Sad if true

“Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?” (Job 5:1 AV)

On the face of it, this is a pretty distressing question.  Especially when considering the situation.  The suggestion of this verse is rather cruel, and probably a bit untrue.  Job had suffered great loss and now sat in great pain.  He suffered the loss of all that he had and was left alone with a wife who wanted him to die.  His children were dead.  All his material wealth was gone.  Job was reduced to an ash heap as the sole source of comfort.  Eliphaz the Temanite insinuates here that Job’s situation was caused by sin, and it is that sin that separated him from any potential help.  He alone, with his three friends, was the only friends Job had.  Or so Eliphaz thinks.  The question above is not one that would encourage another.  What Eliphaz is saying to Job is that Job is in such a state because of his sin and unless he repents, there isn’t a saint out there to whom he could go for desperately needed comfort.

It is a pretty sad state of affairs when other misjudge a situation and you cannot find the comfort that you need.  If Eliphaz truly believed that, he should have kept it to himself.  What strikes me as important is how truthful his statement might have been.  At the very least, that it might appear to be truthful.  Imagine what it would take for all to condemn Job to the point of colluding, refusing to aid and comfort.  Society would have to collectively agree that Job’s situation was caused by sin.  Then there would be peer pressure that caused marginal saints to withhold compassion.  No one knew the facts.  It would have to be assumed all believed something of which they had no firsthand information.  Even Job’s four friends could not discern the origin of or cause for Job’s troubles.  This ignorance would have to be universal.  But that is how we are.  The human race is apt to prejudge things and people before we have all the facts.  Pride keeps us from changing that opinion once all the facts are in.  For Eliphaz to make this statement, he has to presume on the character of everyone else.  He has to assume everyone else was just like him and his three friends.  The statement above is both arrogant and discouraging.

The only way to defeat such a statement is to take initiative.  Job should not take Eliphaz’s statement as the truth to reality.  He can take the initiative to prove the statement right or wrong.  He can seek help from the saints.  The saints can prove Eliphaz wrong by taking the initiative.  They can care without prejudice.  It is not up to them to discern why this all happened.  They can offer comfort without the need to discern why.  They can prove Eliphaz wrong.  Which is where you and I come in.  Let us forget the opinion of others.  They don’t know anymore than we do.  Only God knows.  We need to tell Eliphaz and his three friends to take a hike.  What someone needs is not judgment.  God can take care of that.  What the Jobs of this world need is a listening ear.  They need a soft shoulder.  They need compassion and prayer.  Sorry, Eliphaz, there are saints who care and don’t need to know why.  Let us hope we are one of them.