Job 42:7-8 – “After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has. ⁸ So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede for you, and I will respect him, so that I do not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

Today, as I read, prayed, and mused on the Word, something exploded in my spirit, heart, and mind. I perceived it as a warning and opportunity.   The Book of Job concludes with God chastising Job before restoring him. But it also contains a revelation and warning for everyone, not just Job’s “comforters.”

Job 42:7-8 arrested me.    God spoke to the chief spokesman of the three and informed them of his intense disfavor over their words!   Think about that for a moment. God said, “You have not spoken about Me what is right.”

Remember how they judged Job and deemed the trouble he was experiencing as God’s disfavor and punishment?  That angered God. Do we do that today?   I hear people saying God sent things to teach them a lesson or to punish them.   Did He?   He could, and He might, but just because calamity falls on someone does not mean God’s judgment has come to them.

If the Atonement is what the Bible reveals, the view of Job’s “comforters” would have God working against Himself.    Jesus shed His blood to save us.   Jesus bore the stripes to heal us.  Don’t misunderstand; God does chastise us, but the simple fact of troubles is not evidence of His disfavor or judgment.

A second passage that stopped me in my tracks and is connected was Matthew 5:22b – “And whoever calls down curses upon a fellow believer is in danger of being sent to a fiery hell.”

It is one thing to identify heresy biblically.  I said biblically. Unfortunately, often, that designation comes for a sectarian interpretation of scripture rather than the whole counsel of God.  Even though the person labeled heretical believes in Jesus and the Atonement, the differences in theology are used to label someone a heretic.  

I may not agree with some of their doctrinal beliefs.  However, I am not God.  I don’t know everything, but I’m continually learning.  They profess Jesus as Lord and demonstrate love for others.  I am fully authorized, biblically, to teach a doctrine different from theirs, but I do not have to curse them with my characterization of them as a heretic.

You may disagree, but this happened to me many years ago.  I had been critical of some well-known ministers because I had doctrinal differences with them. I was praying and stewing over what I considered excesses, and the Holy Spirit said, “If you will actually listen to what they say, you will find more to applaud than to criticize.”   

I knew that I had been taken to the spiritual woodshed.  On the essentials, I stand firm.  The remaining things I put in God’s hands.  I will pray for those I believe are errant, but I also pray for me – What if I’m wrong?  I pray for understanding, wisdom, and grace, and seek always to demonstrate love.  I never want to be guilty of saying things about God that are not true or calling curses upon other believers.  I need mercy and desire to be merciful. I pray for God’s continued correction in our lives.

There is victory in having the heart of God!

Lord, help us be loving and corrective but not judgmental.  Please help us to be comforters and restorers, not criticizers who divide.