Thursday 10th September 2026
Reading Job 4:1-11
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
‘If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended?
But who can keep from speaking?
See, you have instructed many;
you have strengthened the weak hands.
Your words have supported those who were stumbling,
and you have made firm the feeble knees.
But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
Is not your fear of God your confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?
‘Think now, who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
As I have seen, those who plough iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.
Reflection
When Job lost everything, his friends came and sat with him and “no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great” (Job 2:13). They were simply there, sitting with him, showing him support and solidarity.
In Job 4, this changes. Suddenly the friends have an awful lot to say.
It is worth remembering that Job has not asked for their opinions. The questions that he posed when he lamented in chapter 3 were rhetorical. He had not addressed the friends and few people who ask, whilst in the depths of despair, why they were even born are genuinely inviting a philosophical debate. Nonetheless, Eliphaz hears Job’s lament and is the first friend who decides to ‘answer’.
He begins with a rather pointed comment that we could paraphrase as ‘Can I say something, or are you going to have a go at me? Either way, I’m going to say something.’ He then goes through a timeline of Job’s suffering. He looks to the past and remembers how Job used to support people who were struggling, and then he says, ‘But now it has come to you’, emphasising Job’s current situation. Verse 6 is then more future orientated, as Eliphaz tells Job that his hope should lie in God and his own righteousness. Everything will, Eliphaz says, come right in the end.
Eliphaz’s movement from past to present to future creates a timeline for Job. Things used to be good, they’re not right now, but they will be again. Trauma, however, disrupts a person’s sense of time. When the body is stuck in fight or flight mode, it can seem that things that happened in the past are intruding into the present. The possibility of things coming right in the future can seem a hollow promise rather than a comfort when one feels stuck in the moment of trauma.
Eliphaz is undoubtedly well-meaning. He wants to encourage his friend to trust God and keep going. Sometimes, though, attempts to impose meaning and set a timeline for other people can do more harm than good if this is not the place that the person is currently in themselves. Eliphaz’s response can give us a chance to reflect on our own responses to other people who are suffering. Do we always listen first, or can our eagerness to fix things sometimes cause us to speak too quickly?
Prayer
Another possible response to Job
I can see you are in pain, my friend.
I’ve heard you crying out and have witnessed your despair.
I am here.
We’ve been friends a long time.
You’ve helped lots of people throughout your life –
I’ve seen you supporting other people
when they’re in trouble or struggling.
Things are tough for you now,
and I hear your impatience and dismay.
I’ll support you now,
just as you have supported people.
You have questions and, if you want,
we can talk about them.
I won’t pretend to have all the answers,
but we can have a conversation when you’re ready.
I still have hope, even if you don’t right now,
and I will hold that hope for you.
Take your time, my friend.
I’m not going anywhere.