Job 22:21  Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
22  Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
23  If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
24  Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
25  Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.
26  For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.
27  Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.
28  Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
29  When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.
30  He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

Eliphaz ended this attack against Job by telling Job to become acquainted with God. Eliphaz was a deluded man. He assumed that he knew the true God intimately and that Job was completely out of touch with God. It is very dangerous when deluded men gain a public platform. It is sad to note that there have always been more deluded men on public platforms than there have been informed men on public platforms. The Bible shows us this.
The good news is that in spite of the great imbalance in voices out there, God’s voice is always the clearest and the more powerful. In the time that Jesus Christ was on earth, the Pharisees, Sadducees, the lawyers, and chief priests plus the Herodians far outnumbered Jesus Christ. However, we read:

Matthew 7:29  For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Jesus’ voice was clear and it was with power. All the false teachers could not equal His voice. The same was true for the apostle Paul. He did not need a lawyer when standing before King Agrippa or Festus or Felix. The Jews called on their “expert” orator to try to impress the governor with his flattery. After this man blew off his hot air, Paul was given permission to speak for himself. His words carried more weight than those of this “professional” orator.
Job was somewhat acquainted with God. There is no doubt he needed to be much better acquainted with Him. He would soon be given that opportunity. It is interesting that God chose to address Job, but not his three friends. God did not find it profitable to address those men because they had chosen to manufacture their own god. God rebuked them and commanded them to bring a sacrifice to Him through Job, but He did not bother to teach them as He did with Job. They, sadly, were unteachable.
Eliphaz was trying to be polite toward Job for a moment. He acted as if he was requesting Job to listen to what God had to say. In fact, Eliphaz and his colleagues had superimposed their own ideas on God and wanted Job to listen to their god.
We see that they knew the correct terminology. They called God the “Almighty”. He is the Almighty. The problem was that they had tried to eliminate the true God with their imaginary god.
Eliphaz stated that if Job would return to God and put iniquity far from his life, then he would become prosperous. Eliphaz knew the language. The Bible teaches that the key to restoration for a child of God is repentance toward God and confessing sin to Him. When a true saint is in sin, they have essentially suggested that they do not want to follow God. They are rebelling against God and choosing their own way and snubbing their nose at God. God, in His mercy and grace, will chasten His child and work to bring that child back into fellowship with Him.
God does not promise that when His child turns back to Him, that He will bless them with material blessings. He promises to restore a right relationship with His child and He promises to grant that child His peace.
In Job’s case, God would soon bless him abundantly with family and material blessings. However, that is not a pattern that we should assume is the normative pattern for God’s people. The apostle Paul was a Pharisee prior to his being saved and becoming the apostle Paul. Once saved, he became a faithful servant of God. He was trained by Jesus Christ and he was very bold for the Lord. He came to be respected among the brethren and God directed him in establishing many churches. However, we do not read that he became a wealthy man. He never speaks of owning a house or having a bunch of camels or servants, etc. He was a humble servant of God who had his needs met by God and left a legacy behind that was worth far more than the gold of Ophir.
Eliphaz stated that the Almighty would be Job’s defence. The Almighty was already Job’s defence. The devil wanted to destroy Job. God did not allow that to happen. Eliphaz also stated that God would hear Job. God was hearing Job now. God had not put a wall between Himself and Job. God was not obligated to answer Job immediately upon to his request. He was working things out in His time. Job needed to be ready to listen to God. At this particular time, Job was not ready for that. He needed to see the need to stop his assumptions and let God show Himself as the Almighty.
God does not hear the prayer of those who regard iniquity in their hearts.

Psalm 66:18  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

God knew all about what Job was facing. He was absolutely sure of what Job was facing. He was not guessing as Eliphaz and his two friends were. He was well aware of the situation. He knew the lies that Eliphaz and his friends were spreading. He knew how they were misrepresenting Him.
In verse 28 Eliphaz again showed his foolishness by suggesting that if Job would get right with God, he would be able to make decrees and they would be established. No man can do that. God is the only One that can make decrees that are established. Eliphaz again showed his close connection with the charismatic frauds of our day.
Eliphaz ended this tirade as he began it. He began with hot air and he ended it with hot air. There was nothing here that could help Job. There was nothing here that would profit anyone. Job was wise in not following the foolish counsel he had just heard. He needed to wait on the Lord. He needed to trust the Lord to direct him and to provide direction for him. God was with Job. God does not forsake His own. He is always there to help them.

Psalm 56:3  What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4  In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

If you are a child of God, don’t let your circumstances cause you to doubt Him. If there is sin you need to deal with, then confess that to God and know His peace in your heart. If you are walking faithfully with Him, continue on. Trust Him in all things. Confess any doubts to Him and let Him give you His peace and blessing. He is good and He is always with His children.
If you are not saved, turn to God today. You need God’s peace, but you do not have it. You could have it if you would humble yourself and listen to the truth. If you would repent toward God and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ you would be saved today! You could go on from this moment forward with His blessing and joy in your heart. The choice is yours. Don’t listen to the Eliphaz’s in life. Listen to the true God. Seek His face and receive His blessings.
Pastor Bartel