What does it say?
Job says that one man dies full of strength, being at ease, and satisfied; while another man dies with a bitter soul, never tasting good things in life. Eliphaz accuses Job of great wickedness and exhorts him to yield to God, listen to his word, and be restored. Job longs to speak with God and present his case before him, that he may be justified, yet Job knows that the Lord does what he desires; therefore, he is terrified of him.
What does it mean?
To this point in the dialogue, the friends of Job have implied that Job is wicked, but now Eliphaz outwardly accuses Job of wickedness. The only evidence that he has that job is wicked is that Job has been crushed by God. Eliphaz’s logic is based on a faulty premise. The premise being that God gives good things to the righteous man and bad things to the wicked. However, Job knows that this is not the way of things in this world. What a man receives in this world is not based on personal righteousness or unrighteousness. One man may receive good things in life and another may receive bad things and it is not based on whether they are good or bad. Job understands that the Lord deals with each man has his soul desires, he appoints some a life of ease and to others a life of labor.
What shall I do?
I have read a great deal about personal evangelism and have studied many methods. Some methods actually employ the faulty premise that unrighteousness leads to a bad life and righteousness leads to a good life. The three circles method uses this logic and it is very faulty. One of the problems with the method is that you have to wait for someone to be in despair before you can talk with them about forgiveness in Christ. The only true way, is what Ray Comfort of Living Waters ministries calls, the Way of the Master. When a man is self righteous (rich young ruler, Lk 18:18-25) you give him law and when a man is humble (blind Bartimaeus, Lk 18:35-43) you give him grace; between these two stories is the gospel. (Lk 18:26-34)
