Poetry – Job 3 – 4
A Friend in Need
We ended our last visit with Job when his 3 friends, after they heard Job’s adversity, came to mourn with him.
Remember the names of the 3 friends – Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.
It is hard not to be impressed by these 3 friends. When their friend was in trouble, they came to share in his misery and to comfort him.
When a friend meets with something unfortunate, what do we do? Some of us will visit and comfort like these 3 friends. But there are also those who shun the unfortunate… not because they have no compassion or love. But they just do not know what to say and are afraid of saying the wrong things.
Just like the pop song, sometimes, “You said it best, when you say nothing at all”. The 3 friends just sat with Job for 7 days and 7 nights because they saw the grief of Job was great. And that was sufficient for the moment.
Today’s passage is from Job 3 – 4.
Bible Passage: Job 3 – 4
Job Speaks
After 7 days of silence between the friends, Job spoke.
Actually, it quite surprised me what Job said when he opened his mouth.
He cursed the day he was born. And it was quite an eloquent cursing. He went on and on for the whole of chapter 3!
Job 3:25 struck a chord with me…
“For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me,
And what I dreaded has happened to me.”
When we are in the midst of great sufferings or pain, very often, we say things that we don’t really mean to.
But it is good for us that we have a God who “… remembers we are dust” (Psa 103:14). Not only that, He is a God who will not break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax (Isa 42:3).
All of us have our secret fears and hidden anxieties. And if these things happen to us, we do not know what to do.
But God wants us to cast all these cares upon Him for He cares for us (1 Pet 5:7)
All we have to do is to put our trust in Him.
Eliphaz’s Reply
In Chapter 4, we read of Eliphaz’s reply.
In it, we learn more of Job and how great a man he was. Job had helped many people in the past – he taught them, strengthened them, held up those who stumbled etc.
But now he was the one in suffering and pain. He was the weary one.
This causes me to reflect for a moment. Some of us have always been the encourager in Church. We have been the strong member, ever ready to help a fellow brethren in their weakness and suffering.
But what happens when suddenly the tables are turned and we are the ones in the midst of adversity now?
Eliphaz said,
“Is not your reverence your confidence?
And the integrity of your ways your hope?” (Job 4:6)
What should our confidence in the Lord based on? What should be the source of our hope?
Your reverence. Your fear of God and being Holy. Your obedience and submission to His will.
You know full well that if you do all the above, God will not forsake you. That is your confidence.
You also know full well that if you have acted with integrity in God’s ways, He will not abandon you.
So the question is: have we been reverent and a man of integrity so that in days of advsersity, we remain confident and full of hope?
Job 4:17
‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
Whenever we get upset with God for what happens in the world or in our own lives, we are in fact claiming ourselves to be more righteous and pure than our God.
And that is a very dangerous and foolish thing to do.
While it is nice to think that the good will always get their rewards and the bad their just desserts, it does not always happen this way.
No one was more innocent and blameless than our Lord Jesus… yet He suffered and perish for our sins.