ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 PULELULU ME 27, 2026

SIOPE 4-7; SAAME 1:1-6

Not all counsel is wise counsel. Be careful of whose "wisdom" you open your heart and mind to.

‘Oku ‘ikai ko e fale’i kotoa pe ko e fale’i fakapotopoto. Tokanga ki he “poto” ‘oku ke faka’atā ho loto mo ho ‘atamai ki ai.

I've worked with countless people whose troubles have been magnified by unwise and unbiblical counsel. Most foolish advice is dispensed by caring and well-meaning friends. And the people receiving the unwise counsel aren't aware that they are being counseled because they receive the advice in a casual setting, not in a therapist's office. We all need to be aware that friendships are counseling relationships. In a friendship you share yourself and your life, and your friends are always interacting with your story, giving their perspective on how you're feeling and doing. You can't have a close friendship without the giving and taking of advice. This is why it is important to realize that not all counsel is good counsel. A well-meaning friend may not be offering you wise advice.

When Job went from having everything to having nothing, his friends gathered around him to comfort him and to sit with him in mourning. Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite had good intentions. They did what true friends do. And as good friends do, they had a lot to say about Job and what he was going through. Their counsel was based on a significant question: Is Job right with God? The friends answered this question inaccurately, which meant their counsel was unwise and unbiblical and therefore terribly unhelpful for Job in his time of severe suffering.

The counsel of these three friends is summarized by Eliphaz in Job 4:8-9:

As I have seen, those who plow iniquity

and sow trouble reap the same.

By the breath of God they perish,

and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

Eliphaz is saying to Job, "You do right - you get blessed. You do wrong, you get cursed. Since you have been cursed, you must have committed iniquity before God." There are two problems with this counsel. First, we know from the first chapters of Job that this trial was brought upon Job because he was a righteous man. The question of the trial was, Will a righteous man continue to follow God if he loses everything? Second, this counsel does not come from a valid understanding of the character and purposes of God. It is based on a legalistic worldview that is absolutely devoid of grace, one that believes we must earn God's favor by living a righteous life. It's about performing one's way out of judgment.

If it were possible to gain God's favor by independent righteousness, then the whole redemptive narrative in the Bible, culminating with the death and resurrection of Jesus, would not have been necessary. If sinners are always cursed and never the recipients of God's grace, then there is no hope for any of us. Jesus came to bear our curse, so that we would bear it no more.

May the counsel you receive into your heart and mind be in tune with God's character and his glorious narrative of grace for sinners. That grace is our only hope, just as it was Job's ultimate hope.