{"id":2435,"date":"2020-08-22T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-22T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=2435"},"modified":"2020-08-12T05:38:14","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T10:38:14","slug":"who-are-your-know-it-all-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/08\/22\/who-are-your-know-it-all-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO ARE YOUR \u201cKNOW-IT-ALL\u201d FRIENDS?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cBlessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty\u201d (Job 5:17 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know-it-all\u2019s don\u2019t know it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eliphaz is one of Job\u2019s know-it-all friends.  We met Job yesterday<\/a>.  He\u2019s lost his children, his livestock and servants.  When we meet him today, his health is also affected.  He\u2019s lost almost everything.  He still has his life and his wife.  Eliphaz has come to comfort him in his distress.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealing with people who experience deep tragedy is difficult.  Knowing what words to say to them is hard.  Some people, like Eliphaz, need an explanation for why the person is experiencing the heartache.  He reasons Job is suffering because he has unconfessed sin.  Why else would God punish him like this?  The problem is, Eliphaz doesn’t know what he\u2019s talking about.  Most people who think they know why God does something don\u2019t.  Only God knows why He does what He does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only God knows His intent.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When something bad happens to someone, we often assume they\u2019ve done something to deserve it. God is punishing them.  Eliphaz assumes that about Job.  That assumption is not true.  None of us deserve anything.  All of us fall short from the mark of perfection.  Our sins may differ, but we all sin.  Therefore, we don\u2019t deserve the blessings we do have.  The penalty for sin is death, period.  We all sin, we all will die.  But through Jesus, we have eternal life.  His grace forgives our sin.  Each breath we take we owe him a debt of gratitude.  Without God, nothing exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job understood God\u2019s grace.  He realized, all he has is God\u2019s to do with what He wants.  We are only caretakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is, sometimes life doesn\u2019t make sense.  Bad things happen to people we deem good.  One thing we need to remember: we\u2019re not God.  We don\u2019t know the full situation.  Sometimes, we will never know the \u201cwhy\u201d until we meet Him in heaven. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we get hung up on the \u201cWhy?\u201d we miss out on an opportunity to love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eliphaz was so busy trying to explain away the situation, he missed an opportunity to love his friend.  What Job needed was someone to sit with him in his misery.  He didn\u2019t need useless words.  Silence is okay.  We don\u2019t always have to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the hardest memorials I attended was for my friend Bryan. A young father, murdered just after his 41st birthday.  What words do you say when you look into a grieving mother\u2019s eyes at a moment like this?  The only words I could say were, \u201cI love you.  I\u2019m praying for you.\u201d  Showing up, putting your arms around them,  walking with them through their heart ache, those acts of love are worth far more than empty words.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love is always the right answer.  Know-it-alls don\u2019t know it all.  Ignore them, listen to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What \u201cKnow-it-all\u201d do you need to ignore today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading: <\/strong>Job 4-7 NIV<\/a>, 1 Corinthians 14:18-40 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 37:30-40 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 21:27 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBlessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty\u201d (Job 5:17 NIV) Know-it-all\u2019s don\u2019t know it all. Eliphaz is one of Job\u2019s know-it-all friends.  We met Job yesterday.  He\u2019s lost his children, his livestock and servants.  When we meet him today, his health is also affected.  He\u2019s lost… Continue reading WHO ARE YOUR \u201cKNOW-IT-ALL\u201d FRIENDS?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2436,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435\/revisions\/2436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}