Job 22

In the opening of Job 22, Eliphaz starts in again with Job: "What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?" (vs 2) Actually, The Message Bible does an even better job of capturing Eliphaz’s "so what" attitude: "So what if you were righteous—would God Almighty even notice? Even if you gave a perfect performance, do you think he’d applaud? Do you think it’s because he cares about your purity that he’s disciplining you, putting you on the spot? Hardly! It’s because you’re a first-class moral failure, because there’s no end to your sins." (vs 2-3)

Of course, Eliphaz was dead wrong. Job was no first-class moral failure; on the contrary, he was upheld by God as righteous and blameless. And it’s clear from God’s dialogue with Satan in the first two chapters of the book that God took great pleasure in His friend. He was proud of Job. He bragged about Job to Satan (and, later, to Job’s friends).

So often, we picture God as this distant Deity who, yes, created us, but He may or may not be so closely involved with our lives. We may be tempted to think of Him as a God who is removed, not affected. We certainly know that God loves us, but what of the notion that God likes us? God has to love us; that’s sort of what He does. But like us? Take pleasure in us?

Yes, that’s the picture of God that is painted by the book of Job: a God who likes us just as much as He loves us. A God who revels in our accomplishments and brags about us to others. A God who heaps honor upon us. Doesn’t sound like distant and unconnected to me. So, the next time an Eliphaz approaches you and says, "Do you think God takes pleasure in you?," you can look him square in the eye and say, "As a matter of fact, He does!"