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Further Thought:
As said earlier in this quarter, it’s important to try to put ourselves in the place of the characters in the story, because doing so can help us understand their motives and actions. They didn’t see the battle going on behind the scenes as we do. If we put ourselves in their shoes, it shouldn’t be that hard for us to see the mistake that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar made in regard to Job’s suffering. They were making a judgment that they were really not qualified to make. “It is very natural for human beings to think that great calamities are a sure index of great crimes and enormous sins; but men often make a mistake in thus measuring character. We are not living in the time of retributive judgment. Good and evil are mingled, and calamities come upon all. Sometimes men do pass the boundary line beyond God’s protecting care, and then Satan exercises his power upon them, and God does not interpose. Job was sorely afflicted, and his friends sought to make him acknowledge that his suffering was the result of sin, and cause him to feel under condemnation. They represented his case as that of a great sinner; but the Lord rebuked them for their judgment of His faithful servant.” — Ellen G. White Comments, The SDA Bible Commentary,vol. 3, p. 1140. We need to be careful in how we deal with the whole question of suffering. Sure, in some cases it seems easier to understand. Someone smokes cigarettes and gets lung cancer. How much simpler could it be? That’s fine, but what about those who smoke all their lives and never get it? Is God punishing the one but not the other? In the end, like Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, we don’t always know why suffering comes as it does. In one sense, it almost doesn’t matter if we know or not. What matters is what we do in response to the suffering that we see. Here’s where these three men were totally wrong.
Discussion Questions:
What does the reality of retributive punishment teach us about how we can trust in the ultimate justice of God, even despite how things seem now?
These three men really didn’t understand all that was happening to Job in his suffering. In a sense, isn’t that the case with us all? We don’t fully understand the reasons for human suffering. How, then, should this realization help us be more compassionate with those who are suffering? As stated above, how important is it that we even know the immediate causes?
As said earlier in this quarter, it’s important to try to put ourselves in the place of the characters in the story, because doing so can help us understand their motives and actions. They didn’t see the battle going on behind the scenes as we do. If we put ourselves in their shoes, it shouldn’t be that hard for us to see the mistake that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar made in regard to Job’s suffering. They were making a judgment that they were really not qualified to make. “It is very natural for human beings to think that great calamities are a sure index of great crimes and enormous sins; but men often make a mistake in thus measuring character. We are not living in the time of retributive judgment. Good and evil are mingled, and calamities come upon all. Sometimes men do pass the boundary line beyond God’s protecting care, and then Satan exercises his power upon them, and God does not interpose. Job was sorely afflicted, and his friends sought to make him acknowledge that his suffering was the result of sin, and cause him to feel under condemnation. They represented his case as that of a great sinner; but the Lord rebuked them for their judgment of His faithful servant.” — Ellen G. White Comments, The SDA Bible Commentary,vol. 3, p. 1140. We need to be careful in how we deal with the whole question of suffering. Sure, in some cases it seems easier to understand. Someone smokes cigarettes and gets lung cancer. How much simpler could it be? That’s fine, but what about those who smoke all their lives and never get it? Is God punishing the one but not the other? In the end, like Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, we don’t always know why suffering comes as it does. In one sense, it almost doesn’t matter if we know or not. What matters is what we do in response to the suffering that we see. Here’s where these three men were totally wrong.
Discussion Questions:
What does the reality of retributive punishment teach us about how we can trust in the ultimate justice of God, even despite how things seem now?
These three men really didn’t understand all that was happening to Job in his suffering. In a sense, isn’t that the case with us all? We don’t fully understand the reasons for human suffering. How, then, should this realization help us be more compassionate with those who are suffering? As stated above, how important is it that we even know the immediate causes?