Job 5:8,12 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

Eliphaz has some good lines. Eliphaz is a clever fellow. I have to remind myself what God had to say about Job’s three friends in order to place their clever words into perspective.

Does God get the glory in those lines or is it Eliphaz’s cleverness that stands out?

I write this as both a confession of condition and encouragement to be careful to glorify God in those things you say or write.

These past few days I find myself deleting or rewriting devotionals because I was being clever to the point of being a showoff. Where is God to be glorified in that?

If you take one liners from chapters 4 and 5 in the book of Job, where Eliphaz speaks, they sound good and are quotable enough. We must be careful in quoting one liners out of context because they do not glorify God but rather show how clever we can be.

I found myself in that category of Job 5:12 being crafty and having God disappoint my efforts. He called me out on my behavior.

God has done wonderful things to shape and mold me into His servant but servant I am and nothing more if I cannot remember the words of my Lord.

John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

It is not mine and I should not glory in it. I did not judge rightly in those things I was going to say to you and ended up having to eat my words.