Well, we are in the book of Job. You can turn tonight to Job chapter number 4. As I have studied the book here and trying to determine how deep to get or how narrow to get into focus. Chapters four all the way through chapter 37 are really an ongoing discourse between Job's three friends and Job. Each of his friends come and they present their arguments and Job offers his rebuttal. And one at a time they kind of go through like that and then there are three series of arguments that are presented but they're, cast across these many chapters. And so I didn't feel like we should take the time to go necessarily verse by verse through what are very similar arguments presented by his three friends and walking down just one verse at a time. So we're gonna kind of, tonight we're gonna tackle chapters four through chapter seven. dealing with Eliphaz and his first conversation with Job and then Job's response. And so we're going to kind of take that, tackle that whole segment of time and the entirety of that conversation that is the charge of Eliphaz. that we're gonna look at this evening. So we see, first of all, Eliphaz's report as he comes and begins to open his mouth. Of course, you know the story, Job and his friends, they sat there for seven days and there was no response, no conversation, just sitting quietly. and they're enjoying each other's company or not, I don't know, but they're sitting there together on the ash sheet for seven days. And then the time comes where Job opens his mouth. And we looked at that in chapter number three. In chapter number three, it's amazing, three times over the last seven days, I've had opportunity where people directly talk to me about somebody who said, I don't know why I'm here. And I said, you will not believe this. On Thursday night, just this last Thursday, I preached a message from Job chapter three, where Job said, I don't know why I'm here. I don't know why I'm alive. I don't know why I was born. That literally is the summation of chapter three, is Job just saying, Lord, why? And the encouragement that we get from that is ultimately Job, a man that was upright, loved God, eschewed evil, and was the greatest man in the East, he reached a point where he says, man, I would just rather not be here. And so everybody can reach that point in their life. It's not just for those who are, you know, aren't spiritual. The people that don't really love God, they're the ones that get discouraged. No, Job loved God. Job cared for God. Job had a right heart and yet he still reached a point where he says, man, I don't know why I'm here. So it's for everybody and everybody can get to that place. But also we need to learn from Job that we can get past that. And we see that in Job's life that there was a day when the sun shone again. and when he was restored and God did great things for him. And so it's just amazing how God orchestrates these events. And even over the last week, three times an individual conversation where God used the thought that was prepared just last Thursday. So tonight we're looking here at Job in chapter number four. And again, we're not going to look at every verse, but we're going to kind of, we have his report and we have Secondly, his reasoning. And we're going to kind of look at chapters four and five and back and forth a little bit as we kind of see his thought processes. What is his philosophy? What is his mindset? Eliphaz, as he comes to Job and presents his argument. We see in chapter number four, opening up here, he says, then Eliphaz, Eliphaz opens his mouth, he says, and he said unto him, We say to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking? He says, Job, we've been sitting here for seven days, and we've held our tongue. We haven't said anything. But you just unloaded on us all this stuff about your problems and how bad you're feeling. And Eliphaz, I just can't keep my peace anymore. I've got to tell you what I think. I'm just going to, this is going to help you, Job. I wouldn't say it, but I want to help you. And so he just comes right out and he says, hey, here's what's going on, Job. And he has an incorrect accusation. We see in verses three through five his accusation against him. It's mind-boggling the bluntness and the conviction in which he says this. He says, He said, Job, yeah, you used to be the one encouraging everybody. Job, you were the one on top. You were the one patting people on the back and saying, come on, you can make it. Oh, come on, let's go. You were the one telling everybody things are gonna be okay. But wait a minute, Job, where's that now? Job, where is all that encouragement now? Now that you're the one going through the fire, you can't take the heat. He's saying, Job, the problem here is that now that it's you, you're the one with the weak knees. Now, listen, there's nothing wrong with being the one in the turmoil. You know, everybody goes through that. And when we're strong and when we're on top and we have the capacity and the ability to be an encouragement to others, we should, amen? But there are some times in life for every one of us when we're going to be at the bottom. When life throws so much at you and you're just at the point where you're just saying, man, I'm the one that needs a shoulder to cry on. I'm the one that needs somebody to come alongside and just be an encouragement right now. I'm the one that just needs, and I know normally I might be the encourager, but today I'm just down. And there's nothing wrong with being the one that is at the point of needing some encouragement. The accusation here is saying to Job, hey, basically you've been a hypocrite all this time. That's not the case. That's not the case. Job was not a hypocrite in this. Job was at a point where he needed encouragement. You know, He said, Job, you've fainted. You've faintest. That is, you've thrown in the towel. You've quit. You've given up. I've heard all that you said in chapter number three. I heard all that, and you've just done. He says, now thou art troubled. When he says thou art troubled, he's not saying that you're experiencing trouble. What he's saying is you're experiencing anxiety and worry and concern. You're troubled in your spirit. You're full of fear. You're troubled, and you shouldn't be troubled. It's a brutal attack right from the get-go against the character of Job and saying, man, where are you at? But you see, all of this for Eliphaz comes from an incorrect assumption. You see, he assumes that Job is living in sin. His assumption that he had already established in his mind, which we have to be careful to do, in life situations and circumstances when we're dealing with others is to assume the ramifications or the extent of a problem or the whole picture. Try thinking that you have a good idea of it all already. And this is what Eliphaz did. Look at verses 7, 8, and 9 here. He says, remember, I pray thee, Whoever perished being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. He says, hey, Job, come on. He says, when are the innocent injured? He says, whoever perished being innocent. Well, let me just say that's a false assumption because there are many innocent people who perish. Just because somebody perishes does not mean that they were guilty or that they deserve to. And he says, he next gives a true statement. He says, where were the righteous cut off? When were the righteous cut off? It is true that God says he'll never leave you nor forsake you and the righteous are not cut off. But although as we'll see through this, as we go through this, that Job's or that Eliphaz's presents some biblical truths, but they were not applicable truths. Something that might be biblical in interpretation might not be biblical in application because it doesn't apply to that situation. And that's what we have right here. Eliphaz is applying some biblical truths to Job's life that are not applicable because Job was not in sin. We know that to be the case. But he says, even as I have seen, he applies that well-known illustration of the farmer and the sowing and reaping. He says, hey, those that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. Job, those that plow iniquity, those that sow in wickedness, You live like that, you're going to get it. That's just the way it is, Job. I don't want to hurt you. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just telling you the truth. He's talking to this man who was literally at the end of his rope saying, I don't know why I'm still here. And he's saying, what's your problem? Don't you know that you're reaping what you've sown? He assumes that Job is rooted in sin. Look at chapter five in verse number three. He says, I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation." There is the idea there that he's saying, I have seen the wicked prosper. I've seen the wicked take root. I've seen them for a period of time. It seems like everything's going okay. You know, the psalmist said that in Psalms 37 5. He says, I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading them like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not. You see, the psalmist said that, too. There's times where you look at the wickedness, and sometimes we see wicked people around us. You know, sometimes we might wonder, how is it that a serial murderer can live another day? I don't mean in society or in our courts or laws I'm talking about. Why doesn't God just kill him? I mean, in our mind, We want to say, God, the creator of the universe, give that guy a heart attack. I mean, just take him out, Lord. We look at it and we want to say, you know what? He deserves justice. And here is a competing Principle in the word of God. And these are things that we have to battle with in our hearts and minds. I did not say contradictory, because you need to understand, people will say there's contradictions in the Bible, but they're not. There's a competing principle. You have on one side, the mercy of God. God's mercy that is renewed every morning. And we say, man, God is so merciful. But you have on the other side that God is just. And we see the murderer and we say, God, in your justice, why don't you just kill him? But Lord, be merciful to me. Be merciful to me right now. I need mercy for a little longer. I mean, I haven't killed anybody, but where I am, I need some mercy. And here's these competing biblical principles that are both true. Yes, God is just. But God is also merciful. You know, as I was pondering this today, something that struck my mind, and some of these things you guys tell me later when I tell you, I can't believe you never thought of that. Well, I'm kind of a simple guy, okay? But 1 John 1, 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and merciful. just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. As I was pondering that today, that verse came to my mind, those two competing principles, because on one hand, God is just and justice must be done. God's gonna not just overlook sin. And yet on the other hand, there's mercy. And so God says, hey, for the repentant heart, when we come to him and we confess our sin, he is faithful and just He is still just in his action. He is just to forgive us of our sin. Why? Because our sin, our penalty for that sin was taken care of on the cross. God is still just, even though he's showing mercy. So those two principles, sometimes we see things in the word of God and we're ready to apply a particular principle, but you have to balance that against the competing principle. So we see here Eliphaz obviously did not do that. He says, man, I see the foolish taking root. You know what, Job, it looked like for you everything was going good, man. You were living high on the hog. You guys had all this property and buildings and cattle and big family. It looked like everything was going good, but the chickens came home to roost, Job. That's what happened. We see the truth is out, but that's not necessarily the case, is it? Because we're looking in hindsight, we know the truth of the matter, that Job was not living in sin. You see, he assumes that Job was resisting the chastening hand of God. Look at chapter 5 and verse number 17. Chapter 5, he says, You're saying, Job, all right, you got a spanking. Stop grumbling and complaining about it. Get over it. You brought it on yourself. Time to move on. Don't despise the chastening hand of God. But again, he is incorrectly assuming that it's not the chastening hand of God, is it? It's not. You know, we can learn some things, mostly we learn what not to do as we deal with people in crisis. As we walk through these passages of scripture and we see Eliphaz and his other two friends give their summations of what happened, we see what not to do when dealing with somebody in crisis. And we can learn from that on maybe how to be more of a help. So we see Job's, or Eliphaz's, sorry, Eliphaz's reasoning here, and turn back to chapter number four now in verses 12 through 16, we see that he followed an evil spirit. Job chapter four, verses 12 through 16. This is pretty amazing. He says, now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the vision of the night, When deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face, and the hair on my flesh stood up. You ever had that happen, where you're somewhere and you're just, you get scared, your hair stands up on end, right? He says, and it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof. An image was before my eyes, There was silence and I heard a voice saying, shall mortal men be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? I like what J. Vernon McGee said about these section of verses here. He said, it is like that old proverb about a mountain that had conceived and travailed and brought forth a mouse. I think that is what has happened here with Eliphaz. He is in great travail here. You expect him to give birth to some great profound truth. And at the end of it all, he comes up with, shall immortal man be more just than God? Well, of course not. We're not more just than God. He builds this all up and he describes this vision that he had in the middle of the night when, you know, most of the time, people that want to talk about visions they had, they happen when nobody else can see it, right? They happen when nothing else is around. It's this middle of the night. He says, oh, I was in fear and I was in trembling and I could not discern what it was. This form, this image came before my eyes, but then I heard a voice say, I want you to know that it was an evil spirit. It was not the spirit of hope. It was not the spirit of hope. The Bible tells us very clearly in 1 John 4, 1 through 3, and if you mark in your Bible, you might wanna just mark down next to that passage of scripture there in Job, mark down 1 John 4, 1 through 3, because he tells us there to try the spirits. He said, beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirit, whether they are of God. Because many false prophets are gone into the world, hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and is the spirit of the Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already it is in the world. So we're to try the spirits. There are many false spirits. There are many demonic spirits that are at work in the world. I want to tell you, beloved, that the way that God communicates with his people is through this book right here. This is how God talks to us. He says in Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, he says, So he said there was a time in bygone days, in past times, when God would speak to the father, that would be the father of the nation, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the fathers, through the prophets. So God would come and speak directly to the prophet, the prophet would come and give you the message. But he goes on and he says, he hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. Now, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. This is the word of God. This is God's revelation to us. This is how God communicates with us. And can I tell you, if you have a vision or anybody talks about having a vision, if there's anything that contradicts this in any way, that is a vision of the Antichrist. That is a vision of false God. You're to try the spirits to see if they be of God. And we see here the Eliphaz, I'm not gonna say he did not have a vision. I'm not gonna say that he just manufactured the whole thing. He probably did have a vision, but he was following it to his detriment because it was not of God. It was of the devil. So he based everything that he is communicating to Job from his own experiences. Notice the times in this text where he says, I have seen, and he says, I have heard. Look at chapter 4 and verse number 8. Chapter 4 and verse number 8, he says there, even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same. He said, Job, I've seen it. I've seen it over and over. This is what happens. He says in chapter 5 and verse number 3, he says, I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly, I curse his habitation. He says, I've seen this over and over, Job, and I see it in you. He says, I have heard, in chapter four, in verse number 12, this one's a little bit different, but in chapter four, in verse number 12 there, he says, in thoughts from the vision of the night, when the deep sleep fell on men, fear came upon me. That's the wrong verse. Oh, I read 13, sorry. Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear receiveth a little thereof. So he says, hey, I heard this. This is what I heard. And in verse number 16, chapter four in verse number 16, he says, What I'm saying, beloved, is that he looked at everything happening to Job all through his own experience. Let me just throw this out as a huge caution. when you're dealing with somebody in crisis, do not look at their situation solely through your experience. It is our natural tendency. It is the place that we're coming from. But what we've got to be very cautious and very considerate of the fact that not every story is the same. Not every situation is the same. And sometime people going through things that in our mind is very similar, when we don't have the whole story, it's pretty easy for us to misapply. It's our tendency to bring things and we want to relate and so we come from our experiences which is where we, I mean, it's human nature. That's all we have to go by is from our experiences. But what I'm saying is being careful about applying it to other people's problems. You see, the motivation is we feel like we need to provide an answer. And the only place we can come from is from what's happened to us. J. Vernon McGee said one needs to guard against trying to always give helpful advice, especially when it's unasked for. So, beloved, if you can relate, in some way, then do it. We know one of the things that God does is he sends us through trials so that we'll be prepared and ready to be able to help somebody else. So don't think that your life experiences are without merit, but I'm just cautioning you because it's easy to misapply it. I've heard these are There's so many illustrations I could give you with regards to this, but some of the most glaring are there was one individual in Grief Share some years ago that was dealing with a lot of anger because one of her best friends said, I understand the loss that you're feeling because her husband had passed away, because my dog died. Now, I understand there's great love people have for their animals. But those two are not the same. They're not the same. And what I'm saying is sometimes you look at your life and you want to just, we got to be careful about how we take our experience and apply it to somebody else's situation. Because that can come across offensive. It doesn't help. It would be better for us to be present and not say anything. One of the best things we can do when people are going through crisis is just be present. You don't have to have to try and have an answer, just being present. And a lot of times when people are in crisis, they aren't going to remember what you say anyway, because they're in the middle of a storm. And so what they're going to remember is where you made them mad. That's what they're going to remember. They aren't going to remember the other stuff. And so maybe just be present and don't try and provide an answer. H.L. Ellison says this about this approach. He says, there is a very real danger that where there is experience, it may be equated with religion. The victim of this delusion thinks there is little more to be reached than that has been reached by his own infallible experience. This becomes the yardstick by which he measures everyone else's experience. We look at what happened to us, and that now is the yardstick. That is the measuring stick. Anybody else going through something, if it doesn't fit into that yardstick, then something's not right, something's wrong. And we know that that's simply not the case. So this is one area where Eliphaz really messed up. He was viewing everything that he was presenting through his own experience. And what we need to do is do our best to try and give help through the word of God. not through our own experience, not through our own life or our own eyes. So we see that he oversimplified the problem in chapter five and verses six through 16. He really oversimplifies the problem. We look here, chapter five, verse number six, he says, although affliction cometh not, Fourth, of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground. Yet man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward. Those familiar verses which we've referenced or looked at many times. He says, hey, everybody deals with trouble. Everybody, you know, this is the way life is. He says in verse number eight there, he says, hey, why don't you seek God? Turn unto him. That's what I would do. Commit my cause unto the Lord. You know, He kind of just says, do what I would do. Don't you think Job had done that? As an upright man, Job had been crying out to God, I'm sure, continually. God heard his cry. Eliphaz was oversimplifying and saying, well, just do this. Everything's going to be OK. And sometimes we have a tendency maybe to do that in people going through crisis. We can give them the pat answers, the, you know, hey, Everything's gonna be all right. You'll make it. All things work together for good. You know, just trust God. We can give them some pat answers that come, and although they are biblically true, it can be an oversimplification of what they're going through, which is what we see here with Job. He says, hey, I would seek God, and unto God would I commit my cause. He describes the ability of God in verse number nine, which doeth great things and is unsearchable of marvelous things without number, who giveth rain upon the earth and sendeth waters upon the field. These are true things, man. God can do anything. And that's what we do need to do is point people to God in their moment of crisis. But what he falsely assumed is that it was not God's will for Job to endure these things. Look at Job chapter five and verse number 19. Interesting verse, he says, he shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee. So again, misapplying biblical truth here. You know, seven is the number of completion. over there in Proverbs, a just man falleth seven times, yet riseth up again. Okay, that idea of the number of completion is seven is that it just keeps on going, that it's gonna continue, continue. Seven is not that, hey, the eighth time he's not getting up. No, it's a completion. It means that every time that he's gonna fall, he's gonna get back up. And so what Job is saying to him here, he says, he delivers thee in six troubles, yea, in seventh, there shall no evil touch thee. He's saying, hey, God's gonna deliver you out of all your troubles. Doesn't that sound like another passage of scripture? Yeah, he delivers them out of, delivers us out of them all. God will deliver us out of our troubles. That's a true statement. But see, he's assuming that God didn't want him to go through trouble, that God hadn't uniquely allowed this into his life for a particular purpose. And here's another competing truth. God does deliver us out of trouble, amen? But here he's saying, listen, God's going to deliver you out of everything. No trouble's going to touch you. Well, God will deliver us out of trouble, but there are some troubles he allows in his divine wisdom, in his will, for his purpose. And our finite minds struggle with how to balance that, or why do we go through trouble? Why would I have to endure trouble? After all, I'm a pretty good guy. I shouldn't have to go through this. Yet God, in his will or his purpose, allows us to go through trouble, allows us to endure some hardship. And it's not because we failed or because we're in sin or because we've done wrong. It's because God and his infinite wisdom is trying to strengthen us or grow us or prepare us for the next step. Whatever his will is, there are some things that we endure or go through that are God's plan. So we see here in Well, look at verse number 27 in chapter five before we move on to Job's response. There's a dogmatic way in which he states here, in verse number 27, chapter five, he says, lo this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it and know thou it for thy good. Hear the dogmatic way in which Eliphaz is saying, listen, we've evaluated the situation, There is no room for error here. There is no room for my thinking to be a little bit off, for my idea to be questioned. He said, this is fact. So he is submitting his assumption as fact and unwilling for there to be any room for error in his presentation. There's a caution for us. We got to be careful about that. I'm really leery. You'll notice for me, I don't get up and preach when a storm hits North Carolina that that is the judgment of God destroying that place because of the sin of some group of people. Or when a storm hits New Orleans. I know there's a lot of sin goes on down there during Mardi Gras and all that. but I'm very careful about standing up in the pulpit and saying, this is what God was doing. This is God's judgment. You'll preachers stand in a pulpit and say, this is God's judgment, COVID, God's judgment on a wicked America. It may be, it may not be, I don't know. God is in control and I don't have, all I can preach is the book. Not my thoughts or what I think is the thing, and I'm very cautious and very careful, and I get a little bit leery when I hear preachers getting up and declaring things like that to be fact. There is no error in my presentation. This is what God was doing. Mark my words. Listen, we're to look at this book. We're to hear what God says. And God judges sin and God may be judging different groups of people or places or even our nation America. We know God can't continue to just let sin happen. But as far as a preacher or an individual we can't know 100 percent what's going on there. And so we've got to be careful about that. Eliphaz states his conjecture is fact and we've got to just caution there with regards to that when we do something. So we see Job's response here, Job's response. Job here in chapter six and seven, and we'll move a little quicker through this, but Job says here in the beginning of chapter six in verse number one, but Job answered and said, oh, that my grief were thoroughly weighed and my calamity laid in the balance together. He says, Eliphaz, if we were playing darts, you just missed the whole board. He says, you have not been paying attention. You jumped up here and you unloaded on me and you haven't even correctly looked at the situation. Boy, if you would just have weighed in the balance, the grief that I'm going through and the turmoil that I'm enduring. Sure would be nice if you would have done this. You know, Paul warns us about, judging situations like this. In 1 Corinthians 4, verses 3 and 5, he says, but with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment. So just a couple things here. We need to be a little less concerned about what man thinks. Paul says, it's a pretty small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Honestly, that really doesn't bother me. He says, what I'm concerned about is what God thinks. What I'm worried about is the judge of the universe. And he says, it's not really a big thing. He says, yea, I judge not my own self, for I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will and bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsel of the hearts, and they shall Every man have praise of God. He says, you know what? Don't be so quick to judge situations. The day is going to come when the Lord comes back and everything is going to be made manifest. The good and the evil, all that was in darkness is going to be brought out into light. Everything is going to be known and God's the one that's going to weigh everything in the balance. He's going to figure it out. He says, you know what? Sometimes you're trying to judge a situation before it's time. and to cast judgment on that situation, we need to be cautious with regards to that. So not only should we care little less about people that judge us, but we ought to be cautious about judging situations in life before it's time, letting God handle and take care of those things. Leave it in God's hands, amen? So he says also, he says, not only have you missed the mark, but I want you to know that God is a perfect shot. Look at chapter six in verse number four. Chapter six in verse number four. He says, for the arrows of the Almighty are within me. The poison whereof drinketh up my spirit. The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. He said, listen. God has hit the mark. God is the one that has allowed this into my life. He begins to ask some rhetorical questions of Eliphaz. He lists them out, look at verses five and six. He says, doth the wild ass, now you understand this is in response to the accusation that Job, you shouldn't have been complaining in chapter three. You see, you shouldn't have been whining. You shouldn't have been complaining. So now he's giving his response here. He says, doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? The answer obviously is no. He says, I mean, the donkey's not, if he's got grass to eat, he ain't making a lot of noise. He's chomping down. That's what they say, you know you've got a good meal when there's no talking, everybody's eating, right? When everybody's eating, it's like, that must be good, because there's no talking. It's going to be good at the banquet. So he says, secondly, here he says, or loathe the axe over his fodder. He says, can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? No, definitely not. I don't know what's gonna happen when my cholesterol or whatever it is goes up when you're not supposed to have salt, whatever it is. I love salt. I have this affliction to salt. Salty chips, salty everything. I mean, the more salt the better, right? And so I'm gonna be in trouble when I get to that age in about 25 years when I can't have salt. But right now he says, hey, you can't eat unsavory food without salt. No, you gotta put some salt on there and make it good. He says, or is there any taste in the white of an egg? Obviously, no, there's no taste in the white of an egg. Although that's the best part. I don't like the yolk. I mean, cooked, I do. Hard-boiled, the hard-boiled part of the yolk is nasty. So he asked these rhetorical questions. He said, the problem is, is if you understood what I went through, it would make sense why I'm talking like this. It would make sense why I'm saying, hey, I can't take it anymore. If you just understood what I've gone through, it's rhetorical, it's the same type of situations. There's just some things in life that are so bad, that are so hurtful. He says, man, I have lost all hope. Look at verse number 11. He says, what is my strength? that I should hope? And what is my end that I should prolong my life?" He says, I lost all hope. I have no desire. Why should my life be prolonged? I mean, what do I have to look forward to? What is my end? Where am I going from here? He said, that's the problem. Then look what he says to him in verse number 14. He says, I thought you were my friend. He says in verse number 14, to him that is afflicted, pity should be shown from his friend. But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. He says, man, I could have just used a little bit of concern. I could have used an arm around the shoulder. I could have used, hey, I don't understand exactly, but I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you. I'm for you. and I'll be here for you. He said, that's what I could have used, but instead, nope, you've just attacked me. So we wanna be careful not to make broad generalities. Look at chapter six and verse number 24. We see all through this time that Eliphaz had been just casting out all these dispersions And in chapter 6 and verse number 24, he says, teach me and I will hold my tongue. Cause me to understand where I have erred. He says, don't just throw out these broad generalities. Oh, the wicked are judged. He's saying, where have I been wicked? Teach me, show me where I've messed up and I'll shut up. Show me how I can fix this and I'll stop arguing with you. He's saying, just tell me. And that's another thing we've got to be careful about is just the broad generalities. Applying great brush strokes to individual situations. Because the great brush stroke doesn't apply. Oh, on the very edge of it, it might. In some small margin, it might. But there are so many idiosyncrasies to each situation that the broad stroke does not apply. So we see over and over again that Eliphaz is saying things that are biblically true, but not biblically applicable. He says, prove your accusations. Show me where I've sinned. And so he surmises by saying, therefore, I have cause for my grief. I have reasons for my cry. Look at chapter seven. In verses three through nine, he describes the state of his life currently. In chapter seven. This is his reply, and he's saying, this is where I'm at, Eliphaz. This is what's going on. We see he describes his restless nights in verses three and four. He says, so I am made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are pointed unto me. When I lie down, I say, when shall I arise? And the night be gone, and I am full of tossing to and fro unto dawn of the day. Have you been there, restless nights, just can't get any sleep, tossing to and fro? He's not only that, there's physical affliction in verse number five. He says, my flesh is closed with worms and clods of dust. My skin is broken and become loathsome. He describes that his life is passing as a weaver shuttle. Verse number six, my days are swifter than the weaver shuttle and are spent without hope and passing like the wind. Oh, remember that my life is wind, my eyes shall no more see good. He said, boy, it's like a storm. There's no good things for me in the future. In verse number nine, he says, it's like a cloud. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. It just vanishes away. My life is passing away before my eyes. And you know what, Eliphaz? You haven't helped me. Look at verse number 13 and 16. He says, when I say, my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint, then thou, Look at what his words did to him, what Eliphaz did to him. He says, then thou scarest me with dreams and terrifies me through visions. He said, you tell me of this crazy vision that you had that scares me to death. He says, so that my soul chooseth strangling and death rather than my life. I loathe it. I would not live away. Let me alone for my days are vanity. He said, boy, you haven't helped me a bit all this time, and you have not strengthened me. So beloved, we see the charge of Eliphaz here, some biblical truths, but not applicable to Job's situation. So we want to look, when we're dealing with people going through heartache in their hour of crisis, Be careful that we don't come to them with broad generalities. Be careful that we don't oversimplify the problem. Be careful that we don't come to them only with our viewpoint, only with how we've seen things. In my mind, situations are arising, life situations that people have come to me about, that pretty much You would say, and to put it into a modern thing, as I'm putting my glasses on and off you, you're like, hey, you're looking through dirty glasses. Everything you see is because of the glasses you're looking through, rose-colored glasses. Everything you see looks pretty because you got rose-colored glasses on. And that's what he's saying here. Listen, when you come to a situation to try and be help to somebody else, be careful that you're not just looking through your own glasses. Let's try and look through the pages of scripture, through the word of God, that we can be the greatest help to them. All right, let's stand to our feet and as we close this study on these chapters, I know we covered a lot of ground tonight, much more. Sometimes we just do three, four verses, but we've covered a lot of ground and just some teaching for us in dealing with others going through situation. But as pianist plays, if God spoke to your heart, you can come. Pastor Gus will come for our prayer time as he's playing.