Job 8:1-22

Job 8:1-22

Bildad engages in a sort of circular reasoning: “Your suffering is proof of your guilt. God punishes wicked people, and you are an example and proof of that principle. " Bildad was so completely convinced of his worldview that he could not fathom any other explanation.

He begins by calling Job a windbag and saying God never perverts justice and Job's loss is proof of divine displeasure. He even goes so far as to say Job's children got what they deserved. For Bildad, prosperity is a perfect and an inerrant barometer of God's approval.

Bildad offers a ray of hope. He says if Job repents of his evil, God will restore him. It sounds good on the surface: “...implore the compassion of the Almighty..." What could be wrong with that? Bildad advises Job to look at the history of the ancients, and there he would find people who would agree with Bildad's assertions. Bildad offers several examples or parables to support his opinion. Papyrus or reeds are lush and green, but when cut off, they dry up. Spiderwebs offer no support, and even houses can fall down. His last illustration is of a tree that sinks deep roots, even holding to rocks, but if removed, it too will die, and other plants will take its place as if it were never there.

But there's a problem with Bildad's position. First he assumes an absolute cause and effect between hidden sins and hardships. Second, and more dangerously, he presents God as a means to an end. In effect, he is saying, "Job, if you want the good stuff, get with God, and He will make it happen for you." He goes so far as to say that in this new situation Job's blessings will be greater than they were in the past. Verse 20 sums up the position that only the righteous are blessed and only the wicked suffer. So Job can get what he wants. For Bildad God has become a means to an end. 

"Lord, help me never treat you as a means to an end. AMEN"

Job 7:1-21

Job 7:1-21

Job’s friends were offended by Job’s complaints. They told him it was his own fault and he should not talk like that. In this passage Job describes his life and says this miserable life is why he complains, and then he ends with an impossible question.

Job begins with a description of a hard life. The first line is hard to translate. Literally, it needs to carry the meaning of war. Job says life is the constant battle of a conscripted soldier. He also describes life as an agricultural slave or laborer. The night’s rest is little relief with sleepless anticipation of the coming days' misery. Physically, his skin is infected with worms and scabs. If you have the stomach for it, investigate the Old World screw worm. This may have been Job’s illness. Job comes to the conclusion that life is without hope (v. 6). Hope can be defined as the preferred vision of the future. Job has no hope and no preferred vision for what is to come; his time will be short like a dissipating cloud, and what time is left will be miserable.

For these reasons Job will give full vent to his misery and complaints. In verses 11-21, Job has one request and asks one question. His request is “God, leave me alone." Job wonders at God’s close attention to man. God treats man, in this case Job, like the dangerous ocean or sea monster that must be surrounded by land. God torments man, even at night, with visions and terrors. Moment by moment God is going over the details of life and nitpicking any little thing and bringing retribution for everything. Job wants to be left alone so he can die in peace. While Job believes he is innocent, his understanding of the universe is that “good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people." There is a fundamental difference between what Job believes and what is actually happening to him. Which brings up the most difficult and unanswerable question, "Why?" With a misunderstanding of the universe we can never know "why," but we will still suffer the misery.

"Lord, even in my ignorance give me the grace to trust You. AMEN"

Job 6:1-30

Job 6:1-30

Suffering is irrational. That is not to say there is never an explanation, but in the emotional moment of suffering rational explanations, even if they are correct, are not helpful. An engineer can arrive at a crash site and explain the injuries as the result of mass, velocity, angle of impact, etc. But to the person with a shattered bone and internal trauma, the rational explanation is pointless. How much more when the explanation is wrong and delivered heartlessly, as was Eliphaz’s.

Job claims that his vigorous complaint is just because his suffering is disproportionate to anything he may have done and weighs more than sand on all the beaches. The comparison is not a rational comparison. In exact terms, how much is a ton of suffering? Job demonstrated the emotional and not rational nature of pain. In verses 8-13, Job reiterates that he would like to die; having lived innocently, death would bring peace and relief. The desire for death is not rational but an emotional response to overwhelming sorrow. Job, unlike stone or bronze, can’t hold up. 

In such emotional pain, Job’s friends have been useless. In fact, they are a net negative. He compares them to a wadi. A wadi is a stream that flows with water but only during rain or in wet weather. They can appear to be a strong water source, but only when you don’t need them. When the weather is dry and the need for water is the greatest, they are useless. Worse, they may draw travelers, who once saw them running full of water, to a dry gully. Job concludes his rebuke by essentially saying, “Your opinions are useless, and I didn’t ask for them." We can imagine our victim at the crash site responding to the engineer, “Shut the @#$%- up."

Job next tells them that if they would show him what he did wrong, he would listen, painful as that would be. But he is not interested in their vague general ideas and empty speculations. He even suspects that they are the sort of cruel people that would sell a friend and traffic an orphan.

“Lord, grant me the grace to offer the aid that is needed, not what I think people need. Amen”

Job 5

 Job 5:1-27

The great danger of misguided or deceitful teachers is that they mix accurate, truthful information with their false teaching and bad advice. In this passage, Eliphaz does just that. His fundamental understanding and teaching about the universe are wrong, but he attempts to support it with accurate, but incomplete teachings about God.

One of the great benefits of suffering is that it can explode a needlessly simplistic view of the universe and our dealings with God. In verses 1-8, Eliphaz tells Job about his observation. He doesn’t say anything about his personal suffering. I am reminded of the case of a couple who had two delightful, easygoing, and compliant children. In every way, from infancy on, they seemed to want to please and cooperate with their parents. This young couple became very free with their parenting advice, confident that it was their ability to lead that brought about such happy results. Then came their third child. It was as if he were born in the “terrible twos” and got worse from there. It seemed that he was born to lead an outlaw motorcycle gang. Violent tantrums in the supermarket, church service, and home marked their everyday life. He was strong-willed, determined, and defiant. Suddenly his parents became much less apt to give parenting advice. Without personal suffering this is what Eliphaz does. 

In verse 6 Eliphaz gives the core of his worldview about suffering: “Suffering is the result of something else in your life." Notice this is an observation and not an experience. In verses 9-16 he comes to his "Let me tell you what to do." He explains that if Job seeks God, everything will be fine and that he can rise above the circumstances of his life. While Eliphaz says many things that are true, he makes these truths into cliches and reduces God to a sort of vending machine deity. In verses 17-27 Eliphaz became, perhaps, the first preacher of the prosperity gospel; “Do these things and life will be good for you too." This overly simplified understanding has no room for a God greater than a blessing dispenser. The last verse is telling, "We have investigated." Eliphaz lacked personal experience, worked out of a misunderstanding of reality, but nevertheless called for Job to hear their opinion. 

“Lord, before I advise, help me to understand. AMEN

Ministry Update

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Life in the Crowe’s Nest 

God at the gas pump? Encouragment when you need it most.

When we plan a trip, we try to make the most of every moment, especially when we are driving a long way.  That was what we did for a recent trip to Florida. We had plans for Thursday night after the drive, Friday morning for breakfast, family time Friday afternoon and three appointments for Saturday. I had tried to set up a Sunday afternoon appointment with another preacher, but he carefully guards that time for family, something I deeply respect.  It looked like a great plan. The Thursday and Friday meetings were great visits. But due to unexpected circumstances, all three Saturday meetings fell through.  As a result, I was discouraged, so we decided to spend extra time with family.  So on Saturday we left later than planned and took a more scenic, slower route back to where we were staying.  Needing gas, we pulled into one station but opted to wait for the next town, adding to our delay.  We had by this point three delays on the drive. We stopped for gas at the crossroads of two highways in the middle of rural FL.  We pulled up and found ourselves between two ministry friends we had not seen in a very long time.  Larry is an associate minister at a church where we have been invited to come and share our ministry.  Danny, I had not seen him in years and had been looking for him. He asked if I knew the senior minister at the church where he serves.  Actually, I have known him since the late 70s, and his wife and I were in youth group together. On Sunday at church I connected with another old colleague. We went with friends to a local restaurant for lunch, and as we were leaving, someone called my name.  The preacher who protects his Sunday afternoons for family was  there.  That day he took his mum to the place where we were having lunch.  You never know who you will meet and where, but God does.

Don’t Miss our Christmas Card

I have started making the Christmas ornaments that I will be sending out just after Thanksgiving. The number of ornaments I am making will be limited, so if you want one, please let me know.

God is Greater than Irony

One morning we got two messages that couldn’t be more opposite. One letting us know that a couple we were praying for had received a call to a new ministry. The other; the church where our friends were serving was closing. We have been there and understand both the joy and the pain. We are so thankful that we can minister to both of these couples. Please pray for them and for us.

1983-2026 Facebook live

Forty three years ago we stood before God and pledged ourselves to Him and each other. We had no idea it was going to be more wonderful than we hoped. In this phase of our life of ministry we are excited to share Standing Stone with our partners, friends and family. We are doing a Facebook live event to celebrate life, marriage and ministry. Plan to join us on Thursday Dec 17th.

Job 4

 Job 4

Job’s friends, who will ultimately become his accusers, remind me of Calvin from the cartoon strip “Calvin and Hobbes." Calvin tells Hobbs he is going to start a radio talk show in which he will offer overly simplistic answers to difficult questions and then berate anyone who disagrees with him. Hobbs says, “Sounds like you were born for this job.” To which Calvin concludes, “Yea, imagine getting paid to act like a 6-year-old."

In many ways this is descriptive of the ‘comfort’ of Job’s friends. Eliphaz begins by confronting Job about his discouragement and emotional distress. Referring to Job’s history of helping distressed people, he says Job should not be impatient. Whether Eliphaz’s insights are valid or not is not the issue at the moment. He is trying to apply a theological/philosophical solution to an emotional moment. No doubt he was sincere, but it was the wrong approach for this moment.

In verses 7-21 Eliphaz gives two foundational supports for his opinion. In verse 8 he says, “According to what I have seen…" A personal observation may be valid, but because we are human, such an observation can’t help but be very limited both in breadth and clarity. All Eliphaz has seen is only the tiniest part of all that can be seen. Additionally, he may have seen things that didn’t support his conclusion but, without knowing it, he ignored them. The second support for his opinion was his personal mystical experience, vs. 14-16. Personal experience can be powerful; they can be life-changing and real. But that is not the same as universally valid. Whatever Eliphaz experienced was a subjective experience. It may have been divine or demonic, truthful or deceiving, the result of the sublime or of too much pizza before bed.

When we venture into the realm of being a comforter as these three have, we must do so with great gentleness, being careful about our own wisdom and reason and remembering that our experience is just that; it's 'ours.'

“Lord, give me the grace to be filled with grace as I attempt to offer grace. AMEN."

Job 3

 Job 3

Job begins his lament and begins with a full-on frontal assault. His first speech has three themes: vs. 1-10 is a curse of the day of his birth, v. 11-19 is a claim of the preference of death, and vs. 20-26 is about the bitterness of life. Two key points for us come from the beginning and at the end of this poem.

While it may not seem too dramatic to us when Job says there should be a curse on ‘the day of my birth,' he is in effect questioning God’s wisdom and providence. He is indirectly saying, “God made a mistake when He made me and gave me life." We might say such things in moments of extreme suffering, but it is nevertheless wrong and immoral. Such a statement may not have come from studied reason or careful thought but out of deep and painful emotions. Regardless of the reason, when we question our existence, we are questioning the plans, love, actions, and wisdom of God.

At the end of chapter three we see a comment from Job that is, perhaps, bigger than the verses it occupies. In vs. 25-26, Job speaks of “the fear I have” (literal translation). As we look at the narrative at the beginning of chapter 1, we see the life of a prosperous, pious, and popular man. That description is, at least from the outside perspective, accurate and complete. But in Job’s heart and mind there was a haunting fear. Perhaps Job's hard work was an attempt to build a fortress against those fears. Perhaps his piety was an attempt to secure divine protection against that which he dreaded. The fear remains unspecified. Perhaps it was the loss of wealth, family, reputation, health, or confidence in knowing how things work. Whatever that fear, what ever it was, has come to Job. In 1967 Ed Aymes released the song “Who Will Answer?" This song was the summation of anxiety of that age. But the song he asks, “Who will answer?” not “What is the answer?" Job is about to embark on a long verbal journey to discover, "Who will answer?”

“Lord, never let me fall into doubting Your goodness or wisdom, but rather, Lord, help me seek You for my answers. AMEN."