Job 5

Eliphaz has a lot of nerve. I mean, I’m sure that, in his way, he was just trying to help Job. But really, with friends like this, who would need enemies? Eliphaz is the first to speak up, and he makes a number of not-so-veiled comments about Job’s situation and what he believes is going on.

First, he says that he has known "a fool" whose house has been cursed, children crushed, and wealth destroyed. Next, he tells Job that it would be prudent for him to appeal his case to God, for (he reasons) although God makes the wicked suffer, He will be merciful to those who repent. All this is said to suggest that Job is a foolish and wicked man who has brought his troubles on himself.

Finally, Eliphaz finishes his first speech by proclaiming that if Job repents, God will protect him always. No harm will come to him if he relinquishes his sinful ways and returns to walk in the paths of the Almighty.

There’s just one problem: Job wasn’t suffering because he had sinned. And he wasn’t suffering at the hand of God. All of Eliphaz’s preconceptions were misconceptions. The idea that God brings suffering on people because they’re wicked isn’t true. Nor is it true that God always protects the righteous from harm. Case in point: Job.

The point, here, is that when it comes to dealing with us, God has to contend with a lot of preconceptions. Some of our preconceptions may be right, but many of them are dead wrong. And God doesn’t deal with them by erasing what’s in our brain and programming it differently. He doesn’t force us into a different way of thinking. Instead, He works through circumstances in our lives to help us understand a different way of looking at things.

It won’t be too long before Eliphaz has just such an experience.