Job 4
In this chapter, Job’s friend, Eliphaz, related something he had seen in a dream: "A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it. Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on people, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice: 'Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker? If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!'" (vs 12-19)
Interesting, isn’t it? Did you wonder what the "spirit" was that met Eliphaz in his dreams? Perhaps there is a clue in what this spirit said about God:
1) God places no trust in His servants.
2) God charges His angels with error.
Hmmm... who does that sound like? Doesn’t it remind you of Satan in chapters 1 and 2? The one who would gladly stretch out his hand to inflict suffering on us... all while blaming it on God? If this is Satan, what he is ultimately saying is that—if there is a problem between him and God—God is to blame. This is always Satan’s mantra. God is to blame.
Photo © Unsplash/Liane Metzler
Clearly, however, this message about God is false. For Eliphaz might not know it and Job might not know it, but the reason Job is in this predicament is precisely because God trusts him. He trusts Job to be faithful and upright, even in the face of suffering. He trusts that Job knows who He is, even when all his friends are telling him the contrary.
God trusted Job. And God trusts all His servants. He delights in having relationships with His creatures, and a relationship requires a mutual bond of trust. The more we come to trust God, the more trustworthy we become, and the more trust He places in us, until—like Job—we too will be in a position to be singled out as one of God’s faithful friends.
Photo © Unsplash/Robert Collins