If you would direct your heart rightly
And spread out your hands to Him,
If wrongdoing is in your hand, put it far away,
And do not let malice dwell in your tents;
Then, indeed, you could lift up your face without moral blemish,
And you would be firmly established and not fear.
For you would forget your trouble;
Like waters that have passed by, you would remember it. (vv. 13-16)

In this chapter, Job’s friend Zophar argues with Job. Job is wrong to think that he is more righteous than God. But his friends fail to explain why Job is wrong. In fact, their words made God angry.

It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is trustworthy, as My servant Job has. Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so as not to do with you as your foolishness deserves, because you have not spoken of Me what is trustworthy, as My servant Job has.” (Job 42:7-8)

Our task is to understand why his friends are wrong. Many theologians and ministers fail to explain this. Many think Job’s friends are right. However, we already know that they spoke lies about God according to Job 42:7-8.

But if only God would speak,
And open His lips against you,
And show you the secrets of wisdom!
For sound wisdom has two sides.
Know then that God forgets part of your guilt. (vv. 5-6)

Zophar does not know that God does speak and remembers all our sins. His ideas of God are again tied to morality. This morality is determined and judged by humans. All humans have some sense of morality. We know what is right and wrong. For example, hurting someone is morally wrong and this idea is shared by all humans. We have heard and read many stories where morally good people are rewarded with wealth and health. Zophar thinks Job was punished because of his sins. He thinks Job has to DO something – becoming morally perfect. His idea is connected to the conditional covenant. All conditional covenants in the Bible were broken because no one could meet the conditions. Zophar tells Job that he needs to try harder to meet the conditions to gain peace, health, and prosperity.

We often think we have peace and prosperity because we did something good. We boast that we have faith in God and do many good works. And we judge others that they have done wrong if they go through difficulties in their lives. We avoid them like curses as if they would make us impure and sinful.

Many prophets went through much suffering. They were humiliated and killed by those who call themselves God’s children. No one is indeed morally perfect before God. For the saints, suffering is education. We certainly do not enjoy it when we go through it. We often blame ourselves and think about our bad actions and thoughts that might have triggered God’s wrath. However, we must remember that God makes us suffer for our education. Our question should be: “What is God teaching me?” and not “What did I do wrong?”. Sin and punishment make us live in the past, not the future. That is what the Reformed theology is doing at present. Ministers and theologians talk about the glorious Adam in the Garden of Eden. However, we must talk about our new life in Jesus Christ and the new kingdom.

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13)