Eliphaz the charismatic  Job 22.21

"Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace:  thereby good shall come unto thee." 

 If you have come upon this verse mid-chapter after reading all the falsely assumed indictments Eliphaz has leveled at Job, you probably are tempted to view this as another of the platitudes at which these three friends are so adept.

Many years ago, early in my ministry, I became quite 'turned-off' to Charismatics. In the years since, I've been able to become more objective in my appraisal and appreciation of folks individually. Unfortunately, many of my early contacts with the Charismatic community  involved individuals who were not well-spoken, who had little or no theological basis in which to contextualize their belief system, had personality problems, and, in many instances, came across as 'air-heads.'

I reacted much as the old proverbial "throw the baby out with the bath water." In my serious pursuit of 'knowing God,' I esteemed more highly those who were among the aesthetics than those who were among the cheerleaders. I had little understanding of the importance of 'encouragement' and 'positive faith' or 'positive mental attitude.'

I automatically associated, in great Pavlovian fashion, folks with positive platitudes with those near imbecilic social misfits who decades ago identified themselves to me as "Charismatics." It took me years to understand the great strength and standing, theologically and personally, that encouragement, positive faith and positive mental attitude bring to the Christian experience. Indeed the Bible is resplendent in its exhortation of such.

Eliphaz could well have been categorized as one of those 'air-heads.' If one isn't careful to discern the Spirit, one can miss the prophetic, the Oracle, the Word of God coming from the donkey because we prefer hearing it from the temple. Eliphaz, typical of so many I want to separate from my sphere of easy accessibility, has gone on and on with labored false assumptions about Job's guilt and malfeasance. 

Then, all of a sudden, he speaks Truth. It is indeed as the Oracle, the prophetic Word coming to Job...and by extension to each of us down through the ages. If we will "Acquaint now (our)self with him, and be at peace:  thereby good shall come unto (us)."

This has overtones, for me, of my dad speaking to me as a restless child - "You stand right here beside me and you won't get in trouble." When I wander I get frustrated, I get depressed, I get discouraged, I get discontent, I get in trouble. I need to "Become a companion with God and be at peace..." (Jameison, Faussett, Brown)

Thank you, Eliphaz, you old Charismatic! You spoke to me and it was good. 

I add Eliphaz to my circle of instructors. It's not that he has everything figured out just right...nor have any of my other instructors, but they still have much to teach me. As Charles Swindoll has said, "I'm learning and growing." And so I am and I'm at peace with that. I do believe that "something good is going to happen to me..." :)