The conversation between Job and his friends now becomes increasingly hostile. By chapter 12 it has become an argument. Poor Job is in pain and yet he must endure a kind of inquisition from his so-called ‘friends’ who are trying to squeeze a confession of sin out of him. The feeling that Job has at this point is overwhelmingly that of being looked down upon. Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar have taken the moral high ground. It’s worth reflecting at this point how entirely useless we become when we take this position. The higher the moral ground you claim to occupy the more useless you will become with regards to God’s purpose. We are called to be ministers of grace (grace is the undeserved favour we receive from God by virtue of what Jesus Christ has done for us). We are qualified to be ministers of grace because we have received grace ourselves. The higher the moral ground you take the more you distance yourself from grace and the more you disqualify yourself from ministry. This is worth noting because generally we feel that we need to be morally superior to be qualified for ministry. It’s not that we should want to be imperfect or even allow ourselves to sin freely. That would be an expression of contempt for God’s grace. What qualifies us for Christian ministry is the understanding that we are in the same ‘moral predicament’ as everyone else. Don’t take the moral high ground in any situation, for humility is the key to changing lives.
Ask God to give you a humble heart and to remind you how indebted you are to his grace.
Read Job 12-14
