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February 27 Daily Devotional

Rethinking Our Thinking

Peter G. Feenstra

And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” (Job 42:7)

Bible Reading

Job 42:7–9

Devotional

The Lord calls us to repentance and daily renewal. In calling us to repentance God needs to change our hearts and the direction of our thinking. The same happens to Job. Having been convicted of his sin Job repents in sackcloth and ashes. He is truly sorry for all the accusations he has made against the Lord.

Following his admittance of guilt the Lord sets out to vindicate Job. First He addresses Eliphaz, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” By addressing Eliphaz the Lord holds all of the three friends responsible. They have not spoken of Him correctly. Their thinking can be summarized like this: God will bless you if you do well, but if something bad happens, He is punishing you. Their view is similar to those who, throughout history, have based salvation on works.

On the surface these men seem to be sincere believers. Their thinking is only slightly off and in error. Nevertheless, the Lord is not pleased with how these men have reacted. “You have not spoken of Me what is right.” Their motivations may have been honourable but what they said about the Lord was not correct. Job and his friends were not on the same wavelength in their way of speaking about the Lord. The friends had moulded God into an idea which fit with their own logic and reasoning. Their teaching about the relationship between sin and punishment excluded the possibility that God could use affliction to purify and strengthen the faith of truly obedient believers. The Lord is especially angry with them because their reasoning has no place for Christ—for the Suffering Servant and the cross. If their thinking is followed through to its logical conclusion, Jesus suffered and was punished for His own sins. Jesus, too, must have been guilty of a terrible sin—and that would have defeated the entire doctrine of redemption.

The Lord’s censure must have hit the three friends like a bolt of lightning. They were convinced of the rightness of their thinking. They had defended God but now they are being condemned for their faulty reasoning! The Lord’s rebuke is a warning to every believer. Our thinking needs to be reshaped through the working of the Holy Spirit. Pray that your thinking may transformed by the Word of God.

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