Lessons from Job - Chapter 3, 4-5

Chapter 3 - Job despaired of life.

- Grief from loss or change in physical health and abilities can cause a person to long for death. They are not suicidal, yet they may question why they were even born and why they're still alive.

- We, the Church, need to let them grieve, be a listening ear, a comforting shoulder to cry on, and most of all they need our prayers. 

- Our brothers and sisters need someone to pray for them, not talk about them when they're going through trials.  

Chapter 4 - 5 - Eliphaz, Job's friend, attempts to counsel and comfort

- Eliphaz reminded Job how he used to be the one to offer counsel and comfort but now the tide has turned. (Vs 3-6) Job had counseled and strengthened others in their time of tumult but when it hit his house, Job was finding it difficult to counsel and strengthen himself. A good reminder that we must live and stay strong in what we believe and teach.

- Then the finger pointing, accusations, and condemnation began. Eliphaz thought surely this must be punishment from God. Job must have sinned some way, somehow. After all, he reasoned, "whoever perished, being innocent?" (Job 4:7)

- Human tendency is to question and wander if Affliction is from God. Sometimes God allows it; sometimes it is the devil buffetting a person as we see in the story of Job; sometimes it comes as consequences to a person's own actions; and other times it's just life. 

- We find Jesus corrected false assumptions concerning this in the New Testament: 

* The tower of Siloam that fell killing 18 people (Lk 13:4)

* The man born blind - they questioned who sinned? The man? Or his parents? Jesus taught that it wasn't because anyone sinned but rather that a miracle could be manifest and God would be glorified. (John 9)

* Jesus said the rain falls on the just and the unjust.  (Mt 5:45)

* The Disciples were obeying Jesus by getting in a boat and sailing to the other side of the lake. AND YET they encountered a storm mid-way across that was about to overtake them and take them under. Were they out of the will of God? Was it a punishment sent from God? No, this happened to show us that sometimes storms will come even when we are in the will of God. It may become so intense that you feel like you're about to drown, but keep your eyes on Jesus. Because He's walking on the water of your storm, and when He says it's enough He will step into your boat and speak "Peace, be still!"

- Be careful casting judgment on a situation lest you be found to be judging unrighteously.