19/10/11 Job 5; Psalm 108; Acts 10-11
S: Job 5:8-9,17-18 (Eliphaz said to Job) “If I were you, I would go to God
and present my case to him. He does great things too marvelous to understand.
He performs countless miracles.
...
But consider the joy of those corrected by God!
Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin. For though he wounds, he also bandages.
He strikes, but his hands also heal.”
O: What I find striking about the whole speech by Eliphaz is that he actually says a lot of true things -- things in line with what you might read in prescriptive parts of scripture. Yet, Eliphaz is dead wrong in his response to Job!
The problem is that Eliphaz assumes that since Job was experiencing trouble, it must be because he has sinned and God is punishing him. One of the points of the book of Job is that this is not necessarily the case. A person could be experiencing trials and tribulations for other reasons. Sometimes trials and tribulations are part of God's plan for a godly person's life, for some transcendental aim that is not readily apparent in the here and now.
Jesus also affirmed this when he healed the man born blind in John 9. As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”
“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”
A: While it is sometimes true that God sends tribulation to chastise us for sin, prosperity in this life is not guaranteed for the godly. Let us not be quick to judge. Let's not fall into the error of the prosperity gospel.
P: Father, we do thank You that You do look out for us, but we also acknowledge that sometimes it is Your will to take us through trials and tribulations for a higher purpose. Help us to stay faithful when that happens. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
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