Job: Chapter 15

Eliphaz Accuses: Job Does Not Fear God

Tenney Crags | Colorado Springs, CO 

If you are so wise, why do you answer with silly lies that spew from your mouth? Clearly, you are speaking hot air to all of us. Why do you babble on when we are speaking on the very serious matter of where your soul is heading? Keep your trivial religion to yourself and utter not anymore empty gossip before us as we try to speak of spiritual things that will endure forever. You know why you speak like this, your sin taught you. You have sinned far beyond anything you would want to admit and it has blinded you from the truth. You have chosen to allow your tongue to do your evil bidding. Look at you! Your tongue has betrayed your religion and it convicts you of blasphemy. I am not condemning you, you condemn yourself with every word! Are you Adam? Did God mold you from the dirt and knit your fig leaves? Surely you must be him who came first since you are all-knowing. I suppose you sit with God in His counsel and He seeks your advice on things of the universe? I surmise that you and God have limited our wisdom, in one of your many discussions, and you are far beyond us? What is it that you perceive to know that we do not? Who are you to us? We have lived longer than you and have become wise throughout our long years. Do you not believe that God is comforting you? Does not the word of God invade your every moment? Your heart and eyes are turned from the Lord and shout in blasphemy against Him. Mankind, ha. What a joke, we are nothing before God. He created us not to be pure, but to be unrighteous. God does not even trust His angels, let alone His fallen creation. Not even the Heavens are pure in His perfect sight! Yet, you call yourself Holy, someone who has surely sinned against God in such a grievous way that He is punishing you for it. Come clean! Listen to my stories that have been passed down from wise man to wise man: Those who are wicked will live in pain for all their lives. They will hear evil in their ears and even in days of prosperity the angel of death will come upon him and destroy all that he has prospered. The man will be left begging for food among those who are considered untouchable. Darkness is at hand and he will know it. He will not know peace or comfort, fear and anguish will mark his days and he will see that all prevail against him in the shadows. No one will be trusted and he will speak out against all those who know him. All of this will be due to him because he spoke out against God and chose to live his life in evil and not in purity. He defied the almighty God with his sin and transgresses against Him openly. This man will not reap wealth nor riches, he will lose all his possessions and be counted among the lowly. He will not be able to escape from darkness, even though he may see a light far off in the distance. His own mouth will condemn him for all his life, never escaping the concept that he was right in his heart. Please let him not believe in the emptiness of his argument against God, it will end in him being empty. He will never fully grow into the person he is called to be and he will be barren. There is nothing good that can come from this man and he will only give birth to evil.

I believe we can learn a lot from this passage and reflect on where we do not fear God. I know that when I sin against God I do not count it as a transgression that is truly evil. I shake it off and count it as something that is covered by grace. Well, this is true, but it is done out of deceit and evil. I do not truly trust God that He has the best plan for my life and thus I rebel. Then, after rebelling, I rarely (if ever) truly understand what it is I have done. I have sinned against God, the creator of all things, Alpha and Omega, beginning and the end, the God who calls me son, and I repay Him with rebellion? Wow. I am stupid. How dare I come before God and ask Him to forgive me of my sins when in my heart I don't fully regret them? Well, I am not pure in heart and mind, therefore I will continue to rebel and I will sin throughout the rest of my days on earth. So, to quote Paul: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" [Romans 6:1] YES! Let's do it! … Just kidding. No, no we should not. When we grasp this concept of wanting to sinless but still show that grace is overflowing and covers our lives, we must remember that we should be wanting to grow in righteousness because it will bring us closer to God. The ultimate goal in life should be cultivating our relationship with God, sin is a barrier between us and God, therefore we should kill the sin within us every time it is noticed. Now, we will never be sinless, it is impossible. But, we can grow more and more in our relationship with God and expose all the selfish and evil things within us and seek victory over them through God's strength and ability. He is the God of all things, He can eradicate sin without even expending a single iota. The more we cry out to God and expose our sins to those close to us the better we can grow in becoming what God calls us to be, free from sin and praising His name throughout our days. Regardless of circumstance, we can always seek to glorify God, how will you do this during your week?

Dear lord, I pray that you will open the flood gates of my sin and put them on my heart. Show me where I am twisting your will into mine and expose the darkest parts of my inner self. Allow me to be free from sin which weighs me down on a daily basis. Release me from the darkness that is upon me and allow the light to encompass all parts of my life. Amen. 

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