FBC Morning Light – August 19, 2023

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. It is good to be back with you. I know that we did broadcast last Saturday, but that recording happened about six weeks.

Ago.

So this is actually the first recording that I've made for one of our Saturday morning devotionals in about six weeks. This morning, our passage is from Job, chapters 22 through 27. We're actually going to start in chapter 21 with the very last verse of chapter 21, and we're going to go into just the first part of chapter 22.

Misreading Job Through Assumptions About Suffering

Before we do that, though, let me ask you a question. Have you ever had a conversation with someone in which you made an assumption about what they were saying, about what was really happening on the inside of them that ended up being completely wrong?

I'm going to make the case to you today that Eliphaz is doing exactly that to Job. All right? Verse 34 of chapter 21, this is Job speaking. He says, How then can you comfort me with empty words, since falsehood remains in your answers?

Now, many falsehoods, and we talked about this last Saturday, and I'm sure Pastor has talked about it this week as well. The approach that Job's friends are taking is a mixture of truth and error, and when you mix truth with error, you generally come out with error, okay?

And so Job is rightly proclaiming that falsehood remains in your answers, but his words there at the beginning of verse 34, How then can you comfort me? Give the impression of someone who is unconsolable, someone who is filled with bitterness and perhaps even anger at God, all right?

And that's the assumption that Job is making, or that Job's friends here are making, that there is a problem in the relationship between Job and God because Job's circumstances are so horrible. So chapter 22, Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, Can a man be profitable to God, though he who is wise may be profitable to himself?

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless? Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you and enters into judgment with.

You?

Christ Has Paid It All, So Correction Must Be Handled Carefully

All right, so a couple of things here. Starting out with a little bit of truth in the question, it says, Can a man be profitable.

To God?

And the answer is no in this sense, that all your righteousnesses or all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags to God. We do not bring anything in terms of our righteousness to add to what Christ has done.

Christ has paid it all, all right? Is it a pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? He has chosen to be pleased with us because He sees us in His Son. So that one may be not quite so true. Now we get down to verse 4, and this is where that assumption really comes out that Eliphaz is making.

He's good to ask a question, but notice that there's a subtle sharp knife in the back in this question. Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you? Notice that he's ultimately assuming that the bad things that have happened in Job's life must be that the Lord is correcting Job for something wrong that he's done.

So the accusation is made within the question and enters into judgment with you. He is outright accusing in the question that Job is under judgment for doing wrong here. Might I suggest to you that there's a better way to go about this, that instead he should have said, could it be that the Lord is correcting you?

Notice how different that question is from, is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you? Notice the first one, my question says, could it be that the Lord is providing correction? Meaning, I'm asking the question so that you have opportunity to dwell on that question.

The Holy Spirit can guide your answer to that question to see if there be anything wrong that needs correcting. The second one is an accusation that there is something wrong and you need to deal with it, even though it's put in terms of a question.

Asking Questions Without Assuming the Worst

So a couple of applications here, if things aren't going well in your life, I would ask you the question, is the Lord providing correction? Now notice I'm not saying that the Lord is providing correction on that.

I'm saying, is the Lord providing correction? And there's a very, very subtle but very distinct difference, okay? That is not something that I have inside information to, all right? And then perhaps in conversation this week, you'll have opportunity to talk to someone and rather than assuming something about the situation, ask about the situation so that the Lord can work through that without us being in the position of being one of Job's friends because that's not a good place to be.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for this interaction between Job and his friends and with God's sovereignty over the situation for us to learn about you as the sovereign and supreme over everything.

Help us to walk with you this day. It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray, amen. Have an excellent day, people of faith.