Love Your Critics

“And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. “

Job 42:7

Job, the oldest literary work of the Bible (and history), teaches us much about man’s friendships and fellowship with God. It is a unique story captured by seven distinct personalities: Job’s, Eliphaz’, Bildad’s, Zophar’s, Elihu’s, the devil’s, and God’s. Per the book title, we know that Job is the center of the conversation. Typically, we compost the book into a Job vs. devil vs. friends vs. God outline. But today I’d like to give special attention to how the Lord viewed Job’s three caustic friends, and how that affected Job at the end of his great trial.

The anger God showed to Job’s friends at the end of his long, painful trial was not because they were too hard on Job. God allowed them to speak harshly toward Job in many unkind and unfair ways. They misspoke about his character many times, yet God did not once make them apologize to Job for it! Instead, the wrath of God fell on those men in His words, because they “have not spoken of me the thing that is right.”

God judged them hardly because they misrepresented God, not Job.

This is an incredibly difficult truth to accept for me. The devil abused Job, God allowed it, and his friends augmented his affliction. Job was so distraught that he exclaimed, “miserable comforters are ye all.” (Job 16:1) The way they ridiculed Job was wrong, yet God recorded it in Scripture (for various other reasons). For this subject, a simple survey of the book tells me that the presence of a critical person in my life is not by itself an affront to God. God allowed the critics, too.

A good critic is hard to find.

I once entered a local writing contest with an article that I have since posted on Spiritual Reload. It was a piece that I felt was one of the best. I had poured heart and soul into colorful wording, overall structure. I had edited the superfluous parts and sharply proofed the rest. I didn’t even make the top 4. On a panel of 6 judges, I got the ire of 5 of them, and the favor of none. Why? Because my article was too ‘preachy’ and didn’t allow for ‘feel-good storytelling’.

What I wrote was truth. How I wrote it was meant to persuade. Why I wrote it was to provoke men to get right with God, not to make them feel good.

Naturally, I wanted to feel vindicated. The readers from my church all felt the same way. Their thoughts were, “How are they a good judge of material when they aren’t even saved?”

Ah, but wait a moment. That’s exactly why I needed to send in my work. Because a good critic is hard to find.

Christians naturally ‘like’ (emotionally or algorithmically) stuff that mentions God or Jesus or the Bible or Heaven. We think there should be more attention given to that sort of material. But in our dumb fervor to promote it, we accept a lot of very poorly put together material. And the plain truth is, we know that it is poor material, but because we are nice, we say nothing to make it better.

The lost world doesn’t have that problem. They are natural skeptics and critics who care little for the message, but care alot about the presentation (you might say they care too much). That is why and how such blatant lies have pervaded from year to year. The movies, novels, folklore, and traditions are clothed in convincing and proper garb. Meanwhile, the truth is paraded in paltry rags of misspellings, improper sentence structure, bland illustration, and cheap binding. Of that, we deserve much criticism.

Job prayed for his critics.

There is a not-so-subtle voice in your head yelling, “But isn’t there a difference between a CONSTRUCTIVE critic and a DESTRUCTIVE critic?” Sure there is. But let me ask you: Were the friends of Job constructive or destructive in their words to Job?

Hard to tell, isn’t it? Makes you almost wonder that the Lord didn’t much care about the difference. For, at the end of the book He says nothing of how they treated Job. He is only concerned with how they talked about the Lord. Additionally, as tough as they were on poor Job, the words of God from the whirlwind were many times stronger. (See Job 38:1-41:34)

Theodore Roosevelt gave a stirring speech once later called, “The Man In The Arena.” The first lines of it have made it recognizable over 120 years later: “It is not the critic that counts.” Though Roosevelt had ACTION vs. INACTION on his mind, many have adopted this creed to pursue a course “set on fire of hell.” (James 3:6) Hating the critic has become the landmark of the path of a world who can’t stand to be disagreed with, questioned, or reproved. ‘You can’t tell me what to think,’ ‘I have my beliefs and you have yours,’ and,’don’t judge me,’ are just a few telltale signs of an uncorrectable conscience.

Once through the tribulation, God commands those three men to bring an offering to Job. That is the only way He will accept them, is through him. (42:8-9) The Author of this traumatic story sets a precedent for the critic as well as the ‘man in the arena’. That precedent calls our critics: friends. And prays for them.

“And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: ”

Job 42:10a

When was the last time you thanked God for those who disagree with you?

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