Welcome to this daily PBJ devotional. Read Exodus 5, Job 22, and Hebrews 11 today. This devotional is about Job 22. Ben Eliphaz the Temanite replied, Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit him? Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does he profit if your ways are blameless? Is it for your reverence that he rebukes you, and enters into judgment against you? Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless? For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers, and deprived the naked of their clothing. You gave no water to the weary, and withheld food from the famished, while the land belonged to a mighty man. and a man of honor lived on it. You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed. Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you. It is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you. Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are! Yet you say, what does God know? Does he judge through thick darkness? Thick clouds veil him so he does not see us, as he traverses the vault of heaven. Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod? They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood. They said to God, Depart from us, what can the Almighty do to us? But it was he who filled their houses with good things. So I stay far from the counsel of the wicked. The righteous see it and are glad, the innocent mock them. Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess. Reconcile now and be at peace with him, thereby good will come to you. Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents, and consign your gold to the dust, and the gold of Afir to the stones of the ravines, then the Almighty will be your gold. and the finest silver for you. Surely then you will delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways. When men are brought low and you say, Lift them up, then He will save the lowly. He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands. This is God's Word. Eliphaz, the speaker in this chapter of scripture, according to verse 1, was the first of Job's friends to speak back in chapter 4. His word to Job back in that chapter was that Job used to be a good man, but now he was under discipline by God. So, Eliphaz continued, Job should repent and get right with God. Eliphaz also spoke in Job 15. There, he rebuked Job for defending himself and, again, argued that it is the wicked who suffer, not the godly. Here in Job 22, Eliphaz took his third crack at Job. He begins by asking, rhetorically, if any of us human beings have anything to offer God. We saw that in verses 2 and 3. Eliphaz said that because Job continued to insist that his suffering was not the result of any wickedness, and was therefore unjust. Then in verses 4 through 10, Eliphaz made direct, specific charges of sin against Job. He accused Job of oppressing people, according to verse 6, and of refusing to help people in need in verses 7 through 9. These sins, Eliphaz confidently asserted, caused Job's suffering. His charges this time around against Job were more specific and more caustic than before. In verses 12 through 17, Eliphaz accused Job of believing that God was so far away that he can't know or see what we do. This, according to Eliphaz, was why Job was so willing to mistreat people. We saw that in verse 17b, because Job did not recognize all the good things God does for us, as we saw in verse 18. In verses 21 through 30, Eliphaz turned to the conclusion of his argument. His conclusion was that Job needed to submit to God, those are the words of the NIV in verse 21, and return to the Almighty, those are the words of Eliphaz in verse 23. Again, this is another call to repent. The benefits of repenting would be prosperity, according to verse 21, restoration, according to verse 23, the ability to treasure God and his relationship with God, according to verses 25 and 26, four, answered prayer, according to verse 27, and five, success in every way, according to verses 28 through 30. Eliphaz's message is very similar to the gospel delivered by prosperity preachers today. The assumption is that God can be controlled and manipulated into giving us whatever we want through our prayers and our obedience. Not only are these ideas untrue, they are completely inadequate to generate and sustain true faith in the true God. As soon as God allows something into your life that is painful, this kind of prosperity theology will fail. You may not believe in the prosperity gospel per se, but do you believe that faith in God entitles you to get your prayers answered the way you want, your bills paid, obedient children, and a long life? While we may not expect to become rich as the prosperity gospel preaches, if we serve God in order to get something from Him, we have not understood that God is sovereign and that His will is not bound by or manipulated by anything we do or say. In verses 25 and 26, Eliphaz said, these are the words of the NIV, the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you. Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God. This is the closest thing Eliphaz said to describing a true relationship with God. God saved you so that you will treasure him and delight in him. These are not incentives for us to seek by turning from sin. Instead, they are the result of God's saving grace to us. They are the things that should compel us to turn from sin. And they are one reason why God allows trials into our lives. God strips away sometimes the good things about our lives in order to reveal whether or not we really love God for God himself, or if we love him because we think it is a pathway to a better, more prosperous life. So if you're going through a trial right now, and maybe you're struggling with things the way Job was, maybe this is God's message for you today. To treasure the Lord and love Him, and trust that He allows trials into your life for your good. Stop trying to manipulate God through your obedience, or expect Him to give you good things because you feel you deserve them. This kind of theology, the Lord tends to strip away from us through trials so that the truth about our relationship with him is revealed, whether it's based on true love and faith in him or something else. Something to consider today. And I'll see you next time. May God bless you. Hope you have a great day today.