Page 23 - The Poetic Books - Student Text

2.4 Let’s Practice….

1. Job is described as “blameless and upright.” True False

2. Satan accuses God of putting a “hedge” around Job. True False

3. Job’s children encourage him to “curse God and die.” True False

4. Job compares himself to a sea monster. True False

5. Job ponders the attention God pays to him in a good sense. True False

6. Job accuses God of putting a “hedge” around him. True False

7. Eliphaz receives his wisdom from a spirit. True False

8. Bildad points Job toward the grace of God. True False

9. Zophar thinks that Job deserves more punishment from God. True False

10. Job’s three friends are like a drink of cool water. True False

2.5 Let’s Personalize this Lesson….

These three friends of Job can be found in most churches to a degree. Can you identify
situations of suffering when the theology of the friends has been expressed? Have you read in
books or heard in radio sermons similar claims about health and suffering?

The theology of Eliphaz has a familiar ring to it. We hear many voices today claiming blessings
due from God. If suffering is God’s correction of some sin in my life, can’t I avoid suffering by working
hard for God? Sin brings suffering. Righteousness brings blessing. In fact, is Christianity about suffering at
all? Doesn’t God want me to be healthy and wealthy?

It is not uncommon for pastors who want new vehicles to claim that God directed them
to “sow” their old vehicle in the life of someone else, usually a church member. A few
days after the divine direction is carried out, a more luxurious vehicle appears, and
members proudly point to it as a sign of God’s blessing on the pastor’s life and
ministry….
Just as these churches make little room for the poor, they also leave little room for
theological wrestling with the cost of discipleship, failure, pain, and disappointment, all
of which are the lot of missions in Africa. One Ghanaian church changed its name from
“Calvary Road” to “Harvesters International” because, as a leading member explained to
me, the word Calvary sounded too negative to members. Until recently, some

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