Today in God’s Word

Today in God's Word—May 2023

East Tallassee Church of Christ

May 31, Job 5

For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. - Job 5:6-7

I suppose I've always been a talker. I started talking at an early age, and so far I haven't stopped. As I write these lines, I've been a preacher for more than 45 years. Before that I was a disc jockey. Even in school, I liked to speak in front of the class, when their turn to speak filled my classmates with dread.

We talkers sometimes say too much, and sometimes say things we later regret. Words are powerful, and can do a lot of good or a lot of harm. Even truth can be harmful when it is spoken with the wrong tone or in the wrong setting.

Eliphaz was not kind to his miserable friend Job. He spoke in generalities that did not fit Job's case, and applied them to the broken man anyway. When Job needed comfort, Eliphaz poured on the accusations.

It's true that sin brings suffering, but it's not true that all a person’s suffering is the direct result of sin in his or her life. Yes, sin brings trouble to the sinner, and very often to the sinner's family and associates. But a suffering man is not necessarily a wicked man. Eliphaz did not hesitate to accuse and convict Job of sinful behavior that caused his terrible suffering.

Eliphaz made some statements that were both inappropriate and unkind in his speech to Job. He taunted Job, suggesting that God nor any of the angels would hear his prayer. Eliphaz talked about the fool whose children were crushed in the gate, with no one able to deliver them. It was hateful to talk like that to a man who had lost all ten of his children when the house fell on them.

He told Job that this affliction didn't just come out of nowhere. There was a cause for it, and he strongly suggested that Job’s sin was the

cause of his suffering. His remedy was for Job to repent and confess the sin. If he would do that, his animals would not have been stolen, and his children would not be dead. The miserable disease he had would go away and he could live to a ripe old age instead of wishing he had never been born.

Eliphaz ended his speech with a dogmatic assertion that this was all true, and that everything he said applied to Job. He admonished his grieving, suffering friend to hear what he was telling him for his own good.

All of us who would speak a word of encouragement and help to others need to learn from Eliphaz's blunders. We do not know with certainty the hearts of the people we address. We also do not know all that has happened to them or how it has affected them. We may be telling them the truth, but in an unkind way or at an inappropriate time. We are commissioned to tell others the good news and to encourage others in love. But we have not been assigned to judge anyone. Our speech should always be as Paul told the Colossians, “always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

What if we all applied the Golden Rule test to what we say to others? Would we want them to say the same things in the same way to us? If we truly talked to others the way we want to be addressed, surely we would be gentler, kinder and more thoughtful than we sometimes tend to be. From the wisdom of Solomon in the Old Testament to the practical guidance of James in the New Testament, the Bible tells us a lot about what we say and how we should say it. When people around us need comfort and compassion, it is cruel and heartless to blast them with criticism and condemnation.

A quiet friend of mine once told me he didn't say much so he would have less to be sorry for saying later. I have tried to remember and apply that wise counsel to my own tendency to talk too much. I want to be a good listener. I want what I do say to be helpful and healing. So I'm

doing more and better listening these days. I'm trying to think carefully before I speak. I don't always get it right, but I am more conscious of the need to consider the other person's situation and how they will hear what I say to them. I still probably talk too much, and I don't always get it right. But when I read about a talker like Eliphaz, I renew my commitment to be more careful with my words.

Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.