Don’t I have a right to complain?
    Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass,
    and oxen bellow when they have no food? Job 6:5

FOUL. Job’s response to Eliphaz can be summed up in a little yellow flag thrown on the field, in a ref’s whistle blown, in a pause of game and leveling of the field.

First of all, Job says, I am MISERABLE. I am ALLOWED to say so!

If my misery could be weighed
    and my troubles be put on the scales,
they would outweigh all the sands of the sea.
    That is why I spoke impulsively.
For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows.
    Their poison infects my spirit.
    God’s terrors are lined up against me. Job 6:2-4

Job defends his right to feel what he feels. Eliphaz has rebuked him for his response, but Job insists it’s a fair response, that any creature would make it, that he too is allowed his anguish when he has been so deprived of what he loves.

And then he goes scaring his buddies again –

Oh, that I might have my request,
    that God would grant my desire.
I wish he would crush me.
    I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me. (Job 6:8-9)

And then, he strikes.

One should be kind to a fainting friend,
    but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty. (Job 6:14)

Again, he’s right. Which one of them could tell him what his sin is? Which one of them has proof of his wrongdoing? The only “proof” they have that he’s done anything wrong is the circumstances they find him in, and as we have determined, converse fallacy says that’s not really enough evidence to convict a man. He challenges them to show him the evidence of what he’s done wrong because he knows they don’t have any!

Teach me, and I will keep quiet.
    Show me what I have done wrong.
Honest words can be painful,
    but what do your criticisms amount to?
Do you think your words are convincing
    when you disregard my cry of desperation? (Job 6:24-26)

Yet they’ve gone ahead and assumed his guilt without any real evidence, and Job knows they don’t even have miraculous insight from God on this matter because he knows he’s innocent, and God would defend him.

Look at me!
    Would I lie to your face?
Stop assuming my guilt,
    for I have done no wrong.
Do you think I am lying?
    Don’t I know the difference between right and wrong? (Job 6:28-30)

His friends are saying, “We know you’re guilty,” and Job is saying, “You absolutely don’t! How could you, since I’m completely innocent?! You’re not even paying attention!”

How quickly they have forgotten who Job is – wrongdoing would be completely out of character for Job, no one has come forward as a witness to accuse him of it, and they have no other indication, but they have an easier time believing he deserves his punishment than they do believing God would let him suffer for no reason. Why? Why do they ignore the body of evidence before them that counteracts their conclusion and cling to the one and only observation that supports it?

Because people believe what they want to believe.

IF Job is suffering AND Job has done nothing wrong… then what prevents them from suffering the same fate? What they are facing is the terrible realization of the limit of their control over their own lives. They always thought they could determine what happened to them, and in that thought, they felt safe. It was the same feeling I had when I believed my baby wasn’t growing because of something I had done – at least if the effect was caused by my actions, I could change my actions and change the effect. Now Job’s suffering contests that. Job’s suffering says no matter what you do, you might still lose everything. They are afraid to believe him.

You, too, have given no help.
    You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid. (Job 6:21)

Job does not yet understand their fear. He wonders if they’re so cold-hearted, so grasping, so selfish that they are afraid he’s going to ask for their stuff:

But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift?
    Have I begged for anything of yours for myself?
Have I asked you to rescue me from my enemies,
    or to save me from ruthless people? (Job 6:22-23)

And maybe they are afraid he’s going to ask for help. That would be inconvenient and unpleasant to them, that is true. It is obvious their own material and familial wealth matters to them – a lot. These men have done everything they have done to preserve it. But I think there’s a fear that runs much deeper than that, a fear that makes them desperate to cling to a belief system that puts them profoundly in control of their own futures: a fear that God might not be who they think he is, that he might not value what they value, and if he is in absolute control, he might take it all away in a moment.

Like he did to Job.

Now the question is – how can any of us stand to believe in a God like that?

I hate my life and don’t want to go on living.
    Oh, leave me alone for my few remaining days. (Job 7:16)