May the mumbling commence!
Job finally breaks the silence and wishes that he was
never born. Talk about tough words. Who would answer him? Would anyone answer him? For those of you who have read the book of
Job before the answer is easy – yes someone answered Job, in this case it was
Eliphaz. Eliphaz and his compatriots
prove that remaining silent will keep people in doubt of your foolishness but
opening your mouth will remove all doubt.
Eliphaz mines his knowledge of Job’s previous responses
to other people who were troubled. Read
the brief summary of Eliphaz from Job chapter four:
"In the past you have encouraged many a troubled
soul to trust in God;
you have supported those who were weak.
Your words have strengthened
the fallen;
you steadied those who wavered.” (Verses 3-4)
What action verbs of compassion! Job encouraged the troubled soul – trust in God. Job supported the weak and strengthened the
fallen. Job steadied those who wavered.
How did Eliphaz follow Job’s example? It’s an important question. It does not appear that he followed in Job’s
footsteps. Instead he assumes Job’s
falling from grace in God. Though he
does say that Job’s remaining life is a sign that Job is not irredeemable,
Eliphaz makes the assumption that Job has sinned to deserve his current state.
These words seem harsh to our ears. Not many of us would make the assumption of
sin or guilt when someone good suffers.
Yet, it was not to uncommon a thing.
In Job’s day, it was believed that all things came from God – both good
and bad (see Job 1:10).
Maybe Job was getting a dose of his own medicine. Maybe the way of Eliphaz and Bildad and
Zophar was the way of Job. Did this
personal attack seem like encouragement to the comforter? Was this supporting the weak and
strengthening the fallen? Did words of
accusation steady people who wavered?
Job did not receive the words of his friends in that
way. BUT that does NOT mean that Job did
not give the same types of comfort to the troubled souls that he ministered to
before his valley experience.
It makes me think about how people are eager to give
advice when they have not experienced the situation themselves – like non-parents
giving parenting advice. Maybe we should
not assume we know what it’s like without having lived through something
similar. In fact, we should not assume
to know what it’s like for someone even when we have lived through something
similar.
The ministry of presence is still at the heart of being
there for someone hurting. Silence is
essential – so that we can listen… and perhaps help the person suffering see
God working in unexpected ways. Or
sometimes we only need to wail along with our loved one who is suffering
because we cannot see God at work.
Sometimes it’s necessary to see our own methods of
ministry used upon us to see them more clearly from the perspective of our
suffering loved ones. Grant us the
valley experiences so that we might learn and draw closer to you, O Lord. Read from Second Corinthians chapter six:
We try to live in such a way that no one will be hindered
from finding the Lord by the way we act, and so no one can find fault with our
ministry. In everything we do we try to
show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles
and hardships and calamities of every kind.
We have been beaten, been put in jail, faced angry mobs, worked to
exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We have proved
ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, our
sincere love, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
We have faithfully preached the truth. God's power has been working in
us. We have righteousness as our weapon, both to attack and to defend
ourselves. We serve God whether people honor
us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest,
but they call us
impostors. We are well known, but we are treated as unknown. We live close to death, but here we are, still alive. We have been beaten within an inch of our lives. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. (Verses 3-10)
Experiences do not define us. We are defined in our relationship with the
Lord. Everything else follows that. Help us, O Lord to have right relationship
with You.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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