“When Helping Hurts” (Part 6)

Job 5:17-27

Tools serve functions, specific functions. A hammer, for example, is meant to smash a smaller piece of sharpened metal into wood. It has a hook on the back to remove nails. It can be used to shape metal into useful objects. It is quite a useful tool. However, if we were going to lay bricks, it would be useless in spreading mortar. Why? Because it is not designed to spread mortar.

Or, if we were to switch fields entirely, a hammer would not be helpful in performing brain surgery, or at least not helpful for most brain surgeries.

The Scriptures and the principles contained therein are similar to tools. There are passages that are meant to encourage the broken hearted, like Psalm 34. There are passages that are meant to stir the conscience, like Psalm 139:23-24. There are passages that are meant to help the anxious, such as Philippians 4:4-8.

These are gifts from our gracious God to help His people become more like our Savior and the Son of God. But they are tools that we need wisdom to apply them properly.

Perhaps an example of the life of Christ would help us see how it works. Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, and afterwards was hungry. Satan tempts Jesus to make bread to satisfy His natural desire for food but in a way that subverted the testing work of His Father (cf. Matt. 4:1).

Jesus replied with an appropriate principle: live by God first and foremost, depend on His Word for strength to fight temptation. He could have quoted Exodus 23:19 “19 “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” But that would be using a good tool for the wrong job.

Our last way that Eliphaz hurt Job in his attempts to help involves wrongly applying right principles. The Scriptures are filled with some incredible principles, soul-nourishing and edifying principles. But they should be applied in the right way and at the right time.

In these last sets of verses we will see…

VI. Helping Hurts When We Wrongly Apply Right Principles- 5:17-27

Eliphaz says much in these verses, and much of what he says is true, although not all of it. Additionally, we will see the heartlessness that comes through toward the end of his speech to Job. What is the principle? It is the principle of divine discipline. That is, the Lord disciplines His people.

A. The Principle of Divine Discipline- 5:17 (Proverbs 3:11; Heb. 12:4-11)

Just as an earthly father disciplines his child, so too our Heavenly Father disciplines us to make us more holy. This is a theme that runs throughout the whole of Scripture. We are God’s children, and we need to be taught right from wrong, how to think, what to say, and what to do. It takes time, a life-time, in fact, to grow in holiness.

Eliphaz is taking a good principle, a biblical principle, and applying it to a situation it was not meant for. He is using a hammer when a scalpel was needed. From Eliphaz’s perspective, Job has sinned and God is disciplining him. Job should be happy, or blessed! Why, God is helping Job grow! Why is Job complaining about God’s work in Job’s life?

Eliphaz is trying to help Job see that God is disciplining him. The problem is that the particulars he attempts to force onto Job, and this is where Eliphaz wrongly applies a right principle.

B. The Particulars of Divine Discipline- 5:18-26

In a series of nine verses, Eliphaz contrasts hardship with blessings, and this is connected with the blessedness or happiness of a man God has disciplined. But what is incredible is the wordings he chooses.

You have pain, wounds, troubles, famine, and war, all which could be described by the events found in the first two chapters. But it gets worse. Eliphaz turns it up a notch and uses words like violence and laughing at it. He mentions in verses 24-25 his tent, and safety, and “your [Job’s] descendants will be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.”

There’s no telling how long Job’s children have been dead, but even if it had been years, this would have dug deep into the heart of Job and caused great pain.

Can you imagine actually telling someone this? To their face? Yet here we have Eliphaz speaking this to Job. So why is Eliphaz belaboring the principle and particulars of divine discipline? That brings us to the point of divine discipline, or the why Eliphaz is bringing this up.

C. The Point of Divine Discipline- 5:17, 27

In sum, Eliphaz’s point is the point he and his two friends will attempt to make: Job, you have sinned, you need to repent and then God will bless you again. This right principle is wrongly applied, because Job has not sinned. His helping hurt, hurt deeply, because he was attempting to use a hammer for a scalpel job.

D. Proper Divine Discipline- Luke 13:1-5; Heb. 12:4-11

Part of Eliphaz’s problem is that he wrongly applied a right principle, but another part was Eliphaz did not understand the principle properly. And many times we use tools improperly because we do not understand how they work.

Think of going to the gym and the various machines available. If you do not know how they work, you may look foolish trying to figure it out. Likewise, many times we wrongly apply right principles because we simply do not understand the principles. There is one important fact and then two aspects or views of divine judgement and discipline we need to keep in mind, or differentiate, before we can help others.

1. Our knowledge about God’s judgment and discipline is limited- Luke 13:1-5 (cf. John 9:1-34)

In Luke 13, after a rather disturbing event, Jesus asks His disciples, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?” This is similar to the thoughts of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. The reasons the Galileans endured this was because they sinned. Job endured his suffering because he sinned.

The similar problem was they both lacked knowledge about the events. This alone should give us pause before we attempt to apply the right principle of divine discipline on others. It was a reason that helping can hurt as a stand alone problem, but it extends to other areas as well. So what about divine judgment and discipline?

2. Sometimes terrible events are evidence of divine judgment

Divine judgment applies to people who are not believers, they are not saved by God’s grace and are under the righteous judgment of God. In a final sense, this judgment will occur at the end of this age. They will stand before a righteous God and be judged for their sins (see Revelation 20:11-15).

However, there are instances of divine judgment in Scripture as well. As one example, Herod in Acts chapter 12, verses 20-23, Herod receives the accolade that he had the voice of a god and not of a man and the angel of God struck him and he died. He was judged, in other words.

When terrible events occur, disasters on the large scale or painful situations on the personal level, it can be evidence of divine judgment. It can be, and here we must exercise caution because we do not know all the details (see Luke 13:1-5 again).

Though caution must be exercised, we can help others who are not God’s children. That is the point Jesus is making in Luke chapter 13—repent, otherwise you will perish!

This is one aspect we need to keep in mind when dealing with tragic situations. There are times when, with grace and patience and love, we can encourage unbelievers to receive the Gospel of grace and be saved. We do not accuse them or blame them, we simply ask them about the states of their souls.

This is divine judgment, and we must be careful how to handle this situations. But the other aspect is divine discipline, and we need to know how this principle works as well in order to apply it helpfully.

3. Sometimes terrible events are evidence of divine discipline

We have looked at Hebrews 12, and now we need to unpack it with a bit greater detail. In sum, divine discipline is reserved for God’s children alone. No unsaved individuals enjoy divine discipline, for them God’s divine judgment awaits.

But for those of us who are saved, we endure God’s divine discipline.

Divine discipline is reserved for believers

Divine discipline is a sign of God’s fatherly love for us

Divine discipline is purposeful—our sharing in His holiness

Divine discipline is perfect—unlike our earthly fathers

How do we handle this, then? How can we help? I think the best way we can help people is to point them to Jesus, the divine peace maker.

E. Point them to the Divine Peacemaker- Rom. 3:21-26

At work in this passage, and in this final sermon over Job chapters 4-5, are two issues: divine judgment and divine discipline. And here is Job, a righteous sufferer. What does this have to do with Jesus Christ? Everything!

Jesus is the Divine Peacemaker, the One who innocently suffered (and in the truest since of innocent suffering) for others under divine judgment so that those who believe can enjoy divine discipline. A theme that will arise in Job as we continue working through it and Job’s appeal to a Mediator, One who would argue on Job’s behalf to God. And how lovely this Mediator who Job knows only by faith is! We see this Mediator, our precious Lord Jesus, by faith in the sacred Scriptures.

We have to have Jesus, so that God would remain just in His divine judgment of sin (substitutionally taken for us by Christ) and the justifier (substitutionally given to us by Christ).