Job CCL

 If Job were the man Eliphaz painted him to be, his rebuttal toward Eliphaz’s accusations would have sounded very different than what he answered. Here was a man whom his own friend painted as heartless and cruel, one who would merrily watch widows going hungry and men dying of thirst, who didn’t lash out angrily, who wasn’t caustic or biting in his response, who didn’t threaten or go on the offense, but whose only desire was to have an opportunity to plead his case before God.

Even when you are being accused of things you haven’t done by people you trusted, there is a certain decorum you must retain, and a particular way you must approach your defense. Surely, Job could have leveled his own accusations at his three friends; he’d known them long enough to know every time their actions or words did not mirror the righteous men they claimed to be, but Job wasn’t in the habit of fault mining, going toe to toe with baseless accusations, or trying to justify himself because there was nothing to justify.

He didn’t need to explain why his friends were wrong in interpreting what he’d done as wicked because he’d done nothing that could be misconstrued as such. When your first reaction is to defend yourself against baseless accusations, things that were said about you that were made up out of whole cloth, you’re playing the devil’s game, and it’s a game you can’t win.

A couple of years after I started traveling with my grandfather, there was a man who felt compelled to write a lengthy letter after he’d heard my grandfather give his testimony, insisting that rather than being a man sent by God to warn a nation to repent, he was a Russian agent whose mission was to dispirit the people of America, and make them see themselves as less than the shining light on a hill that they were. Yes, it was convoluted and had no basis in fact, but since we answered every letter we received, usually by hand, I took it to my grandfather and read some of the highlights contained therein, asking for guidance on what to answer.

To my surprise, because it was the first time he’d said something of the sort, he said, “nothing. When you entertain a fool and give him your time, you validate his foolishness and become a fool yourself. This man has made up an entire story, and insisting it’s not true will only make him dig his heels in. God will judge; He always does.”

That was one of those seemingly innocuous moments that taught me a life lesson. There was no prophecy, no casting out of demons, no fiery sermon, just a handful of words that I remember from time to time, reminding myself that not every question deserves an answer, and not every accusation merits a defense. An obvious lie will eventually expose the liar. The secret is having the patience for the situation to work itself out and not react in the flesh, so that in mounting your defense, you become the thing you’ve been accused of being. I’ve seen people grow bitter, resentful, angry, and hateful because they were accused of something they hadn’t done, and rather than let God deal with it, they sought to clear their name. It’s instinctual, to a certain degree, to try and vindicate oneself, but once you realize that the one doing the accusing isn’t looking for the truth and will twist every word you speak in your defense to prove your guilt, you’ll realize it’s a hopeless endeavor.

Psalm 26:1-3, “Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the Lord; I shall not slip. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart. For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth.”  

Even though Satan was one among countless hosts of heaven and sons of God, and when God called Job blameless and upright, none of them tried to correct Him, Satan still tried to besmirch Job’s faithfulness and devotion. It was all of heaven against one lone voice, but the one the voice belonged to was so shameless and determined to prove God wrong that it didn’t matter to him whether Job was blameless; he was not concerned with whether or not he was upright; he’d find a way to make him seem less than the faithful servant he was.

The truth? Since when do we let the truth stand in the way of a self-serving narrative? What does the truth have to do with any of it? We’ll take the truth and call it a lie, we’ll take the lie and twist it into truth, and if you repeat both long enough, the simple-minded will go along because they always do.

Through it all, God sees, God hears, God knows. He knows that you have clung to your integrity, he knows that you have trusted in Him, and He knows that you have walked in His truth. He is not ignorant of the situation, or those accusing you of things you never did, and it is He who will vindicate, and bring to light the snares set before you, that the enemy was certain you would fall into.

Job wasn’t trying to vindicate himself; he was seeking to be vindicated by the God he’s served his entire life, a God who, for the first time in his existence, seemed distant, hidden, shrouded, and far from him and his cries.

If you are not the man or woman the enemy is accusing you of being, he will try to use others to turn you into it. It’s the most evil and sinister type of projection wherein the enemy, being fully aware that you are walking uprightly, with integrity and faithfulness, begins to level unfounded accusations and whispering innuendos to the point that your focus shifts from faithfully following after Him to defending yourself.

Keep following Jesus; God is your defender. Keep pressing in; God is your vindicator. Do not be distracted by the slings and arrows of men or devils. Your duty is to put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil and his minions. If we’re too busy trying to stand against the enemy in our own strength, not having bothered to put on the armor, we will lose. If we are wise and focus on putting on the whole armor of God, leaving nothing unattended, come what may, we will stand. Sometimes the reality of a situation is as simple as that.      

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXLIX

 Who we run to in our time of distress says everything about where we place our faith, hope, and trust. We can say we are fully trusting in the mighty arm of God, but if every time we find ourselves buffeted, we run to everyone else but God, then our actions belie our words and prove us to be either double-tongued or outright liars.

Job had not given up on God. He had not sought answers from another, and even in the protracted silence he was experiencing, wherein he did not hear the voice of God nor feel His comforting hand, God was still the one he ran to, and yearned for answers from.

“Oh, that I knew where I first met Him, that I might come to His seat!”

God’s silence was new to Job. It unnerved him, and having his three friends insist it was because of wickedness in his life didn’t help matters any. He was going back through his memories, trying to pinpoint the environment in which God’s presence was felt, thinking that if he could replicate it, then he would be able to present his case before God and know the words that He would answer.

When one is persecuted for their faith, whether imprisoned or tortured, it may not be easier, physically speaking, but from a psychological standpoint, at least they know the why of it. I am being beaten because I will not deny Jesus. I am in prison because I am a believer. Job didn’t know why he was suffering the things he was, and that was adding to his already monumental pain.

When my youngest was old enough to walk, she got into her exploration stage with much more enthusiasm than her older sister. If you have children, you know what I’m talking about. They want to touch everything, explore everything, stick pencils, forks, and anything that has a chance of fitting into outlets, and be, in effect, a human hurricane during their waking hours.

One day, my wife had a roast in the oven. The glass door gets hot whenever the oven is above 350 degrees, and wouldn’t you know it, that was when Malina decided to waddle over to the oven and explore that particular piece of kitchenware. She reached out to touch the glass, and my wife slapped her hand away for fear of her burning herself.

That was a new experience for Malina, so much so that it shocked her, because Momma had never done anything like this. She was maybe three at the time, so she knew enough words to communicate, but as the tears started flowing down her cheeks, the only thing she would say on repeat was, “Why, Momma? Why?”

My wife picked her up, sat her on the couch, and explained that the oven was very hot, and she would have hurt herself. Once the why of it was cleared up, she wiped at her face and said, “Okay, Momma”. The explanation had sufficed, and she could bear the burden of having her hands slapped by her mother because the intent had not been to do her harm, but to keep her from harm.

There are countless situations when understanding why something is occurring gives a sense of relief and lifts the weight threatening to crush us into the dust. We want rational explanations for why something is happening, but wanting something doesn’t always mean we’ll get it.

The question of why is never truly satisfied. Unless you are a toddler, with full faith and trust in your mother or father, you are always bound to have follow-up questions relating to why, as well as justifications as to why the answer you received is not to your satisfaction. When Jesus said that unless we become like little children we would never enter the kingdom of heaven, it went beyond innocence or the absence of guile and duplicity, to exhibiting the trust and faith exclusive to little children.

The only time my daughters would go on a protracted campaign of ‘why’ was when they were trying to get a rise out of me, and they knew that if they kept it up long enough, they eventually would. Why do I have to eat the broccoli? Because it’s good for you. Why? Because it has fiber, and it will make your life a whole lot easier when it finally makes its way through your colon. Why? Because that’s the way God designed the human body. Why? Because He didn’t want you to needlessly suffer every time you went potty. Why? And no matter your answer, the question would always be why.

Even as grown-ups, we have the same tendencies, asking God why, even though He’s already given the answer in His Word. Whether we’re hoping for a different answer or just being obstinate for reasons known only to ourselves, unlike little children, we should possess enough wisdom to understand that sometimes we will not receive the answers to the questions we are posing.

It doesn’t mean we never will; it just means that, for the moment, we must trust God and His sovereignty and continue walking in faithful obedience. Trials are temporary. Suffering is temporary. The valleys we must traverse in order to reach our destination are likewise temporary. Our reward for faithfulness and obedience is not. They are eternal just as the God who will be faithful to reward us is eternal.

Job knew how he’d lived. He knew he’d been faithful, so the explanation Eliphaz had proffered for why he was suffering rang hollow and untrue. He knew he could find no resolution with his friends, no satisfactory explanation as to why he was suffering in the manner he was, so his response was not targeted to Eliphaz, or the other two who were present, but to God Himself, for Job knew that only God possessed the keys that unlocked the mystery of why.

Job wasn’t looking to quarrel with God. Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But at least I would know that He knows, that He sees me, and hears my cries. At least I would know that He is aware, and all of this isn’t happening without His knowledge.

Consider the level of faith and devotion Job had toward God, in that as long as he knew God had allowed these things to come upon him, he would be satisfied in that knowledge. Yes, he would make his plea, yes, he would attempt to reason with Him, but that, to him, was a secondary issue. His primary desire was to know that God had not turned from Him or was somehow ignorant of what he was enduring.        

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXLVIII

Job 23:1-7, “Then Job answered and said: ‘Even today my complaint is bitter; my hand is listless because of my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I first met Him, that I might come to His seat! I would present my case before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me. Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me. There the upright could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.”’

If the enemy can’t steamroll you into submission, he will attempt to chip away at your conviction, assurance, and confidence that you have in Jesus. If a frontal attack won’t work, he’ll try the sneak attack, hoping he catches you off guard, or in the midst of celebrating that you resisted his frontal attack. Winning a battle is not winning the war. There will be enough time to celebrate once you’ve crossed the finish line; until then, keep pressing on.

By Job’s own words, it seems Eliphaz’s latest tactic had worked more than the others because it’s the first time we notice a lessening of the determined confidence he’d exhibited thus far. He went from declaring “For I know my Redeemer lives and in my flesh I shall see Him”, to “Oh, that I knew where I first met Him, that I might come to His seat.”

Sowing doubt is like planting seeds. Not all of them will take root, mature, and grow, but the enemy wasn’t looking to plant an herb garden. He was looking for a chink in the armor, for one seedling to grow, which he could then exploit to no end.

Every once in a while, we have to remind ourselves that Job was human. He was a man like any other among his generation, made unique by his faithfulness and uprightness before God. It wasn’t his wealth that made him stand out; it wasn’t his large family that caught God’s eye, but that he feared Him and shunned evil.

There’s a reason the Word tells us to be watchful and on guard without qualifiers. It doesn’t say to be watchful unless you’re a preacher, to be on guard unless you’re a pastor, or unless you’ve been in church for less than a decade. If the enemy never ceases trying to find a way in, then we should never cease being watchful and on guard.

How men who’ve been in ministry for decades, who’ve pastored churches since bellbottoms were en vogue, and who others looked up to as spiritual giants fall is no mystery. At some point along their journey, they stopped being watchful. They stopped guarding their hearts and minds, they stopped being wary of the devil’s plots and schemes because they thought themselves above it all.

I’m the head of an entire denomination; the devil could never get to me. I’m the head of an international ministry; the enemy could never blindside me. I’m on television every other day; Satan could never outmaneuver me. The problem with this mindset is twofold: first, you’re standing in your own strength rather than His, and second, you ceased to do what the Word insists you must, which is to be watchful and sober-minded.

1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”

To take heed within this context is to be aware, to pay attention, to acknowledge reality for what it is, and not dismiss the warning signs that appear long before the bear trap shears your leg off at the knee.

There is a balance that must be struck: we are not seeing demons behind every tree and hiding in every bush, imagining demonic attacks even when they’re not there, but are also keen enough to notice when something isn’t right and to remove ourselves from the situation before it becomes a situation.

Whenever I travel back to the home country, I like to check in on some of the old guard who are still around. They were grown men when I was young, and now, in the twilight of their lives, it does my heart and theirs good to reminisce, break bread, and look back on all the things the Lord has done.

I was visiting a brother who used to play a mean accordion before the arthritis set in. During our conversation, after asking how he was, he arched his eyebrows and said, “The devil just won’t leave me alone”. Since I knew him to be a talker, I didn’t bother asking a follow-up question, knowing he’d continue his story, and he didn’t disappoint.

“Brother Mike, for the past few weeks, the devil has been trying to keep me from going to church. I’m fine the whole week, then the morning of, I wake up, get dressed, and the moment I put on my good shoes, there’s a shooting pain in the sole of my foot that makes it almost impossible to walk to church.”

Being the rationally minded individual I am, I asked, “You only wear those shoes for church?”

“That’s right, they’re my good shoes, so I only wear them to church, they’re right there”, he said, pointing a gnarled finger at the entryway. I saw the pair of Chinese-made fake-leather loafers he was pointing to well enough, and yes, they were nicer than the tennis shoes next to them. I bent over and picked them up, turning them over to look at the soles, thinking that maybe he’d stepped on a nail, when a decent-sized pebble rolled out of the left shoe and clinked on the floor.

I picked up the pebble, and smiling, I said, “I found your devil.”

Blushing, he arched his brows again and said, “I never thought to look inside.”

Some things have rational explanations and are not demonic attacks. Others are, and demonstrably so, and knowing the difference will keep us from hyperventilating every time a squirrel ruffles some branches in a tree, while concomitantly identifying the enemy’s snares and avoiding them.        

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCXLVII

 Job 22:27-30, “You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways. When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’ Then He will save the humble person.” He will even deliver one who is not innocent; yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.”

Do what I tell you, the way I tell you to do it, and things will work out. That was the conclusion of Eliphaz’s third and final oration. Generally speaking, there was nothing improper about the advice he was giving to Job, but contextually speaking, as it pertained to Job himself, Eliphaz missed the mark because his underlying premise was that Job was guilty of sin, had committed wickedness, and must therefore acknowledge it, repent of it, and return to God. If anything, the purpose for which Job should have done these things was a bit off kilter, but we will get to that in due course.

Imagine someone knocking on your door and insisting you have to go home. But I am home. You came to my house, knocked on my door, and insisted I ought to go to the place I’m already in. Return to God, and He will hear you. Return to God, and He will deliver you. But I never left! I’m exactly where I’ve always been at my Master’s feet, crying out to Him, knowing He is the only remedy to my current situation.

Someone trying to invalidate your relationship with God because you don’t see some tertiary issue the way they do, don’t idolize the preacher they do, or don’t belong to the same denomination as them, isn’t your friend, nor are they looking out for your spiritual well-being. The plumbline isn’t their opinion; the plumbline is the Word of God.

That more and more seem to be following after the words of men while disregarding the Word of God is not accidental. It was foretold and prophesied. It’s not that they don’t have access to the Word; it’s that they don’t like what the Word has to say, and so, having itching ears, they turn away from the truth and are turned aside to fables.

2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”

The reason for it isn’t something as noble as wanting to get to the truth, or because they want to unravel some mystery they deem of existential import, but because they prioritize their own desires over sound doctrine, and will find a way to facilitate dismissing it. If the Bible is clear on a topic and I happen to disagree with it, doing the opposite of what it prescribes, I know I’m walking in rebellion. If, however, I find someone deemed a spiritual authority who validates my rebellion, who insists that God didn’t mean what He said, then I have enough of a justification wherein I won’t have to repent, turn, and follow after the truth.

Men gravitate toward those who offer them liberties the Scriptures would otherwise not allow because their true heart is not about denying themselves, picking up their crosses, and following after Jesus, but having some perceived fire insurance while doing as they will.

It’s no longer about finding a church that focuses on prayer, studying the Word, and sound doctrine; it’s about finding one that entertains, puts men at ease, and doesn’t last longer than forty minutes on the dot because we’ve got things to do and places to be, and being there isn’t about being in His presence anymore, but about making sure we were checked off at roll call as though attendance was the thing God takes into account and not the hearts of men.

Although I have no concrete evidence, given the early date of the book of Job, it seems to me that Eliphaz was likely the first-ever quasi-prosperity preacher, the forefather of what has become the doctrine du jour for so many today. Do good, and good will come to you; declare a thing, and it will be established for you. Be God’s friend, and nothing bad will ever happen in your life.

This creates a false standard of righteousness, wherein men can boast that because they are rich, they are favored of God, because they have wealth, God is on their side, and those who don’t aren’t as special in the eyes of God, nor are they walking uprightly, because if they were, they too would live in opulence and luxury.

We’ve all seen the clips of supposed shepherds boasting to their flock about the new jets, the watches that cost more than a single-family home, the mansions they’ve acquired, or the money they’ve amassed, insisting that their way is right, evidenced by the earthly goods they’ve procured.

This is the selfsame mindset Eliphaz had, insisting that if Job would reacquaint himself with God and return to Him, his coffers would be so overflowing as to lay his gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.

If you serve God in the hope that He will make you rich, you’re serving riches and not God. All you’re doing is using God to obtain what your heart truly desires, which isn’t Him, but the things He can give.

Eliphaz insists that God prospers the righteous in the material sense, and their prosperity is a sure sign of their righteousness. Paul insists that God chastens those He loves, and scourges every son whom He receives. Given all the times he’s been wrong thus far, I’d take anything Eliphaz has to say with a grain of salt. The same goes for the modern-day Eliphazes, who insist that trials, tests, tribulations, pruning, scourging, and chastenings are not of God.

Without trials, there would never be a need for long-suffering, which is a fruit of the Spirit. Without being wronged, we would never have to learn to forgive. Without need, we would never have to have faith that God will provide. Without temptation, we would never need to resist it, thereby proving our faithfulness. All the things that the flesh deems as negative facilitate the growth, maturing, and sanctification of our spiritual man. All the things the world looks down upon and mocks only serve to deepen our relationship with God.

Some of us don’t need deliverance; we just need to see the world through spiritual eyes. Then, rather than praying for deliverance, we will pray for endurance; rather than pray for escape, we will pray for boldness, rather than pray for riches, we will pray for contentment of heart, and find our joy and satisfaction in what He’s already done, and not what we’re hoping He will do on our behalf.     

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXLVI

 There are clear and well-defined guardrails in the Word of God. There are practices the Word calls sin that are sin, regardless of how many people insist otherwise, or who the individual giving license to practice them might be. There are virtues we are called upon to nurture, grow, and mature, such as prayer, fasting, the study of Scripture, and the building up of our most holy faith; then there are personal convictions that are by definition personal, and not to be insisted upon as divine commandments for the rest of the body of Christ. Personal convictions and God’s commands are not interchangeable, nor do they hold equal weight.

Romans 14:1, “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.”

The verse itself is clear enough, but when did we ever allow Scripture to get in the way of imposing our will on others or insisting that our personal convictions are on par with the voice of God Himself? It is, after all, so much fun sitting in judgment and judging everything everyone else is doing as though we were responsible for keeping the judgment seat of Christ warm until He gets around to judging those who will stand before it on the day of days.

We are not to shun but rather to receive those who are weak in the faith, and we are to do so for a specific purpose. Contrary to popular belief, the purpose is not to dispute over doubtful things. Another applicable word for “doubtful” within this context is “unclear”. If the Word of God is clear on a topic, whatever that topic might be, then we must declare it as such boldly and without equivocation. If, however, it is unclear as to whether wearing a necktie is cause to cast you into outer darkness, or wearing a wedding band will bar you from entry into the Kingdom, then insisting it is so means you are playing God, and making up rules for others to follow that the Bible never said one should. A personal conviction is just that: personal!

Romans 14:2-4, “For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.”

So does this mean we have freedom to do as we will? Are the few preachers and teachers insisting upon holiness, repentance, righteousness, and purity just old fuddy-duddies, relics of a bygone era, clinging to precepts that no longer apply? No, this passage does not give anyone the freedom to sin; it reaffirms the truth that those who have been freed from sin are allowed to be individuals, preferring peaches over kale, steak over tofu, and a nice baked potato over a salad with fat-free drizzle dressing on the side. The entire passage is within the context of those who belong to the Lord, who live or die to the Lord, and whose purpose is the glory of God in their lives.

I don’t have the right to judge you for drinking tea, just as you don’t have the right to judge me for drinking coffee. This passage is not about rebellion, disobedience, or disregard for the Word of God and its guardrails; it’s about picking out one thing that you don’t do that someone else is doing that is not defined as a sin in the Bible, yet judging them for doing it and thinking them less spiritual than yourself.

Romans 14:5-10, “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”

If the grace of God were as hard to come by as the grace brothers show brothers nowadays, heaven would end up being an empty place. Again, Paul isn’t talking about sin in the camp or disobedience of God’s Word. He is specifically pointing out that a personal conviction, or a personal preference, does not give me the right to feel spiritually superior to another, nor does it give me the right to judge or show contempt for a fellow brother in Christ.

Insisting that someone isn’t saved because they don’t believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, don’t read the King James exclusively, or wear jeans to church that one time instead of khakis, is as absurd as Eliphaz insisting that Job’s suffering was evidence of his wickedness.

He’s not clapping along, so he must not be feeling the Spirit. That’s a leap, isn’t it? Perhaps you failed to notice the tears and the groaning because you were so focused on the clapping. Perhaps their relationship and intimacy with God go beyond the performative to something real, tangible, and heart-piercing.

Paul noticed enough of a pattern of both judgment and contempt among brothers developing in the early church that he felt obliged to address it. It has not lessened over the millennia; it has only increased, and more and more people feel entitled to determine the eternity of others based on their personal convictions rather than on the Word of God.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCXLV

 Job 22:21-26, “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good will come to you. Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; You will remove iniquity far from your tents. Then you will lay your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. Yes, the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver; For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God.”

It’s as if Eliphaz had tuned out everything Job had said up until this point. Not willing to relent or give up his perception of intellectual and spiritual superiority, believing himself a physician of both soul and flesh, he begins to prescribe the steps Job must take in order to be at peace and for good to return to him.

It’s hard not to notice the spiritual elitism in Eliphaz’s words, because not only does he assume that Job had so far removed himself from the presence of God that he needed to reacquaint himself with the Almighty, but considered the words he spoke as divine, or at least of divine origin.

He did not tell Job to consider his words, but insinuated that the words were from God Himself and the instructions from His mouth. Assumption, presumption, and undeservedly appropriated spiritual authority are a heady mix, and though the words Eliphaz spoke may have been true when applied to another, they were not true of Job. He had not departed from the Almighty, so had no need to return to Him. He had not abandoned the knowledge of Him, so he had no need to reacquaint himself with God.

Everything Eliphaz said was based on the wrong assumption that Job was being punished, that he had committed wickedness, that he had turned his back on God, and had strayed from Him. Without spiritual insight, and purely from a physical point of view, it would be an easy conclusion to reach, and one that made the most logical sense.

There’s a meme floating about the interwebs of a man asking a faith healer to pray for his hearing, and the faith healer takes to his performative theatrics with gusto, sticking his fingers in the man’s ears, cupping his hands over them, and after some time the faith healer asks, how’s your hearing, to which the man answers, I don’t know, it’s next week.

We are either guided by the spirit or by the flesh. We either take everything we see with our physical eyes at face value and dismiss the unction of the Spirit, or allow for the Spirit of God to reveal the truth of a situation to us that goes beyond the mere physical.

Sometimes things are exactly as they seem; sometimes they are not. If we lean on our understanding and dismiss the possibility of something other than what we concluded occurred, sooner or later, we will fall into the same snare as Eliphaz did.

Again, the things Eliphaz said would have been sound advice for someone who had strayed from the presence of God. Yes, by all means, acquaint yourself with God, lay up His words in your heart, return to the Almighty, but what if you never left, never ceased crying out to Him, never stopped trusting Him, never wandered away from Him? Then the counsel, sound as it may be, generally speaking, wouldn’t make much sense for that particular individual.

Curse God and die hadn’t worked, stop clinging to your integrity hadn’t worked, and now, via Eliphaz, the enemy begins to employ a new tactic: make him doubt his relationship with God.

I’m sure you believe that you are well acquainted with the Almighty, but you’re really not. I’m sure you believe you’ve been faithful, but you haven’t. I’m sure you believe you’ve kept His words in your heart, but let’s face it, buddy, if you’d done all these things, you wouldn’t be in the predicament you find yourself in now, would you?

It’s a nefarious approach to be sure, but the devil was getting desperate. Coincidentally, it’s one he continues to employ to this day in various guises and differing nuances, but in the end, his purpose is the same. At first glance, the individuals who come across your path seem well-meaning enough. But then, once rapport has been established, they start throwing out those poisoned pellets that feel off, wrong, and less than the whole truth.

If you are not firmly established in the truth of Scripture, if you are not fully assured of your place in God’s kingdom, you start to teeter and miss a step; you start to doubt and second-guess the simplicity of the gospel, thinking there must be something you’re missing. Perhaps there are more hoops I need to jump through; perhaps the letter of the law does have supremacy over the spirit thereof.

You were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Well, that just won’t do. You have to do it again, this time just in the name of Jesus. Were you baptized in the name of Jesus? Unless it was done in His Hebrew name, the entire thing is null and void. Sure, your heart desired to know God; you made an outward expression of your inward faith; you’ve repented, crucified your flesh, picked up your cross, and diligently follow after Him. Sure, you declare that Christ is Lord of your life, the King that sits upon the throne of your heart, but is that enough? Sure, you asked Him for bread, and He promised He would not give you a stone, but are you sure bread is what you got?

You pray standing up? Everyone knows that God only hears prayers if you're kneeling or prostrate before Him. You read your Bible daily? I guess that’s okay, but what you really need is for me to mentor you in the secret mysteries that only I can reveal.

I’m sure by now you get the point. Let’s keep this on the brass tacks: anyone insisting that Jesus is not sufficient, and that you need something more, or other, is a liar, and the truth is not found in them. Anyone attempting to sow doubt in your heart regarding your relationship with God, when you know, as Job did, that you’ve been faithful, obedient, and humble, is being used of the enemy to dispirit you. Anyone who insists that they alone hold the keys to unlocking the mysteries of Scripture, prophecy, the future, or the ancient past is a conceited liar, bloated with pride, arrogant beyond measure, attempting to elevate their status in your eyes as though they were on equal footing with God. It’s nothing new. Eliphaz tried it, and as we will see further in, God Himself rebuked him for his hubris.          

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXLIV

 Job 22:19-20, “The righteous see it and are glad, and the innocent laugh at them: ‘Surely our adversaries are cut down, and the fire consumes their remnant.’”

If you don’t know what to look for, these two verses may seem innocuous enough. They could readily be glossed over and thought to be the bookend of a longer thread, the conclusion of Eliphaz’s verbal processing as to why he knew Job was suffering, but as is always the case, details matter, and given that more often than not those whose hobby is to carpet bomb anyone they deem worthy with baseless accusations, have the tendency to do likewise it’s worth pausing and seeing the whole sordid picture for what it is.

Not only did Eliphaz accuse Job of things he’d never done, horrendous, heartless, and needlessly cruel practices that would make any sensible person cringe, but he also placed himself among the righteous, since seeing the fate of the wicked, the righteous see it and are glad, and the innocent laugh at them.

It wasn’t enough for Job to be seen as a wicked man; Eliphaz insisted that he himself must be viewed as righteous, a noble man doing a noble deed as he kicked at the almost-corpse of his friend and made him out to be a monster when all he’d ever done was fear God and shun evil. If an individual is attempting to elevate themselves by tearing someone down, it’s suspect, and you should be wary of getting on the bandwagon, grabbing a handful of stones, and joining in the fun.

The madness of the crowd is a real and well-documented thing. One stone thrower turns into two, two turns into five, five into twenty, and eventually everyone’s throwing stones, but only a handful know exactly why the stones are being thrown.

God had not called Eliphaz a blameless and upright man, so he took it upon himself to allude to it, insisting upon his own righteousness as evidenced by his reaction to Job’s suffering. Learned as he thought himself to be, one’s reaction to another’s suffering does not a righteous man make.

There are situations where confrontation is unavoidable, when something must be dealt with lest it metastasizes and threatens an entire body, but that ought never be done in the hope of elevating one’s status by standing on the corpses of the accused, especially if the accused are innocent both in the sight of God and in the sight of man. The tragedy of it all is that the wolves surround themselves with yes men who have a vested interest in seeing them retain their authority because they’re usually on staff, cashing checks every other week, they insulate themselves, and aggregate power to the point that, lest something truly vile gets leaked or the authorities get involved, they are viewed as untouchable. The entire leadership structure and their livelihood depend on one individual, and rather than defend the truth, their entire purpose becomes the protection of the man, even at the expense of justice.

A true shepherd doesn’t think about concentrating power or about the position he holds as his, and when a wolf makes its way into his congregation, he is much easier to undermine than one whose entire existence is predicated upon his dominance and retaining his office.

We’ve all seen situations where a pastor gets run out of town, not because he committed sin but because a handful of people deemed him too direct, or not loving enough, only to see the person who headed up the mob take his place and be placed in the position of authority. Their first move out of the gate is absurd loyalty tests, not to Christ, but to himself, followed by the signing of non-disclosure agreements, and the purging of anyone who dares to point out that it's not his kingdom but God’s kingdom that we must be laboring for.

Eliphaz was using Job’s situation to elevate and highlight his own righteousness by juxtaposing his situation with Job’s and concluding that one was being punished for his wickedness while the other was walking in righteousness by being glad of it. It wasn’t to take over Job’s household, or replace him, but to save face before their mutual friends, and position himself as the chief elder and wise man among them.

Eliphaz was growing exceedingly confrontational and accusatory, not because new evidence had come to light, not because witnesses had come forward to accuse Job of wrongdoing, but because his attacks weren’t working, he was not making any headway, and his pride would not allow him to lose. Eliphaz was likely the one man among the three who was always deferred to, who was always acknowledged as being right, who won every argument, and to whom the others acquiesced, yet this man on the verge of death scratching at himself with a potsherd, covered in boils, and laying in the dust had the temerity to push back, and contradict his well thought out thesis. How dare he?

Vanity, hubris, the pride of life, and the constant feeding of one’s ego become as de facto gods to some men, and when this occurs, their only concern, their only purpose, that for which they struggle, claw, and tear, is the man in the mirror and the perception of those whom he surrounds himself with.

Anyone willing to sacrifice truth for the sake of their ego is not a righteous man, no matter how much they might insist upon it. Anyone willing to accuse the innocent, just to win an argument, is not a noble man, no matter how many times he tells you he is. It’s not up to me to gauge or assess my righteousness, nor is it up to you to measure yours. My duty is to pick up my cross and follow Jesus. God is the one who determines the level of righteousness one rises to. Whether a man or a nation, it is God who weighs and has the final say as to whether they are found wanting. A man calling another man righteous means nothing. Man’s praise and a two-dollar bill will get you a gas station grilled cheese and nothing more. God calling a man righteous, however, means everything, and when God deems him upright and blameless, though the whole world may call him wicked, he is what God said he was.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.