all my strength and BELIEVE it, especially during trials.

Job 11.

Next, Job’s third “friend” speaks. Zophar is like the two before him.  And he’s shocked that Job claims innocence. He pounds Job with his need to repent of his sin.  

“If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward Him. If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents. Surely THEN you will lift up your face WITHOUT BLEMISH.”   “And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.”

  • Ah, Lord, I am so like Zophar sometimes!!  At least silently, I often think if someone experiencing trials would just “Straighten up and fly right,” their problems would go away.  O Lord, so much do I lack wisdom, and compassion, and, well, ALL the fruits of the Spirit.  I confess and repent of this hard-heartedness! Soften my heart.

Job 12

Now Job fires back using sarcasm.  Oh, are YOU the only ones with wisdom? I have understanding as well.  “I, who called to God and He answered me, a just and blameless man…am a laughingstock to my “friends.” Ha!

Then Job reveals some of his wisdom about the SOVEREIGNTY of God. ‘Who does not know that “the hand of the LORD” has done this?  In His hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. With God are wisdom and might; He has counsel and understanding. If He tears down, none can rebuild; if He shuts a man in, none can open.”

THAT’S RIGHT, JOB! Rest in the Sovereignty of Almighty God!

Job 13.

Job continues to speak back to his “friends.” But he’s getting tired of their constant “know-it-all” condemnation.  “Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.  What YOU know, “I” also know; I am NOT inferior you you.”  

Then Job nails his friends once again, “As for YOU, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all. Oh that you would keep silent!”   “Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay. Let me have silence. “

Then Job tells them what he REALLY wants.   “I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.”  ” I will speak, and let come on me what may.”   “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him: yet I will argue my ways to His face.“

Whoa, Job, better watch out what you ask for!!!  

  • You know, our God is Almighty. He opposes the proud, the unbelieving, the idolater, BUT He is not afraid of one of His children calling out to him in fear, anger, and desperation.  He’s tough. He can withstand our puny fists pounding against his massive, steel-hard chest.  He loves us.  He loved Job.

Job looks to God, as in a courtroom.  “Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be in the right. Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face. 1) Withdraw your hand far from me, and 2) Let not dread of you terrify me.  THEN call and I will answer.  OR, let me speak and You reply to me.

And then Job presents his case (questions) before God.  (Chapter 14, tomorrow.)