In Job, chapter forty-two, verse seven, the Lord condemned his three friends of Job for their erroneous theology of prosperity and suffering, evident in their accusations against Job. Their three main errors were they taught a retributive principle of prosperity and suffering: the righteous will always blessed, and the wicked will always experience adversity.
They exhorted Job to admit a sin that he had not committed so that he might escape his suffering and receive God’s blessing. By their counsel, they tempted Job to use God for personal gain. If Job had followed their advice, he would have discredited God’s faith in him and confirmed Satan’s claim that Job feared God only for blessing and gain. They had spoken arrogantly in claiming God’s sanction for some of their false doctrine and theology.
God declared that what Job had said about Him was right. He did not mean that everything Job said was completely accurate, but that Job’s response to his three friends was sincere before God and that his attitude pleased Him. After listening to the Lord speaking through chapters thirty-eight through forty-one, Job understood what the Lord had said that made him repent. Meanwhile, the three friends of Job, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuite, and Zophar the Naamathite did not speak well of Job in the eyes of God from their theological perspective.
Eliphaz’s theory concerning the situation with Job is not true based on the Word of God. Every believer will undergo trials and suffering in some form, one way or another. Isaiah forty-one, verse ten, states, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” There will be challenges along the way for each believer. Whether it makes sense or not, it can be uncommon things where nothing is wrong on our end. The situation can become burdensome when spectators attempt to evaluate the circumstance from an ungodly-minded perspective.