“Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?”
~ Job 22:5
Hi James and Ellen,
Who is your best friend? How does your best friend treat you? Do you like being with your best friend? Has your best friend ever told you that you are doing something wrong? There is a book in the Old Testament that is called Job. The Job Book is about a guy named Job. Job was a good guy living a good life. Job had a wife and kids. Job had lots of animals. Job had friends. Job believed in God. Lucifer – who is an evil, fallen angel, one day went to God to ask God for His permission to try to get Job to reject Him. God gave Lucifer His consent. With the exception of Job’s wife and Job’s friends, Lucifer was able to destroy or take away everything that Job had. What would you do if you lost everything? Lucifer then had Job’s body become covered with open sores. What would you do if your body became covered with open sores? Would you begin to question God why He would allow such horrific things to happen to you? Job did not complain to God about having lost everything that he had. Job accepted the stomach wrenching things that had happened and were happening to him. Three friends of Job – Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, thought that they had a very good idea why Job was experiencing such awful things? The three guys thought that the bad things that were happening to Job were happening because of Job having done something that enraged God. The guys thought that their mandate was to convince Job that he had done something which had made God very angry with him. The guys made it their mission to convince Job that God was punishing him for what he had done to get God incensed with him. These three misguided guys – Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, thought the answer to all the things that Job was experiencing was to have Job confess what he had done wrong. Job’s three so-called friends gave different speeches to Job. The third round of speeches begins in Job 22. Eliphaz would always be the first guy to speak. Each time one of Job’s self-proclaimed friends finished bloviating, Job would speak. Eliphaz is now going to tell Job what he must have done which had to have really offended God. Eliphaz tells Job that he had to have done something very wicked which has really enraged God. Eliphaz tells Job that he probably took money when he should not have taken money or that he had not given water to someone who needed water or that he had not helped a widow who needed his help. Eliphaz did give Job some good counsel at the end – which was what Job needed to do to return to God’s grace. What Eliphaz would not accept was that Job had not done something wrong. Would you say that Eliphaz was really a good friend to Job? If a guy, gal or kid is really a good friend, what would the guy, gal or kid do if their friend was having difficulties? A good friend is a guy, gal or kid who will listen. A good friend is a guy, gal or kid who will show kindness. A good friend is a guy, gal or kid who will not try to tell you that you have done something wrong when you haven’t. A good friend is a guy, gal or kid who will help you do what is right.
What do you think makes a guy, gal or kid a friend? A friend is a guy, gal or kid who cares more about you than he or she cares about himself or herself. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have friends who live in different places in the United States. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have friends who live in Bolivia and Guatemala. Your grandmaa and grandpaa ask their friends to pray for them. Why would you want your friends praying for you? Your grandmaa and grandpaa have the same enemy that Job had. What happened to Job could also happen to your grandmaa and grandpaa. You are living today in your enemy’s playground. Who wanted to destroy Job? Lucifer wanted to destroy Job. Lucifer was an angel who thought that he could be as God is. When Lucifer’s pride took over his angelic being, God no longer wanted Lucifer in heaven with Him. Lucifer is known today as Satan or the devil. Lucifer or Satan or the devil wants every guy, gal and kid on planet Earth to renounce God. Satan does not want any guy, gal or kid believing that God exists. Satan wants your friends to tell you how bad you are. San Jose is a community in Bolivia. San Jose is located next to the railroad tracks. Your grandmaa and grandpaa would spend time in San Jose with each summer team that went to Bolivia. The first year that a summer team stayed in San Jose, the summer team stayed in a house that was located across the street from the Christ-follower church in San Jose. In the middle of the night, a drunk began yelling outside the house where the summer team was staying. The drunk was yelling for one of the gals who was on the summer team. This drunk sounded scary. Your grandpaa woke up Tim Blad – a field team missionary who was traveling with the summer team. Your dad was also on this trip. Your grandpaa asked Tim to tell him what the drunk was saying – as the drunk was hard to understand. Your grandpaa after a short time asked Tim what the drunk had said. Tim told your grandpaa that he was listening to two other drunks who were sitting on the steps right outside the place where the summer team was staying. Your grandpaa asked Tim what the guys were saying. Tim told your grandpaa that one of the guys had just told the other guy that a crooked tree could never grow straight. The guy thought that they being a couple of drunks could never become straight and be good again.
You need friends who you can trust to help you to do what is right. There will times in your lives when you will do something which you think is right but a guy, gal or kid friend can tell that it is not right for you to do – and tell you. God knows all about your sin spirit. Verse 5 says this about every guy, gal and kid “Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?” Eliphaz found it real easy to tell Job that Job has sin in his life. What Eliphaz has forgotten is that he has a sin filled life. Jesus as your friend will straighten out the crookedness that is in your lives.
Job 22 (83)