TCN's Biblical Journey May 3rd

Today's reading is Job 5-9

Hebrews 12:5
And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you.

Hebrews 12:6
For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son."

Job 5:17
"Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

Psalm 94:12
Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O LORD, And whom You teach out of Your law;

Proverbs 3:11

My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke,

All of these scriptures say the same thing that Eliphaz says to Job in chapter 5:17. Yet later in the book, God criticizes Eliphaz and his friends for speaking the way they did to Job. Does this seem like God is being double-minded? Not at all.

The reason is though the words are true, it wasn’t true for this situation. God wasn’t punishing Job. The lesson we need to learn here is we may not see the whole problem. It is like the person who criticizes a person who is overweight and says they just need to eat less and exercise more. However, they don’t realize the true problem is they have a thyroid problem or other medical condition.  Yes, it is true that if you are overweight you need to eat less and exercise more, but it isn’t always the case for everyone.

The lesson I see here for us is we shouldn’t assume there is always a simple answer. Yes, usually there is but not all the time. Does this mean that what Job’s friends said was wrong? No, it was the way they said it and the attitude they had that got them in trouble. This is why Paul says we need to go to a brother (or sister) in a spirit of meekness/gentleness (Galatians 6:1).