Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Job 11:1 says, Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,  The third of Job's friends speaks now, and instead of offering comfort, he instead offers condemnation of Job.  We need to pray that if we are ever suffering that we have friends who want to help and not condemn us.  We see nothing that says that these friends ever did anything to ease Job's suffering.  Evidently they were content to simply watch Job and blame his suffering on him.  Verse two adds, Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?  I believe Zophar was saying that Job was just rambling on as we might say.   He also seemed to be saying that God would have answered Job's multitude of words if Job was indeed righteous as he claimed.  If we do not seem to get an immediate answer from God, that does not mean that He is not listening to us.  I believe Zophar felt that he was morally superior to Job.  We need to be careful of judging others based on our own moral superiority. We will never be capable of judging and condemning others.  That is God's right alone.  If we see someone suffering, especially a fellow believer, we need to offer them support and comfort, and not attempt to condemn them as sinners deserving of their suffering.  Though we can judge certain actions as sinful, we are not called on to judge the faith of others, and certainly not based on physical conditions.  Verse three continues, Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?  Zophar accuses Job of just using many words to justify himself with lies.  This was no statement that Job might be mistaken or honestly speaking from a wrong understanding.  Zophar asks Job if he thinks that since his lies were a mockery of God if Job thought that his friends would not be justified in making him ashamed of his words.  Zophar was speaking out of self-righteousness.  He really did feel morally superior to Job.  We need to guard against feeling that way about others, especially based on material factors.  Verse four states, For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.  Zophar claimed that when Job claimed to be pure in his doctrine and clean in God's eyes that he was lying.  Zophar based this on feeling that his doctrine was pure.  To condemn someone else of being guilty of living by a false doctrine, we must feel that our doctrine is true.  That is one problem with attempting to live by a doctrine instead of a relationship with God.   Verse five adds, But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;  Zophar wanted God to speak and condemn Job, which would have proven him right in his condemnation of Job.  Zophar would be waiting a long time for this to happen, because he was the one who was wrong.  We today may sit back waiting or even wishing for God to punish someone we think is guilty of sin, but our time would be better spent asking for God to restore them if they are truly guilty of sin.  Verse six continues, And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.  Zophar became the judge and said that God was too lenient with Job.  In effect, Zophar was questioning the wisdom of God.  According to Zophar, God should have punished Job more.  We need to be careful that we don't have the same attitude about those around us.  We can never afford to approach others with a feeling of moral superiority, feeling that we are justified before God, but that they deserve whatever punishment they receive and probably even more.


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