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Job 5 - Twisted Truths and Terrible Comfort · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: You are listening to The Bible Explained with Jen Koukl,
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Speaker 1: a P40 Ministries podcast. Howdy, faithful listeners. Welcome to The
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Speaker 1: Bible Explained podcast. Hope you all are doing so well today.
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Speaker 1: I have my windows open right now. It is so
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Speaker 1: warm and so beautiful. This is like the warmest fall
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Speaker 1: day I can remember in a long time. In fact,
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Speaker 1: it's kind of sweaty, but I will take it. I
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Speaker 1: love warm, sunny days. So contact me. You can find
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Speaker 1: my contact information listed in the description of this episode.
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Speaker 1: And tell me, do you prefer fall weather? Do you
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Speaker 1: prefer summer weather, spring or winter? I'd love to hear
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Speaker 1: about all of that. And also tell me how you
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Speaker 1: found the podcast and just introduce yourself. Love to hear
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Speaker 1: from all of you faithful listeners. But before we dive
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Speaker 1: into Job chapter five today, You guys know the drill.
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Speaker 1: Please listen to this message from a sponsor. Okay, we're
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Speaker 1: going to be reading Job chapter 5 today. And this
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Speaker 1: is Eliphaz's continued argument against Job, essentially. I will be
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Speaker 1: reading as I always do from the WEB or the
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Speaker 1: World English Bible. But you guys can, of course, read
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Speaker 1: out of the version that you prefer this morning. Let's
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Speaker 1: read Job 5, the entire thing. Grab your delicious cup
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Speaker 1: of coffee to share with me as we give reverence
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Speaker 1: to God's word.
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Speaker 2: Call now.
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Speaker 1: Is there anyone who will answer you? To which of
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Speaker 1: the holy ones will you turn? For resentment kills the
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Speaker 1: foolish man and jealousy kills the simple. I have seen
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Speaker 1: the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
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Speaker 1: His children are far from safety. They are crushed in
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Speaker 1: the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them whose
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Speaker 1: harvest the hungry eat up and take it even out
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Speaker 1: of the thorns, the snare grapes for their substance. For
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Speaker 1: affliction doesn't come out of the dust. Neither does trouble
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Speaker 1: spring out of the ground. But man is born to
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Speaker 1: trouble as the sparks fly upward. But as for me,
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Speaker 1: I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,
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Speaker 1: who does great things that can't be fathomed, marvelous things
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Speaker 1: without number, who gives rain on the earth and sends
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Speaker 1: waters on the fields so that he sets up on
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Speaker 1: high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted
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Speaker 1: to safety. He frustrates the plan of the crafty so
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Speaker 1: that their hands can't perform their enterprise. He takes the
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Speaker 1: wise in their own craftiness. The counsel of the cunning
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Speaker 1: is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the daytime
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Speaker 1: and grope at noonday as in the night. But he
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Speaker 1: saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy
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Speaker 1: from the hand of the mighty. So the poor has
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Speaker 1: hope and injustice shuts her mouth. Behold, happy is the
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Speaker 1: man whom God corrects. Therefore, do not despise the chastening
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Speaker 1: of the almighty. For he wounds and he binds up.
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Speaker 1: He injures and his hands make whole. He will deliver
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Speaker 1: you in six troubles. Yes, in seven, no evil will
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Speaker 1: touch you. In famine, he will redeem you from death.
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Speaker 1: In war, from the power of the sword. You will
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Speaker 1: be hidden from the scourge of the tongue. Neither will
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Speaker 1: you be afraid of destruction when it comes. You will
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Speaker 1: laugh at the destruction and famine. Neither will you be
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Speaker 1: afraid of the animals of the earth. For you will
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Speaker 1: be allied with the stones of the field. The animals
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Speaker 1: of the field will be at peace with you. You
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Speaker 1: will know that your tent is in peace. You will
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Speaker 1: visit your fold and will miss nothing. You will know
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Speaker 1: also that your offspring will be great. Your offspring is
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Speaker 1: the grass of the earth. You will come to your
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Speaker 1: grave in a full age, like a shock of grain
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Speaker 1: comes in its season. Behold, we have researched it.
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Speaker 2: It is so.
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Speaker 1: Hear it and know it for your good. All right,
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Speaker 1: so I need to apologize because on Monday I was wrong.
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Speaker 1: I believed today that we were going to talk about
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Speaker 1: Job's response to Eliphaz. But no, this is actually Eliphaz's
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Speaker 1: continued speech. So we have to listen to Eliphaz preach
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Speaker 1: a little bit more before we get to Job's response
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Speaker 1: in the following chapter. And even though I've gotten better
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Speaker 1: at it, I still have a bad habit of not
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Speaker 1: reading ahead sometimes. and seeing what happens next in the
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Speaker 1: upcoming chapters. So I apologize for that. So we're going
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Speaker 1: to finish talking about Eliphaz today and everything he says
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Speaker 1: to Job. And we talked about on Monday, some of
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Speaker 1: the untruths that Eliphaz had to say. For example, he
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Speaker 1: talked about this spirit that came and told him secret
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Speaker 1: truths about God and how he couldn't discern what the
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Speaker 1: spirit was, but it certainly was telling him the truth.
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Speaker 2: Trust him.
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Speaker 1: And he also told Job that God was mean. He
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Speaker 1: painted this picture of God being just unkind to everybody,
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Speaker 1: that he always just finds things wrong with people and
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Speaker 1: he's just ready to accuse people, even the angels up
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Speaker 1: in heaven. But then he also told Job, well, Job,
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Speaker 1: if you're a good person, you know, if you do
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Speaker 1: no sins, then God will certainly bless you. Even though
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Speaker 1: he's mean and doesn't find any good with anybody, certainly
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Speaker 1: he will bless you if you're good. So you can
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Speaker 1: kind of see the circular logic that Eliphaz was falling
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Speaker 1: into here. God cannot be both mean and finding no
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Speaker 1: good with anybody and also willing to bless somebody he
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Speaker 1: finds to be good. It just does not go together.
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Speaker 1: So he continues here in verse one of Job five.
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Speaker 1: He says, call now, is there any who will answer you?
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Speaker 1: To which of the holy ones will you turn? So
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Speaker 1: he's responding to Job's previous concerns that we talked about
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Speaker 1: in Job chapter three. Remember the chapter where Job cursed
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Speaker 1: the day of his birth and asked all of these questions, like,
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Speaker 1: why does God, you know, force a man to continue
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Speaker 1: living if He's just miserable. Why doesn't God just snuff
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Speaker 1: him out immediately? And he asked like a whole series
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Speaker 1: of questions to God and I guess to his friends
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Speaker 1: a little bit as well. He was just looking for
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Speaker 1: an answer to the suffering he had experienced because Job
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Speaker 1: was blameless. He did not commit any sins that people
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Speaker 1: would consider worthy of the suffering that he's going through.
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Speaker 1: And Job knew he didn't commit any sins like that.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he's going to talk about how righteous he was,
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Speaker 1: I suppose, to his friends in following chapters. And now
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Speaker 1: Eliphaz is like, well, Job, you know, you have these
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Speaker 1: questions for God. Go ahead and ask him. Do you
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Speaker 1: think that he's really going to answer you? In fact,
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Speaker 1: ask the angels. Are they going to answer you? No,
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Speaker 1: because your questions are not worth their time. They are
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Speaker 1: so above you that they're not going to respond to you.
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Speaker 1: So don't even bother appealing to the holy ones is
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Speaker 1: what Eliphaz says right here. He says in verse two,
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Speaker 1: for resentment kills the foolish man and jealousy kills the simple. Unfortunately, Eliphaz,
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Speaker 1: though he's trying to comfort Job, is really doing a
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Speaker 1: terrible job at it because he keeps implying that Job
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Speaker 1: is being foolish or he's being sinful or jealous. As
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Speaker 1: in this case, it's almost like he's subtly stabbing Job
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Speaker 1: in the back and while calling it comfort. It's kind
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Speaker 1: of crazy what he's doing here. And now in verse 3,
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Speaker 1: he continues on by saying, And he keeps referring back
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Speaker 1: to that, by the way, which is another proof that
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Speaker 1: Eliphaz may have been the oldest of Job's three friends
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Speaker 1: and maybe... considered to be the wisest because he's done
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Speaker 1: some study on this because he's seen things in his life.
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Speaker 1: So he says, I have seen the foolish taking root,
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Speaker 1: but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far
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Speaker 1: from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is
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Speaker 1: there any to deliver them. He's like, look, Job, I
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Speaker 1: have seen this time and time again, where the foolish
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Speaker 1: person is cursed. And his children are unable to survive
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Speaker 1: because in the city gates, they are crushed. They have
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Speaker 1: nobody to defend them. Now, this is talking about the
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Speaker 1: ancient custom of people going to the gate of the
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Speaker 1: city to get some sort of case resolved. And there
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Speaker 1: would be something like a lawyer there for these people
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Speaker 1: to appeal to. And there'd be judges there that would
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Speaker 1: decide the case for these individuals. Many of these gates
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Speaker 1: have been found in archaeological digs. So this is a
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Speaker 1: common practice that ancient people would do. They would go
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Speaker 1: to the gate to get their case resolved. And since
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Speaker 1: Eliphaz mentions being at this gate, it could be that
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Speaker 1: he was a lawyer of some sort, or he was
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Speaker 1: a judge of some sort that saw people coming time
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Speaker 1: and time again, foolish people that wanted something resolved. But instead,
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Speaker 1: because of their foolishness, they were crushed. which could be
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Speaker 1: why he mentions that he cursed their habitation. If he
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Speaker 1: was a judge, obviously he could dole out that kind
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Speaker 1: of punishment where he does curse the foolish person. So
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Speaker 1: he's like, look, Job, speaking from my experience, I see
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Speaker 1: these people coming to the gate all the time to
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Speaker 1: get their cases resolved. And I end up cursing their
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Speaker 1: habitation and no one is there to deliver them. And
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Speaker 1: then he goes on to say in verse five, that
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Speaker 1: their land, everything that they have is given to the hungry.
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Speaker 1: He says, their harvests the hungry eat up and take
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Speaker 1: it even out of the thorns and the snare of
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Speaker 1: grapes for their substance. So the hungry people come and
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Speaker 1: eat these foolish people alive because of their foolishness. And
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Speaker 1: there is nobody there to rescue these people. And then
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Speaker 1: he summarizes all this by saying, for affliction doesn't come
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Speaker 1: out of the dust. Neither does trouble spring up out
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Speaker 1: of the ground, but man is born to trouble as
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Speaker 1: the sparks fly upward. So again, He is implying to
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Speaker 1: Job that Job is foolish, that Job had done something wrong,
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Speaker 1: just like all of these other plebes that he's seen
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Speaker 1: at the city gate who have had their homes destroyed
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Speaker 1: because of their foolishness. He's like, look, Job, I've seen
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Speaker 1: it time and time again. You got to trust me
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Speaker 1: on this. Affliction doesn't just spring up out of nowhere.
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Speaker 1: These people reap what they sow. These people do it
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Speaker 1: to themselves. And Job, you're probably doing it to yourself
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Speaker 1: as well. Hence why you are suffering. So now he
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Speaker 1: gives his advice here in verses eight to the end
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Speaker 1: of the chapter. He's like, here's what I would do.
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Speaker 1: As for me, I would seek God and I would
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Speaker 1: commit my cause to God. Now, here's what Eliphaz is
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Speaker 1: just not understanding. And this is something that the reader
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Speaker 1: understands that Job's three friends just don't. The reader understands
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Speaker 1: from the very beginning that Job was always seeking God,
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Speaker 1: that Job was blameless, that God himself said that there
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Speaker 1: was nobody on the earth like Job. He was faithful
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Speaker 1: unlike anybody else and was blameless as well. So for
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Speaker 1: Eliphaz to say this to Job, Job, you just have
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Speaker 1: to seek God and apologize for whatever foolish sin that
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Speaker 1: you got yourself into that caused all of this corruption.
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Speaker 1: For him to say that is incredibly short-sighted. He is
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Speaker 1: saying that every single trial that you're going to go
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Speaker 1: through is because of God's judgment on you or because
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Speaker 1: you did some sort of foolish sin and caused it yourself.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes that is the case, but that is not always
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Speaker 1: the case. As we've already gone through in the previous chapters,
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Speaker 1: already we can see a few reasons why God was
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Speaker 1: allowing Job to suffer. And it had nothing to do
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Speaker 1: with any particular sin that Job was committing. The first reason,
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Speaker 1: and the most obvious one, is because this is a
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Speaker 1: fallen world. Since each and every one of us have
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Speaker 1: been born into corruption, we have to go through things
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Speaker 1: like suffering and misery and tribulations. There is not a
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Speaker 1: single person on earth who is free. from that kind
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Speaker 1: of suffering. Everybody is going to suffer, whether you're a
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Speaker 1: Christian or a non-Christian. That's the first reason here. The
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Speaker 1: second reason is because God was destroying the false arguments
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Speaker 1: of Satan and was allowing Job the honor of doing that.
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Speaker 2: In fact, this.
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Speaker 1: Entire book about Job just gives him so much honor,
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Speaker 1: doesn't it? There's nobody that speaks ill about Job, not
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Speaker 1: a single person on earth. is going to tell you, yeah, Job,
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Speaker 1: he was a nasty guy. No, everybody loves Job and
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Speaker 1: feels for him because his name has been written down
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Speaker 1: in this book for all of us to read to
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Speaker 1: the end of time to see what a true suffering
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Speaker 1: servant really looks like so that we can all emulate,
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Speaker 1: I suppose, Job when we have to go through trials
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Speaker 1: on earth. And actually, that's another reason why Job had
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Speaker 1: to suffer was for all of us future Yahweh worshipers
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Speaker 1: who go through trials and persecutions and miseries on earth.
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Speaker 1: We can take comfort knowing what Job has gone through
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Speaker 1: and even use him as an example in our own
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Speaker 1: lives of how we can, I guess, suffer to the
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Speaker 1: best of our ability without losing faith in God. So
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Speaker 1: that's three reasons already that have nothing to do with
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Speaker 1: Job's sin, why God was allowing Job to suffer. A
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Speaker 1: fourth reason was so that Job could show another aspect
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Speaker 1: of God, that God is not this prosperity gospel God
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Speaker 1: that everybody likes to worship. You know, bow down to
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Speaker 1: such and such God and it will give you what
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Speaker 1: you're asking for. It will bless you with all these
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Speaker 1: good things, whether it's children or money or good career
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Speaker 1: or a marriage or love, health, whatever else you're looking for.
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Speaker 1: That is not who God is. So the book of
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Speaker 1: Job is a war on the prosperity gospel. Already, we
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Speaker 1: see so many reasons why Job is suffering. But Eliphaz
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Speaker 1: can only see one reason with his limited knowledge. He
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Speaker 1: sees only that people suffer because they did something stupid.
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Speaker 1: But that is not always the case. So when we
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Speaker 1: see somebody who is suffering, we cannot just automatically assume
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Speaker 1: that they did something wrong. For example, my sister and
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Speaker 1: I have always struggled with the ability to conceive. My
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Speaker 1: sister was able to have my niece about 10 years ago,
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Speaker 1: but has never been able to conceive since then.
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Speaker 2: And I've never had this happen to me. Thank God.
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Speaker 1: I've always had very kind people never throw it in
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Speaker 1: my face that I can't have kids or anything like that.
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Speaker 1: But one time my sister was talking to a lady
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Speaker 1: and this lady told her, Jamie, you just need to
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Speaker 1: give your womb to the Lord. That's the only way
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Speaker 1: you're going to be able to have kids is if
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Speaker 1: you give your womb to the Lord. And my sister's like,
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Speaker 1: what are you talking about? Like, what do you mean
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Speaker 1: by that? And by the way, this lady had like
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Speaker 1: 10 kids and she's like, no, I, you know, I
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Speaker 1: just dedicated my womb to the Lord when I first
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Speaker 1: got married and you need to do the exact same thing.
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Speaker 1: What this lady was implying without knowing anything was that
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Speaker 1: my sister was doing something against God that she needed
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Speaker 1: to dedicate herself to. more to God in order to
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Speaker 1: actually be able to have children. But here's the thing,
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Speaker 1: not being able to have kids is not necessarily God
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Speaker 1: punishing you. In fact, there are plenty of barren women
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Speaker 1: in the Old Testament who are following the plans of God.
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Speaker 1: We can see one actually in the Anna, who did
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Speaker 1: not have any children. She had been married to her husband,
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Speaker 1: I think it was for seven years before he had died.
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Speaker 1: And after that, she ended up just like living in
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Speaker 1: the temple and serving in the temple until she was
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Speaker 1: very old. And she got to prophesy about Jesus and
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Speaker 1: see the Messiah with her own eyes before she died.
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Speaker 1: She was a woman without children, not to mention all
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Speaker 1: the Old Testament women that we see that weren't able
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Speaker 1: to have children. So just because you are going through
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Speaker 1: some sort of trial, whether it be kids or anything else, honestly,
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Speaker 1: does not necessarily mean that God is against you or
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Speaker 1: that you are sinning or not dedicating yourself more to
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Speaker 1: God or anything like that. And some quote-unquote Christian leaders
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Speaker 1: can really manipulate with this. Oh, you just need to
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Speaker 1: have more faith. You need to sow a seed. You
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Speaker 1: need to give more to God. You need to give
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Speaker 1: more of your money, more of your time to God,
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Speaker 1: and he will eventually... bless you with whatever you need
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Speaker 1: blessed with. No, that is just spiritual manipulation. And unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: that is what Eliphaz is doing to Job right here. Job,
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Speaker 1: if you would just actually seek God and commit your
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Speaker 1: cause to God like I do, then you'll be blessed again.
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Speaker 1: In verses 9 through 16, he goes on to list
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Speaker 1: the attributes of God, which interestingly enough, all of this
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Speaker 1: part is mostly truthful. Verse 9 says, He does great
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Speaker 1: things that can't be fathomed, marvelous things without number. He
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Speaker 1: gives rain on the earth and sends water on the
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Speaker 1: fields so that he sets up on high.
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Speaker 2: Those who are low.
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Speaker 1: Those who mourn are exalted to safety. He frustrates the
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Speaker 1: plans of the crafty so that their hands can't perform
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Speaker 1: their enterprise. He takes the wise in their own craftiness.
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Speaker 1: The counsel of the cunning is carried headlong. And they
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Speaker 1: meet with darkness in the daytime, and they grope at
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Speaker 1: noonday as in the night. But he saves from the
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Speaker 1: sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand
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Speaker 1: of the mighty. So the poor has hope, and injustice
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Speaker 1: shuts her mouth. So these are all great attributes of God.
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Speaker 1: Eliphaz was right about this part, that God is good,
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Speaker 1: that his ways can't be fathomed. He gives rain to
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Speaker 1: the crops. He exalts the lowly. You know, we read
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Speaker 1: about these things all the time, actually, in scripture. We
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Speaker 1: read about these in the Psalms. in the Proverbs, in Ecclesiastes.
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Speaker 1: Hence why in 1 Corinthians 3, Paul actually does quote
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Speaker 1: from Job chapter 5, Eliphaz's words, to say something good
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Speaker 1: about God. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 19 says this, For
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Speaker 1: the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for
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Speaker 1: it is written, he has taken the wise in their craftiness.
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Speaker 1: That's Paul quoting from Eliphaz. Because there are true things
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Speaker 1: with what Eliphaz is saying here, but he is not
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Speaker 1: applying these truths correctly. And that can be really, really dangerous.
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Speaker 1: Some of the best lies out there are twisted truths
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Speaker 1: or truths that are misapplied. And that, unfortunately, is what
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Speaker 1: Eliphaz is doing here. Whether he's doing it knowingly or
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Speaker 1: just in his own ignorance, I don't know. I would
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Speaker 1: guess it's out of his own ignorance because he's never...
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Speaker 1: taken the time to really know who God is. And
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Speaker 1: maybe he's kind of just like wise in his own estimation,
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Speaker 1: which is kind of funny because in 1 Corinthians 3,
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Speaker 1: the verse I just read for you guys, where Paul
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Speaker 1: was quoting Eliphaz, he mentions in this same verse, the
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Speaker 1: wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it
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Speaker 1: is written, he has taken the wise in their craftiness.
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Speaker 2: Paul was always so snarky.
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Speaker 1: And I bet you he's kind of poking at Eliphaz
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Speaker 1: right here, saying that, yeah, Eliphaz, you know, you thought
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Speaker 1: you were wise, but actually you were foolish in the
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Speaker 1: eyes of God.
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Speaker 2: And he takes the wise in their craftiness.
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Speaker 1: But going back to Job chapter 5, Eliphaz continues talking
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Speaker 1: about God. And he says in verse 17 right here, Behold,
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Speaker 1: happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore, do not
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Speaker 1: despise the chastening of the Almighty. Okay, there's no other
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Speaker 1: verse in scripture that I look this up. that says
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Speaker 1: that those who God corrects are happy. In fact, it
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Speaker 1: says specifically in scripture that the discipline of the Lord
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Speaker 1: is not fun when you're going through it. People aren't
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Speaker 1: just like happily skipping through God's correction. Like nobody's doing that.
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Speaker 1: So obviously people aren't happy. And what a crazy thing
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Speaker 1: to say to Job, by the way, who is like
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Speaker 1: mourning in ashes right now. Job, you just need to
20:08
Speaker 1: be happy. So you got to like perk up, you know,
20:10
Speaker 1: get out of those ashes. You are going to be happy.
20:13
Speaker 1: It's a crazy thing to say to somebody who is struggling.
20:17
Speaker 1: Would you ever tell one of your friends that who
20:20
Speaker 1: is going through something like Job is going through where
20:22
Speaker 1: they just lost all of their children? Would you ever
20:25
Speaker 1: say that to somebody? No, that is insane. First, he's
20:28
Speaker 1: blaming Job for all of these things that happened to him.
20:31
Speaker 1: You know, his children getting crushed under the hand of God.
20:35
Speaker 1: And now he's saying, Job, you just have to be happy.
20:37
Speaker 1: Happy is the man who God corrects. That's not found
20:41
Speaker 1: anywhere in scripture except for in Eliphaz's lying mouth. But
20:46
Speaker 1: then he says a truth right after it. Therefore, do
20:49
Speaker 1: not despise the chastening of the Almighty. Now that is true.
20:53
Speaker 1: That is scriptural. That's found in Proverbs 3, 11 through 12,
20:57
Speaker 1: which says, My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
21:00
Speaker 1: and do not resent his rebuke because the Lord disciplines
21:03
Speaker 1: those he loves. as a father, the son he delights in.
21:06
Speaker 2: And similarly, in.
21:07
Speaker 1: Hebrews 12, five through six, it says, and have you
21:10
Speaker 1: forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son,
21:14
Speaker 1: don't regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be
21:17
Speaker 1: weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the
21:20
Speaker 1: one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.
21:24
Speaker 1: And I think Hebrews goes on to explain there that
21:28
Speaker 1: discipline is never fun when it happens, but you shouldn't
21:30
Speaker 1: reject it because you know, if you're being disciplined by God,
21:34
Speaker 1: that he loves you like a son, the way that
21:37
Speaker 1: a father disciplines a child that he loves, right? But
21:41
Speaker 1: that does not mean it's fun during the time of discipline,
21:45
Speaker 1: as Eliphaz is claiming right here to Job. Eliphaz continues
21:49
Speaker 1: about God. For he wounds and binds up. He injures
21:53
Speaker 1: and his hands make whole. He will deliver you in
21:56
Speaker 1: six troubles. Yes, in seven, no evil will touch you.
22:00
Speaker 1: In famine, he will redeem you from death. In war,
22:03
Speaker 1: from the power of the sword. You will be hidden
22:05
Speaker 1: from the scourge of the tongue. Neither will you be
22:08
Speaker 1: afraid of destruction when it comes. You will laugh at
22:11
Speaker 1: destruction and famine. Neither will you be afraid of the
22:14
Speaker 1: animals of the earth, for you will be allied with
22:16
Speaker 1: the stones of the field and the animals of the
22:19
Speaker 1: field will be at peace with you. So he starts
22:21
Speaker 1: to say, Job, you are going through it right now,
22:24
Speaker 1: but God is going to bless you once again. If
22:27
Speaker 1: you just repent, if you just turn back to him,
22:31
Speaker 1: he's going to bless you all over again. You're going
22:33
Speaker 1: to laugh at all of this destruction and anything else
22:36
Speaker 1: that tries to touch you. Again, crazy thing to say
22:40
Speaker 1: to a man who just lost his entire livelihood. Verse 24,
22:44
Speaker 1: you will know that your tent is in peace. You
22:46
Speaker 1: will visit your fold and will miss nothing. You will
22:49
Speaker 1: know also that your offspring will be great. Your offspring
22:52
Speaker 1: is the grass of the earth. Okay.
22:58
Speaker 2: Job just lost his children. What kind of a comfort
23:02
Speaker 2: is that to Job?
23:03
Speaker 1: Clearly that is not comforting at all to be like, Job,
23:07
Speaker 1: you just lost your entire children. but your offspring is
23:11
Speaker 1: going to be great and you're going to see your
23:13
Speaker 1: children flourish.
23:15
Speaker 2: What? Oh my gosh.
23:18
Speaker 1: I'm honestly at a loss for words how someone could
23:22
Speaker 1: think this is a good way to comfort a friend
23:26
Speaker 1: who has just gone through all of this. The only
23:28
Speaker 1: thing that I can think is that Eliphaz... is so
23:32
Speaker 1: arrogant and is so trustworthy of his own wisdom that
23:37
Speaker 1: he believes it's right to say these foolish things to Job.
23:41
Speaker 1: I mean, again, going back to 1 Corinthians 3, verse 19,
23:45
Speaker 1: for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
23:48
Speaker 1: For it is written, he has taken the wise in
23:50
Speaker 1: their craftiness. Man, Eliphaz truly believes that he is wise
23:55
Speaker 1: in his own estimation. In fact, he kind of says
23:58
Speaker 1: that at the very last verse right here. Behold, we
24:02
Speaker 1: have researched it.
24:03
Speaker 2: It is so.
24:05
Speaker 1: Hear it and know it for your good. That is
24:09
Speaker 1: the most arrogant statement I have ever heard in my life. Job,
24:13
Speaker 1: we are wise because we have researched it.
24:16
Speaker 2: It is so.
24:17
Speaker 1: Everything we're saying to you is hand on the Bible truth.
24:22
Speaker 1: Hear it and know it for your own good.
24:25
Speaker 2: But what kind of good comes.
24:27
Speaker 1: From something like what Eliphaz just said? So let's summarize
24:31
Speaker 1: everything Eliphaz just told Job from the previous chapter and
24:35
Speaker 1: this one. He said, Job, God is mean. He finds
24:39
Speaker 1: basically nothing good with anybody, not even his own angels.
24:43
Speaker 1: So who are you to ask these questions to God?
24:45
Speaker 1: Because he's not thinking about that. He is not going
24:47
Speaker 1: to answer you. He also said that God is very
24:51
Speaker 1: great and does lots of good things, but only to
24:55
Speaker 1: people who actually do something good in return. If anybody
24:59
Speaker 1: is sinful, God does not bless that person. If anybody
25:03
Speaker 1: is foolish, they cause their own destruction. He says, Job,
25:08
Speaker 1: you were foolish. Just repent of your sin, turn back
25:11
Speaker 1: to God and actually seek him and God will bless
25:15
Speaker 1: you once again. So Job, be happy in God's correction
25:18
Speaker 1: right now. Pull yourself out of those ashes and put
25:22
Speaker 1: a smile on your face because God's going to bless
25:25
Speaker 1: you once again if you just turn back to him.
25:28
Speaker 1: And on Monday, we will discuss Job's response to Eliphaz
25:32
Speaker 1: with all of this. But for right now, I appreciate
25:35
Speaker 1: all of you guys sticking with me to the end
25:37
Speaker 1: of the episode. And before I let all of you
25:39
Speaker 1: guys go, I ask that you stick around for one
25:42
Speaker 1: last sponsored advertisement. All right, faithful listeners, hopefully this episode
25:49
Speaker 1: brought you a little bit of encouragement, especially if you've
25:51
Speaker 1: been going through something recently. Don't just assume every single
25:55
Speaker 1: time that God is angry with you. In fact, that
25:58
Speaker 1: could be something that you talk to God about today.
26:00
Speaker 1: Ask him to reveal why you're going through what you're
26:03
Speaker 1: going through. And unlike what Eliphaz says right here, God
26:06
Speaker 1: may just answer your request for that.
26:09
Speaker 2: In fact, I believe very.
26:11
Speaker 1: Strongly that God does, in fact, answer people who have
26:14
Speaker 1: questions for him. So faithful listeners, that's an encouragement that
26:18
Speaker 1: I hope you guys take with you throughout the rest
26:21
Speaker 1: of the day. And hopefully I will see all of
26:23
Speaker 1: you wonderful faithful listeners tomorrow as we move into 2
26:27
Speaker 1: Peter chapter 1. That is a brand new book of
26:29
Speaker 1: the Bible that we will be discussing tomorrow. Because as
26:32
Speaker 1: you guys know, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I talk about
26:35
Speaker 1: the New Testament. And on Mondays and Wednesdays, I talk
26:38
Speaker 1: about the Old Testament. So we're in the book of
26:40
Speaker 1: Job and also starting tomorrow in the book of 2 Peter.
26:44
Speaker 2: So I'll see all of you faithful.
26:45
Speaker 1: Listeners then 6 a.m.
26:47
Speaker 2: Or whenever you choose to wake up. Happy listening and
26:50
Speaker 2: God bless.
26:57
Speaker 1: I just want to take a second to thank the
26:58
Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with me on
27:01
Speaker 1: the Bible Explained podcast. In fact, if you go to lifeaudio.com,
27:04
Speaker 1: you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network.
27:08
Speaker 1: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.