Job 22:12-13

12 Is not God ['elowahh] in the height [gobahh] of heaven [shamayim]? and behold [ra'ah] the height [ro'sh] of the stars [kowkab], how high [ruwm] they are!

13 And thou sayest ['amar], How doth God ['el] know [yada`]? can he judge [shaphat] through the dark cloud [`araphel]? KJV-Interlinear

12 'Is not God in the height of heaven? Look also at the distant stars, how high they are! 13 'And you say, 'What does God know? Can He judge through the thick darkness? NASB

Job has made clear his opinions. Job has tried to base his opinions on facts.

Eliphaz, and the other two friends, have made inferences from Jobs words, disregarding the facts, but presuming that because Job has stated his opinions, that he can only hold those opinions if he believed in something that they conclude.

Job is not responsible for their incorrect inferences.

Now here, Job has already stated that God resides high in His heaven. That sinners live their entire life seemingly without punishment. And both statements are true facts. Job never offered a suggestion as to the why's.

Eliphaz infers from Jobs words that he must think that God cannot see the sinners and that is why they escape punishment, because God cannot see them because He resides in heaven, which is further away than the stars.

Job made no such statement nor even that inference. And yet Eliphaz takes what Job has said, and twists it to a conclusion which no normal thinking person would draw.

Have a conversation with a blonde and you will understand this concept. No matter what you say, the blondes' answers will seem as though they originated from some other planet. This is a stereotype, and jokes are made for such things, but this describes this concept which is exactly what is happening here with Eliphaz and Job.

Over these many years I have written thousands of daily studies, and I still get e-mails from time to time from people who read just one lesson, perhaps something that I have written years ago, and they will chew me out because of something they perceive I have said. Statements are usually taken out of context, and often times I have no clue as to which study they are referring to.

People who are not objective, will inevitably draw inferences that are incorrect because they are not interested in a thorough research of a matter, but are impatient to express their own beliefs rather than learning truth.

People should always approach their Bible study from the position of an open mind, and from a position of wanting to learn and consider how to improve their spiritual lives, rather than defensively defending whatever it is they already believe.

Your spiritual life is between you and God, not between you and the many opinions or circumstances in this world. If you are truly objective and genuinely motivated to advance in your spiritual life, then God will make all truths known and clear to you. If you are not genuinely interested in truth, then God will allow you to believe whatever you want to believe. And we have already seen, the repercussions of this attitude, in the last few days.

Eliphaz presumes, that Job is saying, that because God resides in heaven and that He is so far away, that He cannot see earth, nor the wickedness, which exists on the earth.

Eliphaz uses the stars as a means of measuring the extreme distance over which God must view planet earth.

The nearest star outside of our immediate solar system is four light-years away. One light-year is some six trillion miles, and four light-years are well over twenty-four trillion miles.

Some of our best rockets can travel at only about twenty-five or thirty thousand miles an hour. That is only seven or eight miles a second. Light travels at over 186,000 miles a second. Far faster than seven or eight miles a second.

To travel to the nearest star at our present speeds would take us about 25,000 years. Most of us would get really bored on a trip that long. 'Are we there yet?'

To travel across the galaxy, which is a hundred thousand light-years across, would take us hundreds of millions of years. And travel to distant galaxies would be substantially longer.

The estimated distance to the fartherest parts of our known universe is around fourteen billion light-years. The universe is probably much, much larger.

Anyway, the distance to get to Gods heaven is a very long way. We cannot travel there by conventional means and certainly we cannot even see heaven.

But God can see the earth. God knows every thought, hears every spoken word, and sees every action of every human being in all of history.

Dan. 4:26

26 'And in that it was commanded to leave the stump with the roots of the tree, your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is Heaven that rules. NASB

Ezek. 8:12-13

12 Then He said to me, 'Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, 'The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.'' 13 And He said to me, 'Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing.' NASB

Jesus Christ controls history. Nothing can be hidden from Christ. Even if people try to hide in the shadows and work their deeds in secrecy, God knows their wickedness and activities.

Even though people in ancient times knew that the stars were a great distance away, Job never suggested that God was handicapped due to distance. Eliphaz was just not paying attention.

Pay attention in your spiritual life, and do not stray off into left field, or get distracted by the many other things that are occurring in this world.

Now is the time to post a prayer.