Job 20:20

Zophar claimed that what he knew by instinct was backed up by what had happened "from of old, since man was placed on earth." Reading Job 20, we can see the hint behind his statements about various acts of wickedness: he was suggesting that Job was guilty of them. Job was the man who had worked to swallow down other people's property and to crush the poor; who had seized by force a house he had not built, and so on. The truth is that a man who builds his argument on his own instinct is always very sure of himself. He has to be, to make up for the lack of outside evidence to back up his claims.

However sweet evil was to him, and however tightly he held on to it, it was poison inside him. He devoured riches greedily, with no concern for right or wrong, and God makes him vomit them up… What he worked for he gives back, and does not swallow it; the wealth he traded for gives him no joy… His inner greed was never satisfied, so he will not escape with what he values most — not a scrap left for him to eat — and his prosperity does not last.

Take Ahab. He came down to look at the vineyard he had gained by murdering Naboth, and there he had to listen to the prophet announce his doom. In the same way, the wicked man gets no joy from what he owns. The unfinished house he took remains as a monument of his crime; he cannot even take his most cherished belongings with him.

He has only himself to blame, and he is reaping what he sowed. The poison comes from his own insides… His riches, gained by evil, will torture his last days. All this is solemnly true. God is not arbitrary when He punishes the wicked… How empty and wicked is the talk about God being "too merciful to send men to hell". Men show no mercy to themselves. They have only themselves to blame for their doom. And it is all the sharper because infinite love has provided a free remedy, which so many reject.

It is true that God will allow no quietness in the heart of a wicked man. But Job's lack of quietness came from his sufferings. Zophar knew this and supposed Job was therefore wicked. Would Job then save nothing he desired? So Zophar would discourage Job from ever expecting any good to come out of his afflictions. How little he knew the heart of God! It was God who later moved Paul to write, "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Cor. 4:17).

It lies in enjoying so much that we not only cannot wish for more, but cannot even hold what we already have. That is the Christian's portion… So Christ is the cure for covetousness, because He both satisfies us and changes us. We are sure that the lives of many Christians are miserable mainly because of this one sin. Other sins may make the people who commit them happy for a time. This one leaves its victims wretched. There is no more unhappy person than a completely covetous man, and no happier person than a Christian who is satisfied with Christ.