August 22
Job 4:1-7:21 | PS 37:30-40 | Prov 21:27 | 1 Cor 14:18-40
Whether it be as a parent, or a spouse, or a friend, or for me, as a physician, we are frequently placed in a position to offer advice. We should be very careful when doing so. We should be steadfast in God's Word to be God's mouthpiece. Above all we must realize that we are not always right in our assessment, and our advice might be right, but it might also be wrong. We must avoid letting pride slip into our giving of advice. There is no shortage of us who find ourselves getting angry when others don't take our advice. Even if we are right, this is pride. Through it all we must keep our eyes on God, rather than ourselves. We read in Isaiah 26:3, "You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You."
We see such a beautiful and respectful response from Job's three friends at first, as we read their initial time with their friend in Job 2:12-13, "When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words." No judgment, just love as they sat quietly with their friend. But then Job spoke of his misery, which launched the dialogue. As we go through this dialogue we will see some truths, some errors which is just like those being used by Satan. We also notice the conversation gets increasingly hostile, not because of anything Job is doing, but because he is not accepting their advice, this is pride. Eliphaz speaks some truth when he says in Job 4:5-6, "But now when trouble strikes, you lose heart. You are terrified when it touches you. Doesn't your reverence for God give you confidence? Doesn't your life of integrity give you hope?” From there he immediately says something wrong, making false insinuations in the process in 14:7-8, "Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed? My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same."
We need to be in God's Word and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, as we read in 1 John 4:1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." We see Eliphaz have an encounter with the spirit world, but not the Holy Spirit, as we read in Job 4:12-15, "This truth was given to me in secret, as though whispered in my ear. It came to me in a disturbing vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep. Fear gripped me, and my bones trembled. A spirit swept past my face, and my hair stood on end." We see the pride in Eliphaz as he concludes his first portion in 5:27, "We have studied life and found all this to be true. Listen to my counsel, and apply it to yourself". Job feels the sting of his accusation, as he responds in 5:14, "One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty." When we offer advice we should seriously consider Job's words in 6:26, "Do you think your words are convincing when you disregard my cry of desperation?" Whether we are offering or taking advice we need to be both alert to the moving of the Holy Spirit and sensitive to the plight of others. Our advice might initially be sound, might be well intentioned, but even if it begins this way, when disregarded it can quickly change to cutting and biting when our pride kicks in. We need to be continuously in His presence if it is truly our desire to be His vessel in this difficult world.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: