Job: Part 2 - (Eliphaz vs Job 1):

Is suffering God’s punishment for sin?

“It’s my observation that those who plow evil and sow trouble reap evil and trouble. One breath from God and they fall apart, one blast of his anger and there’s nothing left of them.” Job 4:8, 9

After Job’s complaint in Chapter 3, Eliphaz is the first of his friends to speak. Chapters 4 and 5 contain his opinion that innocent people prosper while sinful people are punished. By implication, Job, who was definitely not prospering, must have done something wrong. No life encountering such suffering can be innocent, according to Eliphaz.

He begins by acknowledging Job’s former righteousness in caring for the needs of others, but turns it into an accusation for not being stronger in the face of his own troubles. Obviously, Eliphaz lacked empathy or he wouldn’t have so easily discounted the weight of Job’s suffering. He asks Job, “shouldn’t your devout life give you confidence now? Think! Do genuinely innocent people ever lose out in the end?” (The Message)

Sounds like a veiled accusation to me...

And, with obnoxious, condescension Eliphaz adds,  “So, what a blessing when God steps in and corrects you! Mind you, don’t despise the discipline of Almighty God! True, he wounds, but he also dresses the wound;the same hand that hurts you, heals you.” In other words, “Don’t be mad at God, He’s doing you a great favor by punishing you!” (The Message)

Not helpful with suffering people...

Job was having none of it. In the following two chapters he said “tell me what I’ve done wrong and I’ll shut up. The truth never hurt anybody. I’ve done nothing wrong...do you think I’m lying to you? My integrity is on the line here...” He’d had enough of Eliphaz so Job turned to God... “God, don’t forget that I’m only a puff of air...even while you’re looking, there’ll be nothing left to look at so I’m not keeping one bit of this quiet, I’m laying it all out on the table; my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest. Let up on me, will you? Why don’t you just forgive my sins and start me off with a clean slate? The way things are going, I’ll soon be dead!” (The Message)

When we automatically view trouble as God’s punishment, we are always looking for the crime that precipitated it. And, since it’s from God, we’re supposed to be grateful that God cares enough to keep us on track. It’s bad theology and bad counsel. It only serves to dishearten and anger people.  Job is the perfect Example; we know what Eliphaz didn’t...Job’s suffering originated with Satan, not God and...Job wanted to die.

When we observe pain and suffering in others, let’s not be so swift to to suggest God is teaching them something. Remember, sin is ALWAYS the cause of suffering. And, God always punishes sin...It just might not be the sin of the one who’s suffering

Live boldly out there today...

Job: Part 1 - (Job’s Distress): I wish I’d never been born!

“So in all this, Job said nothing wrong”. Job 2;10

“Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.” Job 3:1

Patient: “Doc, it hurts when I do this”.

Doctor: “Quit doing it”.

Our country is embroiled in disruption and violence over the murder of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, at the hands of police. Death and destruction follow in the wake of that event yet we are no closer to resolution. Our heart is appalled and sickened that an innocent man has lost his life. We decide somebody has to pay so we burn buildings, loot stores and kill more innocent people. Do you suppose this will be the last incident of police killing innocents? Of course not.

So we have done incalculable damage and not moved the needle.

We need to lead with the head here, not the heart. We need to identify what happened. We need to develop a preventative plan and invest appropriate resources to implement the plan. And...identifying “racism” as the cause is an impoverished emotional reaction that will lead us nowhere good. If we don’t properly identify the cause we can never develop an effective preventative plan. 

We will simply plan to treat the symptom rather than the disease.

I understand. I recall M. Scott Peck suggesting when the concept of evil was removed from the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), an entire category of disorders was left undiagnosed...and untreated. We should all agree George Floyd was murdered, not because his killer is a racist, but because his killer is an evil and unrepentant sinner. Racism is merely an uncomfortable evidence of sin. But..we are incapable, as a culture, to diagnose sin because it no longer exists in our cultural ethos. How convenient...because it allows us to say “I’m not like him because I’m not a racist”. I can condemn racism without condemning myself...and allows me to throw the first stone, or brick, or Molotov Cocktail.

So...where does all this this lead? If evil is the root of our problems and evil resides in the heart of each of us...that’s a problem. If I call it “sin” I may have to drop my stone. Because, at best, I’m a “recovering sinner” who can (and does) fall off that wagon with alarming regularity. 

An accurate analysis of life’s trouble leads only to God. And...God changes the human heart...

Job’s life is a metaphor for our own struggles and Job’s soliloquy is instructive. He is coherent and well crafted, considering his circumstances. In three distinct parts, Job responds to his situation in precisely the manner God designed us to respond. 

First, Job expressed how he felt; “I wish I’d never been born!”  

“Let the day be lost on which I was born...May God above not care for it...May light not shine on it.... because it did not keep my mother from giving birth to me, or hide trouble from my eyes.” I other words, “I wish I’d never been born!”

Too late...won’t change a thing.

So, Job expressed what he wanted; “I want to die!”  

“Why did I not die before I was born, hidden and put away, as babies that never see the light? There the troubles of the sinful stop. There the tired are at rest.”

Apparently, not part of God’s design...won’t change a thing

Finally, Job began to think about his dilemma by asking a poignant question: “Why does God give life just so we can be miserable in the difficulties that imprison us...that He (Himself) allows?”

Now...he’s getting somewhere...if only reminding himself he is not God.

Created in the image of God, you and I have eternal souls (our essential, metaphysical being)...as does God the Father, an essence not given to any other species in creation, setting us apart, and above, everything else. We also have temporary, physical bodies to serve as vehicles for interacting with the world during our earthly journey...just as did Incarnate God, in Christ. Finally, we are spiritual beings...we have a spirit...just as God is Spirit. It is in our spirit that God joins with us, at our confession of faith (Romans 8), resulting in a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5). We become human hybrids...people occupied by Divinity. 

Residing within our spirits are the core characteristics that define each of us as unique individuals: our feelings (emotions) our aspirations (will) and our thoughts (intellect). We conveniently refer to these qualities as the heart (feelings and aspirations) and the head (thoughts). The heart is reactionary (fight or flight), the head is deliberative (identify, plan, prepare). Both are necessary for a heathy life. As believers we strive, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to reform these human characteristics so they conform to the Divine. 

It seems the natural order in response to life experiences, good or bad. We have feelings about them (joy, sadness, fear), next come aspirations for them  (repeat or remove), and then we think about what they mean (Who? What? When? Where? How?). I observe, in life, we rarely arrive at a satisfactory conclusion of things until we deliberate over them. Feelings and aspirations are reactionary and inform our “fight or flight” response. They are critical for survival but neither offers wisdom or understanding. That occurs when we step back and think about it.

Only than can we trust our feelings and our aspirations to serve us as God intended. Whatever difficulty I am personally facing I must move past my heart’s reaction, as quickly as is appropriate, and engage my head before I will find an effective solution. As was true in Job’s case, my struggle today may have nothing to do with my sin but...it somehow begins with sin and, how will I know if I don’t conduct a serious analysis?

Look again at George Floyd. Who? What? When? Where? How? But, begin with Satan and see where that leads.

Continuing to do the same thing while hoping for a different result is insanity.

Live boldly out there today...