Job CLIX

 Job 15:1-6, “Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or by speeches with which he can do no good? Yes, you cast off fear, and restrain prayer before God. For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; yes, your own lips testify against you.”

When some of the most profound words ever put to parchment about the nature, sovereignty, majesty, and omnipotence of God are dismissed offhand and described as nothing more than empty knowledge, you get the feeling that you’ll likely make no headway in convincing the individuals in question that they shouldn’t be so quick to judge.

Job’s friends were there, present, hearing and listening to the groaning of his heart, to the awe with which he spoke of the God he served, and Eliphaz’s only reply was that Job was full of hot air. That’s the crux of what it means when someone fills himself with the east wind. You’re full of hot air, buddy; even though you may seem wise in your own eyes, everything you’ve said up until this point is empty knowledge. Was it, though? Hardly.

For a man living during that time, without the benefit of the resources we have access to, without formal training and education in theology, one can rightly conclude that Job’s wisdom and understanding did not originate with himself, independent of outside influence, but from the relationship he’d fostered with God over the course of decades.

Men with master's and doctoral degrees, whose diplomas and accolades fill entire walls, do not come close to perceiving God in the way Job did, yet Eliphaz the Temanite chalked it all up to empty knowledge and hot air. A fool cannot perceive the value of wisdom, and because he is incapable of seeing its value, he dismisses it as folly.

Seeing Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar as less than the friends they seemed when they first arrived to comfort Job is an appropriate reaction, given the words they spoke to a man who was hanging on to life by the merest of threads. Seeing their constant attempts at dispiriting him and dampening his spirit, encouraging him to give in to hopelessness and despair, makes one naturally want to defend Job. Not only was it three against one, but the longer the conversation progressed, the more calloused and belligerent his friends became, to the point that they heard the words he spoke but did not process them to the point of realizing the beauty they held.

Some have even found the reaction of Job’s friends so off-putting that they’ve given up studying the book of Job altogether because they can’t stomach the vitriol and acidic responses to his calamity and the defense he proffers. That their minds were clouded by the enemy, and he was putting words in their mouths and thoughts in their minds, is likely because the heel turn from being compassionate friends who traveled from afar to come and comfort him to becoming his accusers was so sudden and complete as to make it impossible, if not for an external influence.

They’d known Job long enough to know his character, to know his faithfulness, to know that he was a devout man who served and worshiped God. Yet, here they were, not only accusing him of sin and insisting that his punishment was too light to be commensurate with his crimes, but that every word he spoke was empty knowledge, futile, and baseless.

When someone you know, love, and trust becomes uncharacteristically combative, callous, and unreasonable, accusing you of things you know yourself to be innocent of, you must allow for the possibility that they are being used by outside forces to dispirit you and weaken your resolve.

In his responses, Job got heated but did not return the belligerence in kind. He didn’t grow angry to the point of demanding that his friends depart and leave him to his suffering; instead, he tried to reason with them every step of the way, hoping they would see the truth beyond their preconceived notions.

There is no line the enemy will not cross, and no individual in your life he will not attempt to use to try and discourage you or cause you to cease your pursuit of God. The enemy is shameless, and any means justify the end if the end is achieved. Given this knowledge, the one question we must answer is how do we know when it’s the enemy using someone and when it’s a sincere individual who, perhaps, uses harsher words than we would like but whose intentions are pure in wanting to aid and comfort us.

The surest way to know is if the individual in question is encouraging you to move closer to God or to distance yourself from Him. It may seem like common sense, something easy enough to parse out, but I’ve run across individuals who insist someone is being used of the enemy when the only counsel they’ve been given is to spend more time in prayer, reading the Word, and being alone with God.

Why would Satan encourage you to pray more? Why would Satan encourage you to spend more time with God’s Word and in His presence? Why would he make it harder to achieve his end goal by urging you to run into the arms of God? Satan does not cast out Satan. If it were so, he would be divided against himself. How then would his kingdom stand?

Conversely, if someone were to insist that you give up on your steadfast hope, that you relinquish your integrity, that you take a break from building up your most holy faith, or pack it in and surrender to desperation, then you know it is neither godly counsel nor brotherly love that is spurring them on.

Sometimes, difficult words must be spoken, and uncomfortable counsel must be heard. However, if the intent is to draw you closer to God rather than pull you away from Him, receive it as wisdom rather than bristle at the words themselves because they were not as loving as you would have preferred.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.