A World of Pure Imagination

Job 4:12 ESV

“Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.”

Job had a rough day. All his possessions and offspring were taken from him in a single day. Later his health was also taken from him, now he was destitute in the dust of the street with dogs liking his pusing wounds. Hearing this his friends come and cry/mourn with him for seven days and nights. They cared and loved him enough to listen to his account of the evil he was enduring, and for seven days said nothing. Seeing his friend and wondering why such evil had come upon Job, Eliphaz was given an answer. Wanting to help he opened his mouth, and became a parrot for Satan.

The brutal reality of life comes upon us year by year. The fabulous joys of children being born and quieting down when, for the first time, they are soothed at their mother’s breast are cast against the children unable to breathe that first breath. Some years are harder than others and some years are so joyous you fear December 31^st! Understanding the reasons for the world into which we are thrust is the quest for which we are given the God shaped hole that dwells inside of us. In the desire for answers many fall victim to believable lies.

Looking back at Eliphaz we listen as he recounts his vision and the words that Satan whispered in his ear. Verse eighteen even has nothing that God charges angels with error, reflecting his own status. Eliphaz has his answer and begins to tempt Job to believe the lie about God and about himself. It makes sense and we want to believe that bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people. If something bad has happened or is happening then you have done something wrong. In this light Eliphaz tries to persuade Job to repent, confess, and turn to God for all of chapter 5. Job refuses to live in the lie that Satan has planted through Eliphaz, and the battle between Job and the unwitting pawn of Satan is underway.

For the next thirty-three chapters Satan uses Job's three friends and one passer by to tempt Job to live in a lie. Job continues in his integrity and rejects these overtures until God reveals himself in the whirlwind, silencing Job and judging his friends. It did not matter that they wanted to help, or that they had sat silent for seven days, Eliphaz and the rest had allowed themselves to be used by Satan to propagate lies and they needed Job to intercede for them or else.

Living in lies seems to be all that our culture is able to accomplish of late. As we sow more ridiculous ones day to day and it seems to be accepted. Homosexual Mirage took center stage first and with decades of good PR was able to win the public. Having lost all connection to reality, the facts of life have become suggestions, and we celebrate men beating women in sports as if it was a surprise! Will you live in the lie? Have you noticed that it isn't enough that they live in a lie? Taking their friends and falling into a dystopian nightmare of pretending isn’t enough, you must join them.

Getting Eliphaz to believe the lie was never Satan’s goal. He didn’t care about Eliphaz or the other two. He only cared about Job. Getting a Godly man to accept the lie is all that mattered to him. As you hear Satan’s parrots spinning a world of pure imagination realize it is you, he is after. He doesn’t care if the United States or Kansas gets better or worse. It doesn’t matter if a war starts or doesn’t only that he can convince you to live in the world of lies he has created. The only way to stave off the attacks of Satan is to know the Savior of the world. To read of him and study him in the word he has given. He has revealed himself that you might not fall to the father of Lies. Let us live in the reality of his life, death, burial, and resurrection!

Coram Deo