Job 4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking? Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed. Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
2 Corinthians 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
Hebrews 12:3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
Psalms 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Ephesians 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
1 Peter 1:6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
Isaiah 40:31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
I can’t imagine the physical and emotional pain Job was experiencing. After 7 days sitting and waiting with Job, Eliphaz asks if it is ok to speak without Job being impatient. We know these are some of Job’s best friends for all others who abandoned him in his troubles and these three friends came when they heard the news. I am not sure I would want to hear “but now (these trials and troubles) come to you, and you are impatient.” I am sure Eliphaz is meaning well but it seems a bit hard.
He tries to encourage Job with “Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?” Eliphaz, is reminding Job that in his life he has always lived in reverence to God and obedience to Him. This has been his confidence, strength, and hope.
It is easy to say “stand firm”, “do not grow weary or fainthearted”, “be strong”, and “rejoice” to others when affliction, trials, and troubles come their way. It is another thing to be in physical and emotional trials and actually find the ability to do it. I do know that it has to come from within us by and through the Holy Spirit of God. When every nerve in our body is shouting out with pain and our brain is consumed with it, it is in these times our faith and trust in Jesus Christ will direct, strengthen, and give some level of peace. Our moments of relief come when we surrender to the sovereignty of Jesus. Our strength comes when we have no power to handle or manage these trials. Our hope comes with reliance on Him to carry us through. It may not seem like it while in the depths of trials, but on the other side, we see more clearly and understand deep within our mind that we did not come through this on our own. In fact, we were powerless to handle it and yet there was a power given to us. This power and strength come from Jesus Christ. It is in and through Him we are able to make it to the next hour with hope, the next day with security, the next week with confidence.
