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

Today Joe wrapped up his response to Elifaz's third speech.

In Chapter 24, Job continues to point out that good things happen to the wicked and also add that bad things happen to the righteous

surely you have seen this too. When I first read this response from Job it sounded

more like a complaint like he was kind of whining about it but But the more I looked at it, the more it

sounded like he was consoling himself with these details, reminding himself that

his trials don't negate his status as a righteous man before God, while also trying to convince his friends of that as well.

Joe points out some really important stuff here, and we can kind of see that if you follow his

friend's belief to its logical conclusion, you would be likely to conclude

that all those who are healthy and wealthy are living righteous lives and that those who are

poor, sick, and needy are in that situation because of their sin. There's no shortage of people who even subscribe to this type of theology today.

One of the dangers of this is that any time there's a disaster, a fire or a flood or a terrorist attack, some very public religious people will say it's

God's judgment, as if they know the mind of God.

They're guilty of the same reductionism that Job's friends are.

In Job's story, we're given a glimpse into God's motives because they're recorded in Scripture,

but in everyday 21st century life, we don't have access to that information. People would be wise not

to jump to conclusions about why hurricanes and mass murders happen where they do.

After Job's speech, Bill Dad pushes back saying that not only is Jobun righteous, but that it's impossible

for a man to be righteous at all.

And while there's some truth in this that we can't be perfect, we can be declared righteous

by God despite our actions because of the finished work of Christ.

In scripture, righteousness is often used as a kind of legal term, more of a decision and a declaration by the judge than some accumulated overview of our actions.

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