Year 2, Day 116: Job 22

Lie: Mankind Is Useless to God

Alright, I’m going to confess that Eliphaz hit a nerve right off of the bat.  Not that this is a surprise.  By now we should be growing tired of Job’s friends.  Job certainly is!  And as we will find out in a dozen or so more chapters, God is certainly growing tired of them!

Eliphaz asks the question: “Can man be profitable to God?”  The answer to this is absolutely yes!  Just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything in translation, I checked the Hebrew word for “profitable” and it says “of use, of service, or of benefit.”  Absolutely man can be of use to God, of service to God, or of benefit for God!  Certainly God doesn’t need us, but a man after God’s heart can absolutely be a great tool in the hand of the master.

And then Eliphaz asks: “Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right?”  Again, the answer here is absolutely.  God takes great delight in those who follow His ways.  In truth, the reality is that Job is actually in this position because God took incredible delight in Job’s righteousness!  God took such great desire in Job’s righteousness that He provoked Satan upon Job.  Absolutely God takes pleasure when we are in the right and when through His power we exemplify righteousness.

Truth: Prosperity Does Come Through Selfish Means

In the verses that follow, I will at least give Eliphaz some credit.  He does acknowledge that the wealthy do sometimes become rich at the expense of other people.  He at least acknowledges that wealth does not have to be a sign of God’s favor; it can be a sign of human greed.  After several speeches, it does seem like Job has made a little headway after all!

Lie: Job Is Wrong Because He’s Being Judged By God

But then Eliphaz does the unthinkable.  Eliphaz then turns on Job and implies that this must be true about Job.  Eliphaz determines that Job must have come into his wealth through dishonest means because God is punishing him!  He concludes that Job must have mistreated the poor, neglected the widows and orphans, and tread upon the helpless.  Eliphaz takes Job’s words and turns them on him in a most aggressive way!

The problem with all of this is that Eliphaz is still chasing the wrong end.  The root of Eliphaz’ misunderstanding is that Job is being punished by God.  From Eliphaz’ perspective, Job has an error that needs repentance.  If Job is being punished, then the task becomes finding out Job’s sin and getting him to repent.

This makes me a bit sad as I read through this chapter.  Earlier I confessed that Job may have been making headway, but now we see that Job hasn’t really made any headway at all.  Job has simply gotten Eliphaz to change tactics while believing the same fundamental premise.  Yes, Eliphaz has conceded that some wealthy people get that way through their wickedness.  But Eliphaz has not at all conceded that Job might be righteous.  Eliphaz still believes that the external signs of punishment can be absolute proof of unrighteousness.

Truth: Only The Willing Change

There is really an important lesson in this passage when dealing with human beings.  We can sometimes get people to change their tactics simply by deploying different tactics ourselves.  But we cannot always get someone to change their fundamental beliefs no matter what tactics we employ.  A person has to be willing and open to examining their own core beliefs before we can have any impact upon them at all.  Knowing that we cannot bring about change in anyone except the willing makes the job all the more difficult.

That is what is so absolutely frustrating about the way that Eliphaz ends his speech in this chapter.  To the right person, Eliphaz’ speech would make perfect sense!  We will be at peace when we agree with God – but not necessarily at peace with the world!  When we return to the Almighty He will indeed build us up!  But just because bad things are happening does not always mean that a person is in the wrong!  God does save the humble and the lowly – but a difficult life is not always a sign that a person isn’t already humble!  To an unrighteous person, Eliphaz’ words would be absolutely spot on.  But to Job, Eliphaz’ words simply show how easy it is to have good advice become bad advice based on the audience and the circumstance.

From Eliphaz we can learn a very important lesson.  It is important to examine our core values.  If our core values are not in line with God, then we will take great thoughts and constantly deploy them incorrectly.  If our core values are not where God would have them be, we can take truth and twist it to be a lie.

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