Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Yesterday we wrapped up round two of all three of Job's friends advising him. He's now heard

six speeches from them. And today, our reading opened with Job's reply to Zofar's second speech.

His friends have been trying to point out that since all these bad things have happened to him,

it must be because he's acting wickedly somehow.

This kind of thinking is embedded in our nature.

Have you noticed that?

The idea that if you do good things, God will give you

what you want. If you do bad things, God will punish you. When things don't go your way, do you

ever wonder if God is punishing you? Maybe it's because of that bad thing you did. Or if you can't

think of anything you've done wrong to earn this treatment from him, you may start to wonder why he's

not holding up his end of the bargain. If you're not him, you may start to wonder why he's not holding up his end of the

bargain. If you're not careful, you may find yourself living out of the same minds that Job's friends had,

thinking that if you walk uprightly with God, you can use that as a bargaining chip to get what you

want from him, because surely good works equal a happy life, right? Job's story points out the error in our thinking, and it also points out the true wickedness

that lies at the heart of our motives when we try to use God as a means to our desired end.

In chapter 21, Job offers a rebuttal to his friend's claims.

When he's talking about the wicked, he says,

They say to God, depart from us.

We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

What is the Almighty that we should serve him?

Then he marvels.

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