JOB6and7: JOB'S RESPONSE TO ELIPHAZ'S FIRST SPEECH

Introduction. Read Job6and7

Job does not deal carefully with all the points Eliphaz made. Rather he responds to the general tenure of Eliphaz's remarks which are doubtless shared by the other two friends - Bildad and Zophar. First of all he addresses the attitude of his friends and makes some observations of lasting significance about how invalids are treated. Mankind's response to the suffering has not changed much through the ages! Then Job turns his attention to God and lets him know just how he feels in strong and impassioned language which many of the afflicted can empathise with.

(A) Job addresses his friends.

Job makes four main points:

(1) He is not making a fuss about nothing. 6v1 to 6v7.

Job protests that his anguish and misery are so great that it is little wonder he spoke intemperately. What did Eliphaz and his companions expect! The donkey brays and the ox bellows for lack of food. Why, people even complain if they are expected to eat bland and flavourless food without salt. So how can he, Job, be expected to suffer in silence?

LESSONS:

  • We need to listen sympathetically to people's complaints especially if we are prone to moan about trifles ourselves. We need to be aware that some Christians have a very great deal to put up with. I talked to a woman some time ago who did not feel her church gave her much support over the problems her children were suffering from. She had one daughter with depression, another with Crohn's disease and a son with schizophrenia. The least I could do was listen and offer prayer support.

  • A person's pain should always be taken seriously. Many misdiagnoses occur because some doctor's adopt an almost dismissive attitude to pain. If appendicitis is mistaken for indigestion the sufferer will soon be in a very, very bad way. Sometimes pain - like backache - can be caused by stress but that doesn't make the pain any less real or the desire for treatment frivolous. Misdiagnoses occur because medical students are taught: "When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras." But sometimes it is zebras!

  • Christians need to be realistic; there are times when it is very difficult to rejoice! When my friend Richard was a small boy he suffered badly from asthma. Once when his grandfather came to see him during a prolonged spell of breathlessness he said, "Granddad, I can't smile today." C.S. Lewis described his experience when his wife died of cancer in, 'A Grief observed'. It is a very uncomfortable book for a Christian to read. There is no joy in it. Some might say, "Paul told the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord always." See Phil4v4. He did not tell them to rejoice in their circumstances! Sometimes when things are very bad Jesus is all that's left to rejoice in.

(2) His only hope - to die well. See ch6v8to13.

Job is coming to the end of his resources. He has no strength left, no prospects and no power - just unrelenting pain. His only hope is that God will take him while he still has the satisfaction of remaining true to God. Job wants to die well.

Many Christians hope for a good death - a peaceful end and one conscious of being in the love of God.

My friend Jesse looked after her sister Winnie for the last few years of her life. Jesse often speaks to me on her sister's death. "John," she says, "Win died with such a beautiful smile on her face." This is reminiscent of C.S. Lewis' closing words in, 'A Grief Observed': She (his wife) said not to me but the chaplain, "I am at peace with God." She smiled, but not at me. Poi si torno all eterna fontana. (Then unto the eternal fountain she turned.) My fellow Christian, George Hartley, spent his last hours in hospital talking cheerfully and quietly with his family as he gently slipped away. I visited poor old John Flanaghan in hospital the evening he died. He was sitting in a chair. He told me in his broad Irish accent, "I'm not afraid to die, John, I know where I am going." An hour or so later he went with confidence to his eternal rest.

I thing many of us share Paul's concern that our bodies will make cowards of us before the end comes. Paul wrote to the Philippians: I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or by death. Phil1v20.

There is no doubt that some Christians have a far from easy time at the end. In Bunyan's, 'Pilgrim's Progress', Christian had much difficulty crossing the river at the conclusion of his pilgrimage. Entering the river Christian began to sink, and crying out to his good friend Hopeful, he said, "I sink in deep waters; the billows go over my head; all the waves go over me."

Then said the other, "Be of good cheer, my brother; I feel the bottom , and it is good." Then said Christian, "Ah! my friend, the sorrows of death have compassed me about; I shall not see the land that floweth with milk and honey." And with that a great darkness and horror fell upon Christian, so that he could not see before him. Also here in a great measure lost his senses, so that he could neither remember nor orderly talk of any of those sweet refreshments that he had met with in the way of his pilgrimage.

Eventually Christian took heart from the words of Isaiah the prophet: When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. Is43v2. AV.

May God help us to die well! We can go into that dark valley - the valley of the shadow of death - without fear if God is with us.

His friends provide no comfort. ch6v14to23.

Job feels he lacks the devotion of his friends notwithstanding the fact that they turned up to see him and spent days sitting with him on his ash heap. I am not sure my friends would do as much. However, the patriarch senses a fatal lack in them. They do not love him. This is what he craves.

Job judges his friends very severely. He says they are as dependable as intermittent streams that flow strongly in the spring when snow in the mountains melts but are dry in the height of summer when most needed. Travellers reliant upon these rivers will be disappointed. I suppose today we would call Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar fair weather friends. Perhaps they were business associates who turned up to see him as a group out of a sense of duty.

Job's friends were not much help to Job because his condition filled them with a sense of dread. There were three reasons for this:

  • It made them feel bad. Some people, especially men, share this attitude today. I used to play hockey with a chap who had a phobia of hospitals. I can remember a man making a terrible fuss to a group of carers who were in charge of a beach party of mentally handicapped youngsters. The man reckoned their presence on the beach was spoiling his holiday! A friend of mine would willingly give his wife and myself a lift to visit one of our church members who was in a nursing home catering for those with Alzheimer's disease - but he would never come in himself! I find myself inclined to look away from someone whose face is badly scarred by burns.

    We are not going to be much help to the sick and suffering if we are unable to face them!! Nor are we going to provide much comfort if we convey our sense of unease in their presence and instead of being cheerful are unnatural, jumpy, gloomy and quick to take our leave.

    This is a very real problem that some Christians need to address.

  • Job's predicament did not fit into his friend's scheme of things. They firmly believed that if you lived a righteous life God would ensure all would be well. This hadn't happened in Job's case. They knew he was an upright man and excelled them in righteousness and so his suffering was a big problem. It undermined their Theology!

    A problem always exists when a promise of Scripture appears to conflict with experience. I have trouble, for example, with Jesus' statement at the end of his Parable of the Persistent Widow: "And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly." God seems an awful long time giving some persecuted Christians justice. Some never receive it in this life! Another example is the well known promise in Rom8v28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Now I am sure that some of the things that afflict Christians like Alzheimer's disease or schizophrenia contribute NOTHING to their well being.

    A lot of Christians do not want to hear about exceptions to the promises that they are fond of quoting. I was talking only a few days ago with Christian visitors about a young Christian man who drowned himself in pig slurry. One of my visitors questioned whether he was really a Christian. This is the very attitude of Job's comforters who did not want to face up to the fact that a truly righteous man was suffering untold misery.

    If Scripture conflicts with experience we need to go back to the scripture and make absolutely sure that there are no alternatives to the translations in our Bibles. Very often there are! See expositions on Luke18v1to8 and Rom8v28to39.

  • Perhaps Job's friends feared he would ask them for more support than they were willing to give. Job may anticipate this fear when he says: "Have I ever said, 'Give me something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth.'" v22.

    Lots of people steer clear of those in need. They don't want to be involved because they may be asked to provide more help than they are willing to give.

    My neighbour is very ill with pancreatic cancer. I said I would do what I could to help. She asked me to dead head the flowers in her garden. This is not what I would have chosen to do - being no gardener and nursing a bad back! If you offer help you never know what you are letting yourself in for!

(4) A cry for respect.

Job wanted his friends to respect him in spite of his affliction and helplessness. He said: "Do you mean to correct what I say and treat the words of a despairing man as wind." v26. Job then refers to extreme examples of lack of respect - orphans put up as lottery prizes and women sold into slavery for essential supplies. Job doesn't want to be treated like that! He cries out for his integrity, his essential truthfulness, honesty and decency to be respected.

One of the things that the handicapped, the old and frail and the seriously ill want as much as anything else is respect. There is a tendency - as soon as our powers fail - for others to treat us impatiently, patronisingly and disrespectfully. I used to be a good cricketer but eventually a whole generation of new players joined the club who had never seen me in my pomp. I suffered considerable loss of respect!

We all need to be careful. The old lady at the checkout till who fumbles for coins in her purse and takes an age to pay may once have played hockey for England. The poor old boy in the nursing home who wanders about like a lost soul might once have been an eminent Bible scholar.

I am very slow to dispense with any of the lay preachers who take services at our church. Their ability to preach may have deteriorated but I persist with them in recognition of what they were.

(B) Job complains to God.

I am going to make four observations about Job's complaint to God:

(1) Life is a drag.

Job accepts that life can be onerous for the labouring man - but at least he has his wages to look forward to. Life for the slave can be drudgery but he anticipates with pleasure his evening's rest. Job gets very little from life at all. He has experienced months of futility and nights of misery. His scaly, scabby, infected skin even makes it impossible to enjoy a good night's sleep.

Serious debilitating illness does make life a drag. The invalid is unable to engage in any meaningful activity, has no real rest and is tormented by constant weakness and discomfit. This is the lot of those suffering from severe ME and MS. It is very, very hard for the sufferer and those that love him or her to cope with.

(2) This is the only life we've got.

Job observes that our earthly life is soon over. We reach our end swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Job considered his short life was the end of everything. He was without hope. There would be no more happiness. He would vanish never to be seen again for no one returns from the grave. The dead are lost to the community for ever. Job probably thought that if this life was the only one he was likely to have it was the cruellest of blows to have it spoiled by illness.

Job's grim scenario is shared by millions in Britain today whose philosophy is: You only live once so make the most of it.

The Christian has a radically different outlook. However bad life is the Christian has hope of a better one to come. Paul could write: For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2Cor4v17.

(3) He longs for respite.

Job in the bitterness of his soul cries out for respite. His illness is confining - all he has is the freedom of his ash heap! He doesn't need to be caged in. Job protests that he isn't some sea monster that needs restraining.

There is no escape for Job. He cannot even find refuge in sleep as he is tormented by awful nightmares.

The patriarch would rather be strangled and die than carry on as he is. He pleads with God to give him some respite. He says: "Why won't you leave me alone - even long enough to spit." Living Bible.

Many long for respite - from the itching of psoriasis, protracted pain, shortness of breath, depression and so I could go on. I saw a TV program some time ago about a new way to relieve severe and persistent pain. A woman was treated for intense facial pain. When the therapy gave her temporary respite she wept for joy.

We need to pray for researchers seeking to bring respite. I am profoundly grateful for all the advances in the treatment of asthma. The inhalers I use changed my life! Thank God for other advances too - in the treatment of cancer, arthritis, depression and the like.

However, there remain those for whom life is almost unbearable. What is truly terrible is that I have no answer for them.

(4) A disturbing picture of God.

Job visualises God as a sort of celestial inspector who keeps him under constant surveillance for each and every minor infraction. He complains that he isn't left alone a minute. Job accepts that he may have sinned but he cannot understand why this upsets God so much and he has become the target of his anger. Surely God could forgive his sins. He hasn't long to live so why hold them against him and make his life a misery.

There are still Christians who cast God in the role of the heavenly inspector who takes note of every sin and who will one day exact a deadly recompense. This used to be very much a feature of Roman Catholicism. I have just read, 'Seminary Boy,' by John Cornwell. This is an account of life in a Junior Seminary in the West Midlands in the early 1950s. The boys were encouraged to check their lives for sins on almost an hourly basis - sins which would later have to be confessed. It seems the new Pope has gone to the other extreme by pronouncing that God will forgive unrepentant atheists and agnostics.

Some legalistic Protestants of the sort Philip Yancey encountered in the Southern Baptist churches of his youth have lists of rules that they seem to think God expects Christians to keep.

Thank God for the gospel of which poor, suffering Job was unaware. The gospel is summarised by the familiar words of John: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

Our sins do matter to God!! They spoil us. However, he accepted the sacrifice for sin Jesus offered on our behalf on the cross which means, everyone who believes that Jesus' sacrifice atones for their sin and lives out that belief in service to Jesus will be adopted into God's family and inherit eternal life. Contrary to what the new Pope appears to teach those who reject the saving work of Jesus remain in their sins and will forfeit eternal life. It is a fearful thing to reject God's one and only son.

The New Testament teaches that God is far from being the heavenly inspector. He is the gracious father waiting for the prodigal to return home.

ANY COMMENTS FOR JOHN REED: E-mail jfmreed@talktalk.net

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