Something new

Part 14

 "The Words  of Scripture are for Children The thoughts are for men" Seed of the Women"     Dr. Arthur Custance

Gentle Reader,

We said that Elihu had First, a new approach,. Second, a new answer. Third a new appeal.

We have looked at the first two now lets consider the third thought:

A New Appeal

The appeal of Elipaz (aka Larry), Bildad (aka Curly) and Zophar (aka Mo) if appeal could be called an appeal finally amounted to, "Own up, and cease being a hypocrite."

"The reason, pastor why I don’t attend any church is because there are too many hypocrites" I have been told so many times to which my standard reply is "There is always room for one more!"

The appeal of Elihu has nothing to do with that sort of attitude. It is an appeal foe a new attitude in Job toward his afflictions. Larry, Curly and Mo had kept harping on some supposed wicked behaviour in the past. Elihu is concerned with a wrong attitude in the present. He does not discuss whether Job has committed grievous sin in the past. He accepts job’s protestation of innocence and while it may very well be that the protestation is genuine enough, Job’s present attitude and his spirit are all wrong. Job’s suffering may not be for past sin at all! His suffering is more than likely a chastening with some ultimately good purpose. But (there’s that but) Job is thwarting his own good by his impossible attitude.

Now then, in line with his philosophy of affliction as being corrective and educational rather than judicial and punitive, Elihu’s appeal is for a teachable humility on Job’s part. This is where Elihu feels that Job has mainly failed. As with others who have not been heard by God because their motive was wrong (Chapter 35 verse 12) " There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men." . So even Job’s requestions and protests earnest though they may have been, have sprung from a wrong motive, namely pride-a pride which has been self-righteously occupied with the vindication of Job himself even to the point of impugning God’s righteousness. God will not hear such "vanity" (Chapter 35 verse 13) "Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it." Job needs to realize his own impotence and ignorance (Chapter 37 verse 14-24)

" Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine?

Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?

How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?

Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?

Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.

Shall it be told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up.

And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.

Fair weather cometh out of the north: with God is terrible majesty.

Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.

Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart. "

This Gentle Reader, is what most of us who study seriously the word and the Words of the Bible which is called the word of God as is Christ Jesus.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (Gospel of John Chapter 1 verses 1-5 )

This is what we consider discerning or perhaps discernment. Discernment is seeing life through God’s perspective. Which we note "for the record" that Science which takes only evidence which it can see, feel, touch, taste, cannot ever touch God. For Gentle reader if God could be proved then God wouldn’t be would He?

Next time we’ll get just one step closer to explaining for once and for all why bad things happen to good people.

Love,

Denis

Why JOB?

Gentle Reader,

The reason why is found below. But in case you have trouble understanding why I would write/talk about the book of Job is because we live in a world that has gone mad!

Wal mart is suing a brain damaged woman employee to regain money back that they paid out (they were at fault) for medical bills , never mind that she is totally dependent on others in a nursing home. Never mind that Wal Mart earned $900 billion (yes that is right $900 Billion last quarter). Never mind that SEX is so rampant that the police are going on the Internet to catch predators. Never mind that you are facing the worst time in your life. Losing your jobs to other countries, facing the choice between eating food or buying gas! Never mind that parents are throwing their children off bridges or teens are shooting each other over the smallest slight.  Why? do I write about the Book of Job? Because God understands and you need to understand why bad things happen to good people!   

Reductionist Justice

Where Job's friends went wrong about suffering.
Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. Guest post

Few cases in life or in the Bible pose the problem of what seems to be innocent—and therefore unmerited—suffering more strikingly than the biblical depiction of Job. When Job's life is held up against what Psalm 1 and the book of Proverbs teach about the consequences of righteous and unrighteous living, something seems out of whack. Where did Job's three friends (Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite), and Job himself, go so wrong as to call forth God's reprimand at the end of the book?
The prologue to the Book of Job is critical in beginning to answer this question. Satan is given permission to see if Job's piety would hold firm (as God had announced to Satan it would) if Job were assaulted and stripped of his possessions, family, and his health. Job, of course, was unaware of all of this. In effect, it was not Job but God himself who was on trial. Satan's charge was that Job, and all righteous people like him, served God because he blessed them so generously. Job's first response was: "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be blessed (Job 1:21b). After Satan tested Job in the area of his health, Job still responded magnificently: "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" (Job 2:10b).

Nevertheless, Job's three friends pressed the case against Job, contending that suffering was the result of sin in Job's life. Their arguments went as follows:

Eliphaz: "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?" (Job 4:7).
Bildad: "Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?" (Job 8:3).
Zophar: "Yet if you devote your heart to [the LORD] and stretch out your hands to him, if you will put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame … But the eyes of the wicked will fail … Their hope will become a dying gasp" (Job 11: 13-20).
Their reasoning is that Job must have sinned and thus deserved all the suffering and discomfort, because God is a fair judge and rewarder of all that is right. Their case is a reductionistic one: Doing what is right brings prosperity, while sin and wickedness routinely bring suffering and misfortune. Perhaps these "friends" were thinking of texts such as:

"Wicked men are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous stands firm" (Prov. 12:7); or
"No harm befalls the righteous, but the wicked have their fill of trouble" (Prov. 12:21); or
"Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers … He is like a tree planted by streams of water … Whatever he does prospers" (Ps 1:1-3). (Also see Psalm 125).
Notice that the citations from Proverbs are cast into proverbial forms. A proverb is not the same as a promise. While a proverb gathers the majority of instances into a memorable saying that has a bit of saltiness to it, it cannot be universalized, for it does not take up the exceptions at that point. For example, "Look before you leap" is good advice for those contemplating a quick marriage, but "She who hesitates is lost" can be just as sound—and more personal—in the same situation. In the same manner, the psalmists trace the main paths of what happens to those who trust the Lord, but there is no inference or commitment in the text that says those same persons will never face suffering, evil, or testing as Job did. Instead, "Those the Lord loves he chastens" (Heb. 12:5-6).

Job refused to buy the three "comforters'" analysis of his situation, because they traced only one thread of God's method of operating: his judgment for sin. But what happens when someone suffers because God chooses that person to illustrate his grace and glory? Job forthrightly affirmed: "I have not denied the words of the Holy One" (Job 6:10c); "I have kept to [God's] way without turning aside" (Job 23:11) and "my lips will not speak wickedness and my tongue will not utter deceit" (Job 27: 4). Consequently, Job continued to make his appeal to God, whom he called his "umpire," "arbitrator," or "mediator" (Job 9:33), or his "witness" who was in heaven and would plead his case (Job 16:21) and the One he would see in his flesh after his body was resurrected (Job 19:26b).

So what did God say to Job and his friends' banter about the justification for God's ways? Surprisingly enough, God makes no charge against Job in all of this. In fact, God had already declared Job "blameless and upright" (Job 1:1); that is why he had been chosen for this test. That did not mean, however, that Job was absolutely without fault. Job did acknowledge his sin (Job 7:20-21; 13:26), but claimed he was without duplicity, hypocrisy, or pretense and that he loved and served God with his whole heart. More significantly, the epilogue of Job 42:8 indicts Job's three friends (but not Elihu, who argued that Job's suffering was instructive) for wrongly applying to Job the doctrine of retributive suffering. "You have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has," concluded the Lord.

Where then did Job's three friends go wrong? They reduced all evil to "retributive suffering," which is caused by sin and disobedience to God. But there are seven other types of suffering mentioned in the Bible: educational or disciplinary suffering as in Proverbs 3:11 or Hebrews 12:5-6; vicarious suffering, as in the case of our Lord's death on the cross; empathetic suffering, where one person's grief affects many others, as Isaiah 63:9 illustrates; evidential or testimonial suffering, as in the first two chapters of Job; doxological suffering for the glory of God, as in the man born blind in John 9; revelational suffering, as in the case of the prophet Hosea's wife abandoning him; and apocalyptic or eschatological suffering that will come at the end of this age.

While we cannot deny that the issue of suffering in the lives of God's people, such as Job, still contains a good deal of mystery, it is just as much a horrible misconception to declare that suffering is God's normal route for every believer as it is to declare that God's goodness means life will always result in prosperity and riches for those who serve the Lord.

Our decision must be to follow God and trust his justice, wisdom, and goodness whether we are in the throes of suffering or enjoying good health and blessing. Such a decision would surely cut the ground out from under Satan in the spiritual warfare of our day and age. Thus, the law of God does not contradict the Psalms, the historical writings, prophets, or the wisdom books. Believers will continue to suffer, but it will always be under the permission or direction of a merciful and wise heavenly Father who works for our good in the way of the truth and fairness of the gospel.

Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. is president emeritus and Colman M. Mockler Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.