*Scripture: Job 15:1-35 (NKJV)* 1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 "Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind? 3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or by speeches with which he can do no good? 4 Yes, you cast off fear, and restrain prayer before God. 5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. 6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you. 7 Are you the first man who was born? Or were you made before the hills? 8 Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? 9 What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us? 10 Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, much older than your father. 11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, and the word spoken gently with you? 12 Why does your heart carry you away, and what do your eyes wink at, 13 that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth? 14 What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? 15 If God puts no trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in His sight, 16 how much less man, who is abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water!
17 "I will tell you, hear me; What I have seen I will declare, 18 what wise men have told, not hiding anything received from their fathers, 19 to whom alone the land was given, and no alien passed among them: 20 The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden from the oppressor. 21 Dreadful sounds are in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him. 22 He does not believe that he will return from darkness, for a sword is waiting for him. 23 He wanders about for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Trouble and anguish make him afraid; They overpower him, like a king ready for battle. 25 For he stretches out his hand against God, and acts defiantly against the Almighty, 26 running stubbornly against Him with his strong, embossed shield. 27 Though he has covered his face with his fatness, and made his waist heavy with fat, 28 he dwells in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabits, which are destined to become ruins. 29 He will not be rich, nor will his wealth continue, nor will his possessions overspread the earth. 30 He will not depart from darkness; The flame will dry out his branches, and by the breath of His mouth he will go away. 31 Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself, for futility will be his reward. 32 It will be accomplished before his time, and his branch will not be green. 33 He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine, and cast off his blossom like an olive tree. 34 For the company of hypocrites will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery. 35 They conceive trouble and bring forth futility; Their womb prepares deceit." *Devotion* Job's friends may have meant well, but they were pitiful comforters. They blamed Job for all the afflictions he was enduring, and then blamed him some more for not taking comfort in their "word spoken gently." Their argument went something like this: The righteous prosper, and the wicked suffer. You are suffering, therefore you must be wicked. Actually, their reasoning is reminiscent of Psalm 1, which makes a similar distinction between the righteous and the wicked. The problem is that Job's friends were viewing prosperity and suffering from a worldly point of view. What does the righteous life look like to God? It looks like Jesus' life. What does prosperity look like to God? It looks like Jesus, the Righteous One who endured the Cross and shame in this world, and afterwards received the crown of glory. On the other hand, the wicked, who live under God's condemnation, often prosper in this life, as Asaph notes in Psalm 73. The true prosperity of the righteous is the favor of God, which is ours by faith in Christ. But His favor is often hidden here on Earth behind suffering and will only be revealed in Heaven. Likewise, God's disfavor toward the wicked is often hidden here on Earth and will only be revealed later on. There is comfort for the Christian under the Cross--comfort about which Job's friends knew nothing. It is the comfort that suffering and the Cross are not signs of God's displeasure, but proofs of His faithfulness. They are the tools that He uses to purify our faith and mold us into the image of Christ, the Righteous One Who suffered for us. Call Send SMS Add to Skype You'll need Skype CreditFree via Skype
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