seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Job 4:7 “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?
Where were the upright ever destroyed?
8 As I have observed, those who plow evil
and those who sow trouble reap it.
9 At the breath of God they perish;
at the blast of his anger they are no more.
10 The lions may roar and growl,
yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.
11 The lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered
Well I'm starting off with the easy English commentary this morning.
Eliphaz was partly right. God punishes evil people. And God protects good people. But Eliphaz’s thoughts were too simple.
Job was suffering. But Job was an innocent man. So, Eliphaz’s words could not help Job. Instead, Eliphaz’s words upset Job.
Many good people suffer now, on this earth. But they will not suffer in heaven (Revelation 21:14). Some evil people are successful on this earth. But nobody will be successful in hell. God knows everybody’s thoughts. God sees our secret plans. And God is a fair judge.
God does not always punish evil people immediately, because God is kind. God does not want anybody to suffer in hell. God sent Jesus to suffer the punishment for our evil deeds. And God will forgive us. So, we must confess our evil deeds to God. And we must trust God.
God does not always rescue good people immediately. Sometimes a good person will suffer, like Job. That person should be patient (James 5:11). Perhaps God is testing that person. Or perhaps God is teaching that person. God is like a father who teaches his children (Hebrews 12:5-11). Or perhaps that person’s troubles are the work of evil people (Matthew 5:11-12). God knows about all these things. God cares about us. And God is making us perfect (Job 23:10; 1 Corinthians 13:10-12.)
Eliphaz argued that God punishes evil men. Eliphaz said that evil men are like angry lions. These lions seem terrible. But really, they are hopeless, because they have no teeth. So evil men seem terrible, but really, they are hopeless.
God did not agree with Eliphaz’s opinion about lions. In Job 38:39-40, God reminded the men that he created lions. And God provides food, even for lions. The lions do not need to search for food. The lions can wait in their home. God will provide their food.
God even cares about evil people. God provides rain, so that their crops will grow (Matthew 5:45). And God sent Jesus to die for evil people, so that God can forgive their evil deeds (Romans 5:8).
Here they go again.... In verse 10.....breaking the teeth of a lion.... as if the lioness wasn't the bad one that goes out and gets all the food while the lion lays around and makes noise.
Ok.... these four men had been sitting in ashes for a week when Eliphaz says.... "Face it... you had to do something horrible for all this to happen to you! God doesn't let things like this happen to good men."
I consider myself a good woman. I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a perfect woman.... I'm not even an excellent woman [yet].... but I'm a good woman.... and bad things have happened to me. It's a fact.... bad things have happened.... and sometimes bad things happened to me when I thought I was doing everything right. Now I've made some horrible mistakes.... I've made some stupid... incredibly stupid.... decisions.... but I always made the best decision I could with the information I had. I try to do the right thing. I do love God and I do try to treat everyone like I would want to be treated......sometimes they don't take too kindly to how "I would want to be treated". I figure if I have bad breath... I want someone to tell me.... so I tell others... and most don't really like to hear it.... but I consider myself a good woman..... and bad things have happened to me.... so bad things do happen to good people.
God does allow bad things.... sometimes they have a great purpose and we are just collateral damage..... Jesus was collateral damage..... in order to bring about Salvation..... God had to make a huge sacrifice..... God sacrificed Jesus..... Jesus was collateral damage for our sins..... and we have the audacity to ask "why bad things happen to good people"..... Jesus had horrible things happen to Him. I'm definitely not on the same level as the Son of God.... if He had bad days..... I'm sure I can survive a few of my own..... after all.... what's the worst thing that can happen.... if I die, having a good day... I go to heaven.... and if I die, having a bad day.... I go to heaven..... I win either way..... Jesus had bad days.... I'm pretty sure the days after His arrest were pretty horrible..... Jesus didn't do anything wrong.... and they beat Him.... they stripped Him.... they spit on Him.... they taunted Him..... they bullied Him..... they nailed Him to a Cross and laughed at Him while He suffered for every breath. God had a plan to save the good people like me but Jesus had to survive a lot of bad days to help me... Even Jesus was affected by collateral damage....
