Job 36:8

He went on to praise the way God, who is perfect in knowledge, deals both with the wicked and the righteous. From the righteous He does not withdraw His eyes. That is, He keeps watch over them always, and in the end He exalts them as kings. Yet He may first allow them to be "bound in fetters" and "held in cords of affliction." Poor Job was in that very state at that moment. And if He does allow this, it is for a purpose, as verses 9-11 show. Notice, it is the righteous who are dealt with this way. Even an Abraham and a Job, though righteous, were not sinless. God aims His discipline at such people, rather than at those who shut God out of their lives.

Why then affliction? These "righteous," whom God cares for, are at times "bound in fetters, held in cords of affliction." Is it a contradiction of what Elihu had just said? To Job it had been a contradiction, because he failed to see the possibilities of evil in his own heart. His pride was as real a transgression as the flagrant evils the friends falsely charged against him. God's object was to lay bare the hidden evil of man's heart, to open his ear to His warnings, and to turn him from pride. If they bow to this, sooner or later their sufferings will pass — even in this life. If not, they must be disciplined to the very end, and struck as if by a swift arrow from His hand.

Here Elihu, speaking on God's behalf, lifts the veil. He allows them to be bound in fetters and in sorrow's bonds. He, the righteous God, does this to show them their deeds and to uncover their transgressions. Those transgressions have their source in the thing God hates — pride. The afflictions of the righteous reveal His love and kindness, not His wrath and displeasure. He wants to instruct them by suffering.

It is most important not to confuse two things. One is the believer's standing and salvation in Christ. The other is his walk and the discipline he receives from his Father. As to his standing in Christ, as we have seen, it is established for ever. To make that depend in the least on his works would be to deny the grace of God. But how much does depend on his walk with God! Not earthly prosperity — not worldly pleasures. The nearer we walk with God, the less we shall have of these.

Job 36 presses another point on Job — if he looks at things from God's side, he must see His righteousness. Job ought to understand that "He withdraws not His eyes from the righteous." "He opens also their ear to discipline." "He delivers the poor in his affliction." Here is where Job had failed. He had been busy justifying himself instead of having his ear opened to discipline.

Job's previous life had not been a life of iniquity. But his bold criticism of God was certainly iniquity, little as he realised it.

You have sinned, and the fetters and cords made you cry out. And remember, the believer cannot touch sin without great bitterness of soul. Well, God uses that very bitterness in restoring the soul of the failing saint... This word shows you that if you were not a real child of God, but a hypocrite in heart, you would not have all this bitterness.