What are the lessons of the book of Job? ’Iyyob (Job) needed to understand how to judge rightly and justly. Our focus should be on God’s wisdom and knowledge, not on the work God is doing in someone else.
Tag: Book of Job
There’s a tendency to discount what the friends of ’Iyyob (Job) have to say, because God corrects them at the end of the book. Yet, significant portions of counsel from one friend, Elihu, actually prepare ’Iyyob’s heart — for example, hope of a mediator with God and resurrection — for the epic encounter with God in the closing chapters of the book.
As we go through this book, Iyyob (Job) and his friends become more hostile. His friends can’t convince Iyyob that he is a unrepentant sinner, and Iyyob can’t convince his friends of his integrity. Iyyob said God was fighting against him, but Iyyob would not assume to fight against God.
When someone “disagrees” with God, we should encourage them to read the book of Job. God Himself tells us that ’Iyyob (Job) had integrity, fortitude and was a righteous man, yet he still to learn how God acts.
Most believers long to speak with God face to face, as Moshe (Moses) did. If you pray to God you willing to hear what He has to say in response, you will hear Him and have a fulfilling relationship.
Given an outside view of what the Adversary was allowed to do to ’Iyyob (Job), we can look down on the spiritual ignorance of his three friends and even of ’Iyyob’s statements in his defense. Rather, this is a powerful lesson on proverbially removing the “log” from one’s eye before looking for the “sawdust” in someone else’s.