In chapter 14, Job talks about the frailty of man, the short time that he is here on Earth, and the fact that once he is gone, he’ll not return. He ends with the idea that once we are gone, we’ll not even know what becomes of our children.

As a parent, I pray for and am concerned for my kids and their kids. But the fact is, their destiny is beyond my control. Just as I had to decide whether or not I would follow Christ, they must make their own decisions. I do my best to be a good example for them, I do my best to lay a godly foundation for them to build on, but their relationship with God, or lack of it, is between them and God. I must put them in God’s hands and trust them to His love.

Job was right. We live in a fallen, dying world where the cares and struggles of life never end. We seem to go from one difficulty to another. Life is not easy. I for one am content with the few days we have on Earth and look forward, like Job did to answering God when He calls me home. Not that I’m in a hurry, but I won’t go kicking and screaming. I look forward to being in His loving embrace.

In chapter 15, Eliphaz is as hard on Job as he was in his first go-round. Again he accuses Job of empty talk, iniquity, lying. He continues by saying that Job is arrogant and self centered and deluded, and he tells Job that his future is indeed going to be grim.

I suppose that Eliphaz’s motivation for this attack is to cause Job to turn away from his errant ways, but since Job is not the person that he is accused of being, Eliphaz’s words are nothing more than hurtful and foolish.

Oh that we are not ever in Eliphaz’s shoes when our friends need us. Let us prayerfully consider our words, and ask God to help us see them as He sees them. Then we will speak words of love and salvation.