Job 5 Devotional

True Words Misapplied

Eliphaz keeps going, and much of what he says about God is beautiful. God does great things beyond searching out (5:9). He lifts up the lowly and traps the clever in their own schemes (5:11-13). He wounds, but he also binds up and heals (5:18). Paul even cites one of these lines when he writes that the world's wisdom is foolishness to God (1 Corinthians 3:19).

So what goes wrong? Eliphaz aims true things about God at a situation he does not understand. He treats Job's losses as God's correction (5:17) and promises that if Job accepts it, he will be safe, his children many, and his old age strong (5:19-26). Job's children are already dead. Eliphaz closes by assuring Job that he and his friends have looked into it and know it is true (5:27). Right doctrine is not the same as a right word for this person at this moment. Knowing true things about God calls for humility in how and when we say them.

To think about: When you speak about God to someone in pain, how can you make sure you have listened before you answer?