Page 10 - Job

have heard of the patience of Job and seen the end of the Lord.” The
truth is it looks mostly like the end of Job. But he comes out on top. He
eventually triumphs victoriously as an object lesson for us all. Now let’s
fly again and try to see the book as awhole.
Let me give you the outline. Chapters 1 and 2 are the prose introduction.
Now I call attention to the fact that it is prose because prose simply means
“not poetry”. That’s interesting! We are studying the poetical section, and
it begins with prose. God gives a partial explanation in the first two
chapters of why the righteous suffer. He doesn’t give the full answer.
Then in chapters 3 through 42:6 the bulk of the book, you have the poem.
The poetry we find here is both elegant and gut wrenching.

First of all, from chapters 3-31, you have the debates of the three friends
of Job. Now, God calls them friends, and He says “Pray for your friends”.
Job did not exactly have that same opinion of them. He called them
“miserable comforters”, and they were. Job’s friends try to explain to
him why he is suffering. You see, God has given a partial answer, Satan.
But remember, Job did not have access to the first two chapters. God gave
them to us, but Job was unaware. He started in chapter 3 when the bottom
fell out of everything, and he did not understand that Satan had gone
before the Throne of God. That God had given Satan permission to pull
the fence down, take the hedge away and to strip him to the bone. He did
not understand that. So they are trying to figure out what is going on.
And these three “miserable comforters”, try to explain his dilemma.
They try but they don’t, in fact they make things worse.
Two of them speak three times and one of them speaks twice, and in
between Job answers them back. At one time one of them went forward
and spit in Job’s face and at another time one went and slapped him across
the face. These were red hot discussions. He was lying in his sickbed and
they pummeled him with their accusations and worldly wisdom. Have you
ever been down and confused and been surrounded by such wonderful
counselors. Unfortunately in the Body of Christ there are more “miserable
comforters” than you can shake a stick at. They love to connect your pain
and suffering to your actions, church, beliefs, lack of prayer etc. etc. etc.
Then in chapters 32-37, there is a man I really like. His name is Elihu.
Elihu was a fourth friend (Like the fourth man in the fire we see in
Daniel). I think the principle is when 3 dimensions fail, we must turn to
th
the God of the 4 dimension. He came along and although he did not give
the right answer either, he did get Job looking in the right direction. He
was a lot closer than these three miserable comforters who really missed
the mark. Job, in defending himself, missed the mark himself. Elihu

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