Job Chapter 4
If You Would Have Listened To Me, None Of This Would Have Happened.
Job’s friend, Eliphaz, begins to give him counsel and confronts Job that the innocent don’t suffer. He gives several examples in life in order to strongly imply to Job that he is guilty of some form of sin.
There is this thought process that says, “If you are going through tough times then it’s automatically because of sin in your life.” This has destroyed or hindered the faith of many. For example, a friend of mine, during the days of his youth, made some bad decisions and stepped away from the Lord. After being married, he had two kids with some kind of disability. He immediately assumed it was because of his past sins and carried a lot of guilt. And probably still does.
Unfortunate circumstances fall upon both the righteous and the unrighteous. Sure, we have to be aware of sin in our lives. Sure there are consequences to sin. But God is not a God just waiting to crush us and inflict evil upon us as if to be saying, “If you would have listened to me, none of this would have happened.”
Again, be aware of your sins, and realize there are consequences to sin, but don’t adopt this evil way of thinking that any misfortune is automatically due to your evil ways.
God never loses his love for us and when misfortunes occur he wants to lovely come alongside us and help us through them. Often times, the things we call misfortunes are really opportunities to be a blessing and show God’s power.
What guilt have you been holding on to? Are you quick to beat yourself up rather than let God lovingly walk with you through it? If something needs to be surrendered to him, do it today and let him embrace you with his love and walk with you through your pain.
