Truth & Wisdom With Truth

Behold, happy [is] the man whom God corrects: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

I know these words to be true. When God corrects me it is bittersweet. He lets me do something stupid for a short time, then lets me experience the consequences of it. He then teaches me why He told me not to do it in the first place. He shows me that His commandments are not burdensome but a joy. It is disobedience that is burdensome in the long run. I might get pleasure or satisfaction temporarily but the ramifications out-way the short-lived gratification. When God asks me to do something it is for my good. When He asks me to refrain from something it is for my good. I may not be able to see this right away. Also sometimes the reward for obeying Him may not come until I meet Him face to face. But since I know that God is just, I know that He is faithful to reward according to my deeds. I know this because He sais it in His word that He will tally up the works done in faith by the believer as well as keeping record of every sin committed by the unbeliever.

There is something that I can't ignore about this passage though. It is spoken by Eliphaz, Job's "friend". How true are his words but how false is his judgement of Job. See I am convinced that Job's friends were secretly jealous of his wealth and prosperity. They were probably thinking that he was gaining all he had from greed. So when Job hit hard times they thought that God was finally giving Job what he deserved. I know this isn't true because the intro to this book shows me that Job was being tried and proven, not corrected. Yes God has things to say to Job later about the way that Job was questioning God through his suffering but Job's suffering was not a result of sin as his "friend" here was impying.

This makes me cautious about thinking i know what God is doing behind the scenes is someone elses life. I could be thinking something that is true, such as "Happy is the man whom God corrects", but be way out of line in the way that I apply that truth to the situation. Because of this danger of missusing truth, I think I will try more to be quick to listen and slow to speak. I will try harder to seek out God's heart in each situation and with each person.

One more thought; I get a certain fear that i am capable of misusing truth and ,as a result, speaking foolishly. I don't to use God's word to hinder His work. For that would be the ultimate slap in the face of God.