There are two things Eliphaz has to say. First, Job is whining, he is able to speak
into and encourage others but now that troubles have touched his life he has
crumbled, he should take his own counsel.
Second, the Lord has spoken to Eliphaz and the truth is only God is
holy, not the angels, much less men. In
other words, this is because of sin in Job's life that such things have
happened. We know, however, from chapter
1 of the book that it has nothing to do with sin in Job's life. Amazingly, this remains the "go to"
explanation for calamity in this life.
We think it about ourselves and we think it about others although most
wouldn't be so insensitive to actually say it to a man in Job's situation.
We tend to lean on our own understanding too much. Here, the people "know" Jesus, He
grew up there, they knew His parents, knew His education or lack thereof, but
they didn't know any of the things they thought they knew. They knew Jesus' mother and surely they had heard
the story of His conception but didn't believe it, so they didn't know who His
Father was after all. They knew He
didn't go to rabbinic schools but they did know that He possessed wisdom and
knowledge because He spoke and taught publicly.
They had seen and heard about the signs and wonders He had done but
instead of standing in awe they made wrong judgments about how He did such
things. Because they lacked faith, He
could do but little among them. On what
evidence do we make judgments?
What is the antidote to making wrong judgments and leaning on
our own understanding? Worship. We need to bow before the throne and
recognize that the Lord alone is the source of all wisdom, knowledge and
understanding because He created all things and by His will they existed and
were created. Worship brings humility
because it is acknowledgement of our own frailty and the great mercy whereby we
continue to exist. We are but dust if He
does not gather that dust together and breathe life into what He thus creates,
and to dust we shall return unless He wills and works otherwise. Our very existence is conditional upon His
will and we, therefore, need to make conditional judgments until He has shown
us truth.
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