Eliphaz is going in for the kill. Note in verses 22:6 and 13, he accuses Job of doing things and saying things that he actually hasn’t. Whatever causes him to make such accusations – anger, pack mentality, envy of old boiling over now that Job is in a weakened state – whatever it is, we must understand that we are susceptible to the same ugly behavior, and guard against it. God, transform me as You promise to do!
Eliphaz’s brand of righteousness is not lovely. In verses 22:19 -20 he speaks of the righteous being glad at the destruction of the wicked, and mocking them. Does that seem like a righteous person? He also doesn’t understand that even the righteous don’t get their way in all things. Note verse 22:28. The righteous don’t have a relationship with God like Aladdin had with the magic genie. That would make God the slave of the righteous, and that is not the sovereign God He says He is or that we want Him to be. Eliphaz’s speech leads one to believe that he is speaking about the righteous from experiential knowledge, but we can be certain that he didn’t enjoy that magic genie relationship with God.
Job again shares his longing for a way to approach God. How fortunate we are to have Jesus as the way to come to God (John 14:6) and as our intercessor before God (Hebrews 7:25).
In verse 23:10 Job expresses his continued confidence in God’s justice. Note the way of the blameless man that he describes in the following verses, and remember that God considers him a blameless man. This is certainly reason enough for us to use him as an example for what blamelessness looks like and how to attain that goal. Notice that what he has done is invest in relationship with God. He hasn’t checked off a list of to-dos, but has done what God has said to do, without deviating, without accommodating his personal comforts or opinions.
Job notes that his friends are wrong in their observations about the prosperous wicked being struck down and brought to destruction. How often do we actually see that happen? God’s justice is often a matter between Him and the unjust, and we don’t get to see it happen.
Then Bildad adds his two cents. He doesn’t say anything wrong, but He comes off as self-righteous. Man may see himself as a worm in comparison to God’s greatness, but this is not God’s view of man;. we know that because of Psalm 8.
Job demonstrates the best understanding of God, which leads to the observation that if we take our questions to Him, we will gain understanding. If instead we hold to our assumptions about Him, great as they are, and don’t acknowledge the challenges that reality sometimes brings to bear on our limited understanding, we will not learn the deeper truths about God. That’s what the Roman Catholic Church leaders did to the revelations of the telescope during the Renaissance, and refused to believe that the earth revolves around the sun, leading to a marginalization of the Church and of God in people’s minds. Rather, the best way to handle such perceived challenges to our understanding of God is to take them to Him and ask for help understanding the truth.
If we don’t, is it because we don’t believe that God will answer? He promises that we’ll find Him if we seek Him with all our hearts. Or don’t we believe that the truth can stand up to the scrutiny of man’s understanding? It always can, but we’ll never know that if we don’t seek to understand. God is the only source of understanding, and our questions must be taken to Him. Or do we trust man’s wisdom and the observation of our limited senses more than we trust the all-knowing God?
Crises often present us with a challenge to choose to believe God or man’s wisdom (whether that be one’s own, or a revered wise man or scientist). God is up to the challenge! Present Him with the dilemma!