Eliphaz again condemned Job; this time accusing him of oppressing the poor and needy. According to Eliphaz, righteous people aid the poor and orphaned and are always blessed for it; but that Job\u2019s sins against them were \u201cwithout end\u201d (22:5), which was why he was suffering as he was. Eliphaz basically said, “Job, you refuse to give even a drink of water to the weary or bread to the starving.” Not suprisingly, Eliphaz is again wrong, as God had said otherwise of Job back in chapter 1: “a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (1:8). Eliphaz found it very easy to point fingers and accuse Job of fault based soley on the difficulties he saw Job going through. He was completely unaware of Job’s innocence, and failed to realize that Job was the hero of the story. We need to be very careful whenever we find ourselves beginning to criticize another believer.<\/p>\n
There is a great lesson from 1759, when the British and French were fighting for Quebec. Admiral William Phipps, commander of the British fleet, was told to anchor outside Quebec. He was given orders to wait for the British land forces to arrive and then support them when they attacked the city. Phipps’s ships arrived early, but as the admiral waited, he became annoyed by the statues of the saints that adorned the towers of a nearby cathedral. So he commanded his men to shoot at them with the ships’ cannons. No one knows how many rounds were fired or how many statues were knocked out, but when the land forces arrived and the signal was given to attack, the admiral was of no help. He had used up all his ammunition shooting at the “saints.” \u00a0<\/strong>We shouldn’t be taking cheap shots at anyone, but how much less a struggling, fellow believer, who we have been told to encourage and bear up, not tear down (Gal. 6:1\u20133). We, like Eliphaz, may not be able to see everything the Lord is doing in their lives.<\/p>\n “LORD, we need Your compassion for others this day so that we can extend grace and encouragement to them and not criticism.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Job 22 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>2<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>3<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Is it<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or\u00a0<\/span>is it<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>gain\u00a0<\/span>to him<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>, that thou makest thy ways perfect?\u00a0<\/span>4<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?\u00a0<\/span>5<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Is<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?\u00a0<\/span>6<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>7<\/span><\/span><\/span>Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.\u00a0<\/span>8<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>But\u00a0<\/span>as for<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>9<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.\u00a0<\/span>10<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Therefore snares\u00a0<\/span>are<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;\u00a0<\/span>11<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Or darkness,\u00a0<\/span>that<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.\u00a0<\/span>12<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Is<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>13<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>14<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Thick clouds\u00a0<\/span>are<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.\u00a0<\/span>15<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?\u00a0<\/span>16<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>17<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>18<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Yet he filled their houses with good\u00a0<\/span>things:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.\u00a0<\/span>19<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The righteous see\u00a0<\/span>it<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.\u00a0<\/span>20<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>21<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>22<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.\u00a0<\/span>23<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.\u00a0<\/span>24<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the\u00a0<\/span>gold<\/span>of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>25<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>26<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.\u00a0<\/span>27<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.\u00a0<\/span>28<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.\u00a0<\/span>29<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>When\u00a0<\/span>men<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>are cast down, then thou shalt say,\u00a0<\/span>There is<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>30<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> Eliphaz again condemned Job; this time accusing him of oppressing the poor and needy. According to Eliphaz, righteous people aid the poor and orphaned and are always blessed for it; but that Job\u2019s sins against them were \u201cwithout end\u201d (22:5), which was why he was suffering as he was. Eliphaz basically said, “Job, you refuse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7594"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16461,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7594\/revisions\/16461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}