READING: Job 5:1-7:21
Sometimes someone gives us generally right information but with the wrong application—and we have to decide how to respond. Today’s reading takes us in that direction. In Eliphaz’s first response to Job, he laid at Job’s feet the responsibility for suffering as he did. It must have been his sin that caused God to bring judgment on him. But, at the same time, Eliphaz challenged Job to recognize the “blessing” of God’s discipline.
Here’s the way Eliphaz put it: “But consider the joy of those corrected by God! Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin. For though he wounds, he also bandages. He strikes, but his hands also heal” (Job 5:17-18). According to Eliphaz, the Lord would eventually restore blessings to Job if he simply accepted God’s loving discipline and admitted his sin.
It is indeed the case that God disciplines those He loves (Heb 12:6). It’s also the case that the same God who disciplines brings healing (Deut 32:39, Psa 147:3). As Hebrews 12:10-11 reminds us, God’s discipline is “good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.” So, in some sense, Eliphaz was right.
On the other hand, sin was not the issue for Job. Eliphaz assumed it was, but that was not the case. He generally got his theology about God right, but he got his application of the truth wrong—and his words were no comfort to Job.
All of us run this risk as we teach God’s Word, so we must prayerfully rely on the Spirit for His leading.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: If you teach the Scriptures, do you moment-by-moment seek God’s leading?
TODAY’S PRAYER: “Lord, help me always to seek You as I teach or advise others.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Job 8:1-11:20
