Job 15 Devotional

When Counsel Becomes Accusation

In his second speech, Eliphaz drops the gentleness. Job's words are hot wind, he says, and they undermine reverence for God (15:2-4). Job's own mouth condemns him (15:6). Then Eliphaz asks a revealing question: are God's comforts, gently spoken, too small for Job (15:11)? He means his own speeches.

That is the quiet danger in this chapter. Eliphaz has come to treat his opinions as God's comfort, so Job's resistance looks like resistance to God. He goes on to describe at length the terror, poverty, and ruin that he says always come on the wicked (15:20-35), and the portrait is meant for Job. But only God sees the heart. When Samuel judged by appearances, the LORD reminded him that, unlike people, he judges by the heart rather than by what is visible (1 Samuel 16:7). Eliphaz looked at Job's ruin and decided what was in his heart. That is a reason to be slow to speak for God, and quick to let him speak for himself.

To think about: When have you been tempted to speak for God about someone else's life, and what would it mean to let God speak instead?