I would tell you the truth, but you cannot handle it

 

Job 13:1-12

 

“Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.  What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.  But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.  As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all.  Oh, that you would keep silent,  and it would be your wisdom!
Hear now my argument and listen to the pleadings of my lips.  Will you speak falsely for God and speak deceitfully for him?  Will you show partiality toward him?  Will you plead the case for God?  Will it be well with you when he searches you out?  Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?  He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.  Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?  Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.”

 

On this side of the Cross, we have many promises that the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say, such as Luke 12:12, “For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said."  You will also see this teaching in Luke 21:15, and Acts 4:8.  If one is walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit they will give council like Job’s friends.  Be very careful not to do as Job’s friends and talk down or come across as if the one you are addressing is ignorant, though they may be.

 

I have heard men say, I would tell you the truth, but you cannot handle it, in fact, Jesus said that in John 16:12, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”  In verses 4-5, Job had his fill of his friends condemnation and he tells them you are not all that smart, a long way from being wise men.  He implied they were more like unskilled physicians that had missed the true diagnoses.  He tells them they would not have shown their lack of intelligence if they had been silent.  Proverbs 17:28, “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”  How many times I’ve exposed my ignorance by opening my mouth and speaking.

 

In verses 7-12, Job is warning his so-called friends to be very careful when you imply your speaking for God.  This side of the Cross, if you have a personal relationship with the LORD, not by an act of goodness on your part, but accepting by grace and faith that God gives you, to believe in what Jesus did for you on the cross, then you have the Spirit living in you.  One must be very careful to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh, or they will speak as mere men and not under the authority of the Spirit.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob  

Rice