And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (Isaiah 58:11)
In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. (Job 5:20 - Eliphaz the Temenite)
To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. (Psalm 33:19)
There is truly a promise of God in the Bible of protection. But it is interesting to see such a promise in the mouth of Eliphaz, one of Job's misguided friends. Does this make the promise void? Not at all. But it is an example of where the promise can be misapplied. Job had been faithful to God in the person of the poor, he had used his wealth to care for the stranger. Yet he endured a terrible calamity, and his friends who came to comfort him suggested that his calamity was due to some secret sin. Notice that Eliphaz, when talking about the blessings that would come from Job admitting he had sinned, relates true things, all of which were fulfilled already at the time. Job could have been killed, but God stopped Satan from doing it (Job 2:6) just like Eliphaz promised he would. So Eliphaz was not wrong, but he was misguided. Job was even then enjoying the fulfilment of God's promise in that he lived on, Job's suffering was not evidence that he had sinned particularly. God promises to give you eternal life, trials will come to the righteous and the sinner but the worst that can happen to the saved man is to be put to sleep for a while.
I fear not so much future suffering for myself, but for those I love. I give this fear to God and trust him with it.
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