Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Job+004
CHAPTER 4 (ESV)
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
3 Behold, you have instructed many,
and you have strengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
and you have made firm the feeble knees.
5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 Is not your fear of God your confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
REFLECTION:
What Eliphaz said was specious and we need the wisdom to discern. It is not wrong that God will punish those who sin and reward those who trust Him. However, it does not mean that God’s people will never experience suffering in the world. All information recorded in the Bible was out of God’s choice but some were merely records of people’s words or deeds, and not for us to imitate. The reason why the Bible mentions about sinful ideas and wrong concepts about God is to teach us through both the right and wrong perspectives. This allows us to know what should or should not be done. What Eliphaz said was something we should avoid because he extrapolated about others and God only based on his own experience.
PRAYER:
God, please help me not to judge others based on my own experiences or viewpoints. Teach me to obey Your words in the Bible and to comfort those in need with Your words. I pray that You help me love Your words and correctly handle the word of truth.
HYMN:
I Need Thee Every Hour – www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZIMDcgrF-Q
