Job 4-5

I have had a very trying week. It's been trying emotionally as well as physically. I went to bed last night at around 6:30. Woke up from 8:30-10 and passed back out after that. Apparently I was really really tired! I have had so many friends and students who have confided in me about trials that they're going through in their life. I have hugged students this week and let them just cry it out. I've spoken with friends who's lives seem to be falling apart. It's easy for us to ask, "God, where are you?" When all if this is going on. Honestly, I was so shocked by some of the things I have heard about that I asked the exact question when I was praying last night. Where was God? Why did he allow that to happen? The when two separate people asked me that very same question, I had no answer for them. I told them that was there with them as he always is, but I don't know why those things happened. There are unknown things that happen to us and we can't explain them because they're spiritual issues that are beyond our understanding. Just like Job, we must stay true to God and trust him.

In this chapter, we see Eliphaz, who was Job's friend, wrongly accuse Job of sinning. He made the assumption that sin brought on afflictions and that good people never suffer. Those are wrong! Job wasn't suffering bc of his sin. We saw that in the first few chapters. Job was suffering because Satan wanted to tempt him. That's all it boils down to. I tried not to get angry while I was reading Eliphaz's little rant that he went on. He claims to have gotten a vision from God. Then he quotes some scriptures and tells Job that he needs to plead his case before The Lord. He assumed that all bad things happen to only people who have sinned and that people who have changed for the better only HSBC good things happen to them. This isn't the case. Just because we get saved doesn't mean we get a golden ticket on the fairy train of "the good life." After becoming saved, life is usually rough because Satan doesn't want you to grow spiritually. He will try everything in his power to keep you down, just like he did with Job.

It is important for us, when sharing the word of God, to share everything that is included and not use the Bible to our advantage. Sometimes people tend to elaborate a bit and it causes problems. I truly felt bad for Job in this Chapter. He is going through all of this bad stuff and he tries to speak with a friend and the friend doesn't even listen. He begin to ridicule Job and blame him for his sins. We need to be wary of those who preach for themselves.