Have you ever struggled to understand a lesson? Although I graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree, I took Calculus II twice. There were some triple integral problems that I never could figure out. How my professors knew the answers to those problems is still a mystery to me.

Eliphaz was a perplexing frenemy to Job. In his third and final response, he condemned Job. But he seemed to sincerely want Job to repent and be in a good relationship with God. He stated things as if he knew that they were true. Things such as, “You demanded security from your brothers for no reason (v. 6). “You gave no water to the weary” (v. 7). “You sent widows away empty-handed” (v. 9). Yet, the Lord said to Satan (regarding Job), “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (1:8).

Eliphaz tells Job to “[s]ubmit to God and be at peace with him” (v. 21). “If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored” (v. 23). “If you remove wickedness far from your tent...then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you” (vv. 23–25). Eliphaz seemed to mean well, but he was clueless. It was not because Job hadn’t tried to communicate his circumstances to him. It seemed to be the result of his arrogance.

God’s ways are often mysterious to us. God may be doing something in our life that is radically different than what He is doing in another’s. Although we know that God is working in accordance with His Word, we do not know the particulars. Eliphaz was wrong to assume that he knew why Job was suffering. Let’s not presume that we know everything that God is doing in the lives of others.

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