On this Sunday, we heard again from Eliphaz, and this time around, all sympathy seems to have gone out the window. Eliphaz is upset and is struggling to wrap his head around how Job, his friend and one-time follower of their tradition, can be speaking the way he is about God and God's managing of Job's situation. Undeserved suffering isn't fair, and since God is always fair and just, Job's suffering must have a reason. Job seems to be stubbornly insisting that there isn't a direct tie between a specific sin and the severity of his situation, and in Eliphaz's mind, this unacceptably calls into question God's character. In Eliphaz's worldview, since there is no undeserved suffering, there cannot be undeserved favour, so whether purposefully or inadvertently, he is denying the gospel, something we can also do when we focus more on what we do, or don't do, rather than on what Jesus has done.

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