“Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves;
therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.
For he wounds, but he binds up;
he shatters, but his hands heal.
He will deliver you from six troubles;
in seven no evil shall touch you.
In famine he will redeem you from death,
and in war from the power of the sword.
You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue,
and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.
The above section of counsel directed toward Job is coming from one of the three friends who came to Job to “comfort” him (Job 2:11-13), Eliphaz. Eliphaz means, “My God is gold.” He is named after God and his intent to bring comfort to God. However, this is not a good start to fulfill his calling or mission. At this point in the story, we know more than Eliphaz. We have no idea what he knows. We only know what he observed about job and that brought him pain and compassion on Job. Yet, his immediate conclusion to Job’s dilemma is that these type of calamities ONLY happen to those who God is punishing. Hence the above words. He is telling Job if he will just submit to God’s discipline and honor God in his walk God will protect him from this pain and suffering, or, remove the current pain from him. The struggle with Eliphaz (as well as his other two friends) is that he has no room in his mind for the “suffering of the innocent.” We know, based upon Job 1:1 and Job 2:3 that Job was declared righteous by God. These challenges in Job’s life are NOT due to his “fault,” but actually brought on by his righteous living and Satan’s attack against the righteous. Far too often, like Job, when bad things happen to good people we immediately go to the, ‘You should simply repent” mindset. This is not simply happening to Job. This is happening to Job FOR GOD GLORY. God is brining this into Job’s life for His greater glory over His enemy Satan. Job’s response to it (in chapter 3) is to wish he was never born. That is a normal response to the pain he is suffering. But, it is not a faith-based response. Neither is Eliphaz’ words, however. Job is being asked, by God, to take a big step of faith and allow God to do His work through this situation (see chapters 38-42). We have a lot to read before we get to God’s true relief for Job. But, suffice to say that Eliphaz drawing the conclusion that this bad stuff happening to Job was due to his sin is not true. He, like most, simply jumps to a sin-causes-all-pain-and-suffering mindset. Eliphaz is correct in the above words that God is the one who can deliver Job from pain and suffering. But, pain and suffering are not always caused by our actions. Sometimes it is God doing a work simply to glorify Himself. Hard to understand. Hard to live out. But, true, never-the-less. This is why it is called faith.
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