Job 4:12-5:27    Eliphaz tells of an experience he had.. it was frightening.  He heard a whisper.  He had a "disquieting" dream.  He felt dread and began to tremble.  He felt the breath of a spirit pass over him and it made his hair stand up.  It was completely silent but then he heard a voice. 

"Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?"  The answer to these questions is apparently "No".   The voice tells him that God doesn't trust anyone.. not His servants, not His angels.. and certainly not "those who dwell in houses of clay." People are dust.  We are broken. We die. 

Yet, Eliphaz was not totally without hope! Chapter 5 tells us that Eliphaz does have faith in God. "But as for me, I would seek God, and I would place my cause before God; who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. He gives rain to the earth, and sends water to the fields..." ( v8-9)

Eliphaz recites the works of God:

God lifts up the lowly. He helps those that mourn.  He frustrates the wicked. He "captures the wise by their own shrewdness."  He saves.. the poor from the hand of the mighty."  He gives the "helpless hope".  He shuts up the unrighteous.  He reproves and disciplines His own.  

God "inflicts pain and gives relief; He wounds and His hands also heal."  He delivers.. He redeems.. He protects.. He gives peace. 

What Eliphaz did not know.. and what we have the privilege to know.. is the greatness of our God who sent Jesus Christ to accomplish all of this!

Father in heaven, we rejoice in Who You are. You are good. You are true. You are holy. You are loving.  You are our God and we bless Your Name. Bring us to a greater faith and to a greater love. Help us to walk this path of life in humble obedience and continual worship. Teach us Your ways and fill us with Your love. May Your will be done, Your Kingdom come, and Your Name exalted in all the earth. Thank You for the living hope that we have in Christ Jesus the Lord. amen.