TEXT: Job 5:17-27
Take note especially of v. 24. Has God ever delivered you from troubles? Can you identify with the many situations mentioned by the Temanite? If not, then you have the answer for why happiness has eluded you. What is this deliverance? God’s corrective love “maketh sore” and “wounds”. Afterwards, God binds and heals. This is an exaltation to a blessed status. The blessings are enumerated in vss. 19-23. While Job’s latter end may reveal physical exalted-ness (cf. Job 42:12-13), harmony of scripture points to an exaltation of wisdom. “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.” (Prov. 3:13). “Happy is the man that feareth always; but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.” (Prov. 28:14). Blessed is the man whom Jehovah has exalted from the wages of his sin. This story of Job really speaks to the assurance and certainty God’s word provides about our salvation.
Job’s exhortation to confess his sin from his three friends, raises some interesting questions. Was Job an alien sinner? Are sinners to acknowledge this in a prayer, for sins remission (as is popularly taught)? Harmony of scripture reveals that Job was a righteous man, blessed for his endurance of trials of his faith (cf. Job 1:22; 2:10; 42:7-9; James 5:10-11).
Eliphaz spoke the truth about Jehovah’s chastening. Job acknowledged the same (chapt. 22:23); so also the Hebrew writer and James (Heb. 12:1-8; James 1:2-4; chapt’s. 4 and 5). God’s sore-wounding is an act of love and for our benefit as his children. God’s longsuffering is with a view to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Let us count our blessings for His enduring mercy.
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