“Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the craft.”
~ Job 15:5
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you think that you know everything? Do you believe that you are always right? Do you know a kid who thinks that he or she knows everything? Do you know a kid who thinks that he or she is always right? How do you feel when you are told that you were wrong about something that you have said? How do you react when you are told that you were wrong about something that you have said? Do you get angry when you are told that you were wrong about something that you have said? Do you get defensive when you are told that you were wrong about something that you have said? Do you believe that God wants you to speak for Him? Do you believe that when you tell a kid that he or she was wrong about something that he or she has said that God had prompted you to tell the kid what it was that was wrong about what he or she had said? Do you have a kid friend who is always telling you that you are wrong about something that you have said? Are you always looking for an opportunity to tell a kid that he or she was wrong about what he or she has said? Why do you think that it is easier to tell a kid that he or she is wrong about what he or she has said than it is to be told by a kid that you are wrong about something that you have said?
There was once a Temanite who thought that he knew everything. This Temanite – Eliphaz, thought that he had all the answers. Eliphaz really believed that he was God’s spokesman. Eliphaz considered himself as being a friend of Job. Eliphaz believed – because he thought of himself as being a friend of Job, that he had the right to tell Job that it was his fault why his kids had been killed, why he was covered with sores and why he was feeling so absolutely miserable. Job 15 has Eliphaz laying it on Job. Eliphaz – thinking that Job sees him as his friend, says in verse 5, “Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the craft.” If you were a real friend of a kid, would you tell your kid friend that the awful things that have been happening to him or her are happening because he or she has been living with sin in his or her life? If you were a real friend of a kid, would you tell your kid friend that he or she has to be lying about something that he or she has done that is leading to the appalling things that have been happening in his or her life? The first time when Eliphaz spoke to Job, Eliphaz tried using kind words to say what he wanted to say to Job. Because Job had strongly defended himself against what Eliphaz had said to him earlier, Eliphaz this time is now reacting defensively to Job’s responses. Eliphaz is not happy that Job had told him that he was wrong in what he had initially said to him. Eliphaz is not happy that Job had called him longwinded. Job had called what Eliphaz first said to him nothing but empty words and a hot desert wind that was blowing out of the east. Eliphaz had it in his mind that he had the right to chide, scold and/or denounce a guy who he assumes that he has been to a lifelong friend. Do you think that a real friend would really think that he or she has the right to make cruel insinuations to a guy or gal who is suffering through tough, awful times – like Job was?
When your grandpaa was the Field Director of the OC International Guatemala field missionary team, he had on the field missionary team a guy who thought that he could do nothing wrong. Ken wanted friends and to be a friend to other guys. Ken would do things though that made it really difficult to be a friend to him. Ken seemed to always want other guys to do things his way and in his timeframe. Ken would assume rights that other guys did not have. After your grandpaa began to go daily into the OC International Equipo SEPAL field ministry team office that is in Guatemala City, Russell Road – the Guatemalan Field Director at the time, asked your grandpaa to be Ken’s supervisor. Russell told your grandpaa that he no longer could give Ken anymore of his time. Even though Russell explained to Ken that Ken was to be accountable to your grandpaa, Ken immediately brought your grandpaa a book that he more or less told your grandpaa that your grandpaa needed to read. A number of months after your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived by car in Guatemala City, a genuine friend of your grandmaa and grandpaa – Tip Brask, sent to Guatemala a computer with a short term ministry team for your grandpaa to use. The day – which was a Saturday, after the computer that Tip sent to your grandpaa had been set up in your grandpaa’s office in the field ministry team office in Guatemala City, Ken called your grandpaa’s home. Ken was very fortunate that your grandpaa was running some errands when he called your grandpaa’s home. Ken had gone into the field ministry team office that Saturday morning – the day after the computer had been set up that Tip had sent to your grandpaa for your grandpaa to use as his personal computer. Ken had gone into your grandpaa’s office and turned on the computer that Tip had just sent to your grandpaa to use as his personal computer. The reason that Ken called your grandpaa’s house that Saturday morning was to ask how to shut off your grandpaa’s computer – as he did not know how to do it. How do you feel when a kid decides to use something that is yours without first asking you if he or she can use it? Ken made an assumption that he had the right – as he really believed that he was your grandpaa’s friend, that he could – before your grandpaa could use it, use your grandpaa’s new computer for what he wanted to use it. A good friend will find ways to help a guy or gal who is his or her friend – like Tip did for your grandpaa when he sent him a computer to use in his field office. A friend does not condemn a guy or gal who is his or her friend – like Eliphaz did when he told Job that he had to have sin in his life and that he must be in denial about it or that he was lying about it. A real friend is a guy or gal who you trust, who unconditionally accepts you as you are and who listens to what you say.
Job 15 (446)