God continues his diatribe, continually highlighting the vast difference between God and man, mostly with a set of rhetorical questions about what each has the power to do (e.g., how God has the power to tame all these crazy wild creatures while man cannot).
God told Job's three friends that He was angry with them because they did not speak rightly of God, unlike Job. However, he told them to burn some sacrifices and that Job would pray for them.
My Thoughts
I sometimes wonder whether I'm more like Job's friends than Job. Of course, I don't subscribe to the idea that if you're suffering you're necessarily sinning. Nevertheless, there were points in Job where I thought Job seemed a little too confident in the fact that he was totally upright, and I could see myself as a friend telling him that he should get off his high horse and submit to God, not unlike some of these friends.
Happily, God was gracious and was willing to forgive Job's friends despite the misunderstanding about God they had. At the end of the day, Job's friends were really trying to honor God - they were just misguided.
I think the most important thing when we look at the book of Job is that no matter how much suffering Job is in and how much he cries out for and expresses his anguish toward God, Satan was wrong. Job did NOT curse God. I don't know if Job's friends were trying to honor God - or just trying to justify their righteousness! In the end, God answered Job's question throughout - GOD IS HERE, and HE LISTENS! Suffering isn't necessarily punishment but can be used as a training for great spirituality!
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