“8I would seek unto God,” said Eliphaz, “and unto God would I commit my cause: 9Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: 10Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields: 11To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.” (Job 5:8-11)
These verses contain some timeless and precious truths. God is great and powerful. Oh, what marvelous things He does that we do not understand! Romans 11:33 says, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”
God gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the field. We cannot produce rain. Oh, we can “seed” the clouds and make rain fall, but all God has to do is speak. He stores the rain in His chambers. (See Psalm 104:13) When God is ready for rain to fall on the earth, He simply tells it to do so.
How about the fields? Can we fill the rice fields with water? Why do they stay wet? Why does the water not evaporate into the sky or absorb into the ground? How can it sit atop the rice fields without turning all the ground underneath it into quicksand?
No one can understand God’s ways. They are great and unsearchable, past finding out. God has complete control over nature. God also has complete control over man.
“12He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. 13He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. 14They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. 15But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. 16So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.” (Job 5:12-16)
Though the words Eliphaz spoke contained much truth, his purpose for speaking them and his application of them were wrong. He used them to accuse Job of oppressing the poor and amassing his substance by craftiness. Who was it that looked for darkness in the day time (Job 3:4)? Whose children were destroyed by the sword? Whose substance was taken away by the mighty? Oh, the trouble that had come upon Job! Eliphaz had no facts about Job’s spiritual life, but he made assumptions based on Job’s circumstances. Surely, Job must have sinned against God, and God was chastening him.
Eliphaz did not understand why Job would not confess his sin, but Eliphaz did not seek God’s face to find out why Job was having trouble or to discover how God would have him to help Job. When a brother or sister is down, God wants us to lift them up. A true friend does not trample on those who have fallen. He stoops to help them. “9Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9,10) Let us ask God to help us be true friends who will take time to lift our fallen fellow get back up.