WHEN RIGHT ADVICE GOES WRONG
Job 4:1-9, 17-21 et al
Proposition: The advice that comforts may be right advice with proper theology in some situations but bad advice for each person’s situation since it does not meet the need of the present situation.
Objective: My objective is to encourage to know how and when a person is hurting and needs comfort and to give the right advice.
INTRODUCTION:
Illus: In life, right often appears to be wrong and wrong right. Such was the strange case recently when Judge Leon R. Yankwich, a federal judge in Los Angeles, was presented a civil case that made him want to scream. Two men, Luther Wright and Hermann Rongg, were assigned to appear before his court, each claiming ownership of a patent. Attempting to moderate the dispute, Judge Yankwich declared, “One of you must be wrong.” “That’s right,” replied Rongg, “I’m Rongg and I’m right.” Then Wright interrupted. “He’s wrong, your honor. I’m right and Rongg is wrong.” So who is wrong? And who is right? Largely upon the strength of a letter that Wright wrote Rongg, Judge Yankwich terminated the Wright-Rongg dispute by ruling, “Paradoxical though it may appear in this case, Wright is wrong and Rongg is right, and I so enter judgment.” This is the confusion that Job felt as he pled his case before God. He felt that he was suffering in this life as if right were wrong and wrong were right. He felt the same way about the advice he received. What was right advice in some situations was wrong advice in Job’s situation. He felt he had been suffering and he receives advice that says he is not right, but he knew in his heart that he was. Right advice and wrong advice make him confused. It seemed nobody understood him and this bothered him deeply. His friends thought that injustice was prevailing. It was good advice for some, but wrong for him and at the wrong time. He realized that his friends came to sermonize rather than sympathize with him in his condition.
In another time, to another person, Job’s friends’ advice would have been correct. God can and does discipline those who sin. David notes that "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;" [Psalm 66:18] The author of Hebrews encourages us to "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?" [Hebrews 12:7] In all these cases, Job’s friends’ advice of "You are in trouble because you have sinned" would have been appropriate as good advice. Today, we can act like Job’s friends if we assume too much about those we talk to. Quoting Romans 8:28 at someone who’s just gone through a tragedy can be the wrong thing to say. In such circumstances, it can be far better to empathize with them in the loss, and save such things until later. In other cases, giving the first piece of advice that springs to mind without praying over the situation and ensure that it’s relevant can lead to misunderstandings and hurt feelings.
Job is an outstanding person who loves God. Sometimes we learn that God is far more interested in our holiness, even more than our happiness. His friends believe they are “God’s answer men.” They must have an answer for every situation. God really knows the answers. Note Job 42:7: “You didn’t say the right things about me.” He says a lot of what is right, but God says it is wrong. Many want to sermonize rather than sympathize. We need to rightly represent God. He had the right answers, but he asks the wrong questions.
I. A REPRIMAND: “You are a sinner” (vvs. 4:1-5:27)--"Come clean, Job. Innocent People don’t suffer” (4:7)-- “One who feared God and shunned evil”-- Eliphaz (means “my god is gold”): “Come clean, Job. Only the wicked suffer. Innocent people don’t suffer.” (4:7) When his friends answered him, what did they answer? The pain in Job’s heart? No, Eliphaz answered the words from Job’s lips; and this was a mistake. A wise counselor and comforter must listen with the heart and respond to feeling as well as to words. You do not heal a broken heart with logic; you heal it with love. Yes, you must speak the truth; but one must be sure to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). He is the voice of philosophy. He is the theologian.
Illus: Ring. “Hello?” “Job, good to hear your voice. This is Eliphaz.. You’ve got a nasty case of boils someone told me. You know you don’t look too good in sackcloth either Job. Not your color. But anyway I was calling to give you some advice. I’m sure you don’t mind. Man does not live by bread alone. I tell you Job, you just need to get your religious life back on track. A prayer a day keeps disaster away. Let go and let God Job. If you just pray hard enough, everything will be fine. I tell you, Job, if you really had faith, none of this would be bothering you.” “But God isn’t hearing me.” “The Lord is your shepherd, you shall not want. C’mon Job. God is everywhere. You see those big black and white billboards all over town, saying things like I don’t doubt your existence, signed God. That’s the ticket Job. You need more faith. Every time you get down just think, What Would Jehovah Do and you will be fine. No more troubles. Gotta run. And idle mind is the devil’s playground. Catch you later Job.” (click)
1. An affirmation (agitation) (vvs. 1-6)-- Eliphaz begins his discourse with Job by making a positive, affirming statement in an attempt to connect with him. It is because Job’s friends can’t bear to hear him speaking the way he has, just sighing, "let me die ... better for me to die." Eliphaz is the one who speaks first: "Job, I’ve got something to say to you, what’s wrong with you man? You’ve encouraged others throughout your life and now, it’s time to apply a little spiritual insight to yourself." Look at v. 3: “If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? But who can withhold himself from speaking? Surely, you have instructed many.” Eliphaz states (v. 6) that piety (“reverence” or “fear of God”) is the basis of assurance and that one’s integrity (or blamelessness) is the basis of hope.
Illus: “Reverence controls behavior, behavior does not control reverence.”
2. An axiom (assumption) (vvs., 7-11) “Who ever perished being innocent”--(v. 7a)--Eliphaz believes Job has sinned against God and should confess his sin if he is to be restored. "Consider this fact, who being innocent has perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? I’ve observed this, that those who plow evil and trouble reap it" (4:7&8). His assumption was wrong regarding Job. The answer that he gives is not the right answer. To get the right answer you need to be sure about the question. His assumption sprang from his observation “I have seen” (v. 8, 5:3 “I have seen the foolish taking root”). revelation (4:12) “a word was secretly brought to me.” Sometimes people will say, “God spoke to me” but we need to be sure it lines up with the Word of God.
3. An authority (vvs. 12-21) “Can a mortal be more righteous than God?” (v. 17)--Arrogance arises in Eliphaz when he takes the occasion to reveal that he had received his knowledge from a spirit in the middle of the night, one who argues that humans cannot be trusted because of their sin. This seems to have been some type of special revelation that apparently no one else heard.” Sometimes people will say, “God spoke to me” but we need to be sure it lines up with the Word of God. "If I were you I’d stop griping and start asking God for His help, God can punish - but He can also rescue! If you are suffering it must be because God is trying to teach you a lesson.”
4. An assurance (5:1-27) “Happy is the man whom God corrects” (v. 17)--Eliphaz challenges Job to trust God to heal and defend him after He has punished him. However, this is not true in Job’s case. Eliphaz is saying, "Don’t despise the discipline of the Lord, (5:17). "If something happens to a person, well, they’ve got it coming to them. We all know God is absolutely straight," (vvs. 17-19). “Once you are back on good terms with God then everything will turn around and then it will be the old times again. You’ll be enjoying prosperity and security." That’s what Eliphaz says (vv. 18 to 27). His suffering is not the result of chastening. Note that Eliphaz sums it up in v. 26.
Job: “You don’t know the depth of my suffering. I am speaking in my misery. I have not sinned. Teach me and I will hold my tongue.”
Job: “Tell me something I don’t already know. I know that a mere man can’t prove God wrong. I know that God is just and that He punishes evil. I know that God’s justice and wisdom are way beyond me.”
II. A REPROOF: "You’re lying, Job. You know that suffering is a result of personal sin." (8:1-22) (Note v. 4)--Bildad (means the Lord loved”): “”How long are you going to talk like a whiner and a windbag, Job! ‘God’s in His heaven, and all’s right with the world.’ Everything works by cause and effect. There’s no mystery why your sons & daughters were killed. They deserved it. God gave them over to the penalty of their sin.” He is the man voice of history & the man with the clever clichés. He is the historian & legalist.
Illus: Imagine this conversation, “Hello, is this Job?” “Yes, this is Job.”
“Hey there, Job, this is your old friend Bildad. I know you have been having some trouble lately. You just looked terrible the last time I saw you. Boils are the worst.” “Thanks. I know.” “So, you know, Job, the guys and I were talking about you and I really felt I needed to call you up. Give you a little advice. You don’t mind do you? Of course not. So Job, well, I hate to point out the obvious but clearly you must have done something wrong to make God mad and so you are just getting what you deserve. I know, I know, you said you are blameless in front of God. But get real Job. People are animals. We always do the wrong thing even when we want to do the right thing. We are born to sin. So we have to suffer the consequences.” “But I didn’t…”
Bildad, a resident of Shuah, was a hard-nosed traditionalist. He dismissed Job’s protestations of innocence as "strong wind" (8:2). He even said that Job’s children had died as punishment for sin.
1. The argument (announcement) (8:1-7) “How long will you
speak these things?”--The character of God--The other friends are horrified at this, and then you have their response in the second speech by a man called Bildad. He plays the same tune as Eliphaz only louder. He says bluntly "Job’s children were destroyed, the seven boys and the three girls, and I will tell you why they were destroyed - because they had it coming to them." "Does God pervert justice?" he says (8:3 and 4); "When your children sinned against him, God gave them over to the penalty of their sins. So you’ve got to do the same, you’ve got to clean up your life while you’re still breathing and confess your sins, while you’ve still got a chance. God won’t reject a good man but he won’t help a bad man." Bildad’s theology was correct--God is just--his application of that theology was wrong. He was only looking at only one aspect of God’s nature--His holiness and justice--and had forgotten His love, mercy and goodness. Yes, “God is light” (1 John 1:5); but don’t forget that “God is love” (4:8, 16). His love is a holy love, and His holiness is exercised in love, even when He judges sin. Bildad says, "if only you could get right with God then your life would be filled with laughter and joy again" (v. 21).
2. The appeal (8:8-10) “Consider the things discovered by their fathers.” v. 8b--“The wisdom of the past--Bildad tells Job to learn wisdom from former generations that will reinforce what he is saying. These Godly ancestors taught this principle: where there is suffering, it is the result of sin. This is good advice when it is true but Job knows that it is wrong. Such were the traditions of men, and such was the content of Bildad’s counsel. The reason was that they were born only yesterday and thus did not have the acquired wisdom of the aged. Between Bildad and Eliphaz there is no essential difference. Each builds on sand--on speculations drawn from the subjectivity of his own consciousness and the relativity of the changing world--rather than on the granite disclosures of our all-powerful Creator.
Illus: “Tradition” and “traditionalism” are two different things. One historian expresses the difference this way, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.”
3. The assertion (vvs. 11-22)--The evidence is nature--Bildad asserts that God will destroy the wicked and uphold the righteous, including Job. He admonishes Job that those who live without God die like a plant without water. If Job were really blameless, God would not reject him.
Illus: The story is told of a speaker who was having difficulty with the sound system used to amplify his voice. No matter how well he spoke, there was constant feedback from the microphone. The static was nothing less that irritation. After much frustration the audio man walked to the podium and handed the speaker a note that read: “We’ve found what the trouble is. There’s a screw loose in the speaker.”
That was Bildad’s problem. All he said sounded like static to Job’s ears. Their problem was that there was loose screw in the speaker. Bildad’s words were distorting the truth. His advice contained elements of truth. But what he said, the argument of his logic and the thrust of his application, had to be carefully interpreted in this situation.
Illus: "I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn’t, than live my life as if there isn’t and die to find out there is." Albert Camus quotes (French novelist, essayist and playwright. (1913-1960)
III. A REBUKE: “You’re hopeless, Job. You need to repent.” (11:1-20) “When you mock, should no one rebuke you.” (v. 3b) Zophar (“a sparrow,” from the root verb “to twitter”)--One stated, “His vehement denunciations being utterly out of place, were as harmless as the “twitterings”of the bird for which he was named.” The debate grows more heated. “Job, you are a self-opinionated old wind-bag. You know you are guilty.”
“Hello, Job, this is your friend Zophar. I have something to say for your own good. You know I wouldn’t say this if it were not true. I don’t mean to hurt you.” “Of course, I know” replies Job.
“Job, Job, listen. It’s your own fault. The sooner you realize that, the better. Quit deluding yourself. Repent now. Then maybe God will bring you consolation. Remember that the mind is willing but the flesh is weak Job. Buck up and repent. Talk to you later buddy.” (Click)
1. The confrontation (vvs.1-6) “Should not the multitude of words be answered” (v. 2a)--“Job is guilty.” Zophar rebukes Job for his much babbling. He rashly attacks Job, accusing him of suffering the judgment of
God for unconfessed sin. One of the cruelest ways in which one can attack another person is through ridicule--the refusal to recognize the sincerity and integrity of another. Job had been rash in some of some of his remarks, but he was serious. Now Zophar dismisses all of Job’s questions and his claims of innocence as empty babbling and mockery. He was convinced that God would say if he spoke to him that Job’s punishment was less than he deserved. Job should be pleased that he has not receiving punishment for all of his sins.
2. The challenge (vvs.7-12) “Can you search out the deep things of God”--“Job is ignorant of God.” Zophar states that God’s wisdom is unfathomable, therefore a man should not question God. Zophar questioned Job about his understanding of God’s infinity (limitless extent of time, space, power, number, etc.). Job had never denied the infinity of God (Job 9:3-12). Job was finite (having a limit, bounded) and limited in his ability to grasp the magnitude of God. But of course, so were his three friends. Can you find out and discover all the depths of His wisdom and the reason of His actions? We are incapable of doing such a thing. Zophar accuses Job of speaking beyond what he understood. He had no mercy for the suffering Job.
3. The confession (vvs.13-20) “If iniquity…were put far away” (v.
13)--“Job is stubborn and should repent.” Zophar calls Job to take the neces-
sary steps to demonstrate true repentance while assuring Job that doing so will
bring the blessings of God back into his life. Zophar guarantees the blessings
which would be Job’s if he repented: lifting one’s face unashamed, confident
and fearless, ability to forget one’s troubles, etc. One translation reads, “You’ll
be able to face the world unashamed and keep a firm grip on life, guiltless and
fearless. You’ll forget your troubles; they’ll be like old, faded photographs.”
He concludes by stating, “But the wicked will see none of this. They’re headed
down a dead-end road with nothing to look forward to--nothing." Bildad uses
biting words to state that if Job fails to repent, God would end his wicked life.”
Illus: A man had fallen off a fishing pier into deep water and was about to go under. Another fisherman nearby, hearing his cry for help, said, "How can I help you? What can I do?" The drowning man said, "For God’s sake, give me something to hold on to!"
CONCLUSION: Here we see several "mistakes of human wisdom" "where Job’s miserable comforters’ went wrong" in giving bad advice rather than right advice:
1. They said that Job must have sinned. They were talkers, not listeners. With much true and eloquent, yet impractical advice, Job’s friends were too directive, too fast, too legalistic and too dogmatic.
2. The three counselors proved their assumption on incomplete evidence. They did not convey a proper attitude. Failing to be understanding, they became harsh and cruel accusers, not counselors.
3. When Job argues with them, the three counselors became indignant. Their discourses evidence pride, a downfall for any counselor.
4. In the heat of their argument, Job’s friends forget their original purpose which was to sympathize. Instead they sermonize.
Illus: Tommy Dorsey tells this, Back in 1932, I was 32 years old and a fairly new husband. My wife, Nettie, and I were living in a little apartment on Chicago’s Southside. One hot August afternoon I had to go to St. Louis, where I was to be the featured soloist at a large revival meeting. I didn’t want to go. Nettie was in the last month of pregnancy with our first child. But a lot of people were expecting me in St. Louis. I kissed Nettie good-bye, clattered downstairs to our Model A and, in a fresh Lake Michigan breeze, chugged out of Chicago on Route 66. However, outside the city, I discovered that in my anxiety at leaving, I had forgotten my music case. I wheeled around and headed back. I found Nettie sleeping peacefully. I hesitated by her bed; something was strongly telling me to stay. But eager to get on my way, and not wanting to disturb Nettie, I shrugged off the feeling and quietly slipped out of the room with my music.
The next night, in the steaming St. Louis heat, the crowd called on me to sing again and again. When I finally sat down, a messenger boy ran up with a Western Union telegram. I ripped open the envelope. Pasted on the yellow sheet were the words: YOUR WIFE JUST DIED. People were happily singing and clapping around me, but I could hardly keep from crying out. I rushed to a phone and called home. All I could hear on the other end was "Nettie is dead. Nettie is dead." When I got back, I learned that Nettie had given birth to a boy. I swung between grief and joy. Yet that night, the baby died. I buried Nettie and our little boy, both together, in the same casket. Then I fell apart.
For days I closeted myself. I felt that God had done me an injustice. I didn’t want to serve Him any more or write gospel songs. I just wanted to go back to that jazz world I once knew so well. But then, as I hunched alone in that dark apartment those first sad days, I thought back to the afternoon I went to St. Louis. Something kept telling me to stay with Nettie. Was that something God? Oh, if I had paid more attention to Him that day, I would have stayed and been with Nettie when she died. From that moment on I vowed to listen more closely to Him. But still I was lost in grief. Everyone was kind to me, especially a friend, Professor Fry, who seemed to know what I needed. On the following Saturday evening he took me up to Malone’s Poro College, a neighborhood music school. It was quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained windows. I sat down at the piano, and my hands began to browse over the keys.
Something happened to me then. I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, once into my head-they just seemed to fall into place: Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn, Through the storm, through the night lead me on to the light, Take my hand, precious Lord, Lead me home. As the Lord gave me these words and melody, He also healed my spirit. I learned that when we are in our deepest grief, when we feel farthest from God, this is when He is closest, and when we are most open to His restoring power. And so I go on living for God willingly and joyfully, until that day comes when He will take me and gently lead me home.
Precious Lord, take my hand Lead me on, let me stand.
I’m tired, I’m weak, I’m lone, Through the storm.
Through the night Lead me on to the light.
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
When my way grows drear precious Lord, linger near.
When my light is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call Hold my hand lest I fall.
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home.
When the darkness appears and the night draws near,
And the day is past and gone At the river I stand
Guide my feet, hold my hand.
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home.
Precious Lord, take my hand Lead me on, let me stand
I’m tired, I’m weak, I’m lone, Through the storm.
Through the night Lead me on to the light.
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home
