The Bible Provocateur
The Bible Provocateur
LIVE DISCUSSION: (Job 6:21-30) Iniquity On My Tongue? (Part 4 of 4)
What if the people meant to lift you end up burying you instead? That’s the question at the heart of our latest study as we walk with Job through the sting of misjudgment and the ache of shallow comfort. We unpack his searing image of the pit—friends digging deeper with every confident accusation—and ask what real friendship, empathy, and spiritual discernment look like when suffering won’t let up.
We sit with Job’s courageous plea: “Look upon me.” He invites scrutiny, not flattery, calling his friends to use their hard-won wisdom to listen before they judge. From Psalm 35’s hidden nets to Proverbs’ warning against answering before hearing, we map how careless counsel becomes cruelty. We also explore how grace should shape our speech; truth without humility wounds, while truth with mercy restores. If you’ve ever been “helped” by people who didn’t want to understand you, this conversation will feel uncomfortably familiar and deeply freeing.
We go further by tracing the thread from Job to Jesus. The panel reflects on rejection, the cross, and why sharing in Christ’s sufferings reframes our own pain. We wrestle with the paradox of strength in weakness, the courage to revisit a verdict, and the discipline to be present without wielding easy answers. Along the way, you’ll hear concrete prompts for practicing discernment, pausing accusations, and becoming the kind of friend who carries ropes, not shovels.
If this resonates, subscribe, share it with someone who needs a second look, and leave a review to help others find the study. What’s one judgment you’re willing to reconsider this week?
BE PROVOKED AND BE PERSUADED!
Is it that you're saying I sold? Because I don't know. So I will sit here in silence as you reprove my words and my speeches, me being the desperate one, saying that these things that I'm saying are coming from the wind. That's fine. Then tell me what the situation is. Tell me what it is. This is what he's saying. And then he goes on in verse 27, and he says, he goes, yay, he goes, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you dig a pit for your friend. Listen to what Job is saying. Listen to what he's saying. He goes, you guys are so bad. This is how you would treat a bastard child. An orphan. This is how you would treat an orphan. You treat an orphan like this, and you would dig a pit for a friend. For your friend. He's telling them that your your conduct is so beyond the pale that it resembles someone who oppresses an orphan. A fatherless, motherless child. Someone, and the whole idea is that of this orphan is that they are a helpless child. Helpless. And he's telling them that's cruel. And he's trying to make them equate that to the cruelness that they're teaching him, that they're committing against him. It's such a terrible thing. He says that they are digging a pit for him. This signifies like the ultimate treachery. They're digging a pit. What do we do when we dig pits? What's the what's a pit for? To throw somebody in it.
SPEAKER_07:That's what they do. They're throwing them to the wolves.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. So he, you know, he's going like, instead of, instead of so the idea is when you when you dig a pit, it's usually to put, throw a body in it. So what Job is saying is that rather than lifting me up, you want to bury me. Exactly, Sister Linda. Instead of lifting me up, you want to bury me. That's the imagery that he's getting here. I have calamity, you want to bury me under it. You want to make this the pit that I'm already in, in my mind, you want to dig it, make it deeper. And so these are not, you know, what you're saying is not providing any remedy for me. It's not providing any comfort for me. You dig a pit and you want to make it deeper. Let me read one verse from Psalms and I'll go around to the couple of the people that got their hands up. Candy and Jeff.
SPEAKER_05:Um, I made a mistake here on my screen. I don't know how to clear this out. Hold on one second, everybody.
SPEAKER_06:All right, let me read the verse. In Isaiah, I'm sorry, in Psalm 35, verse 7, it says, For without cause they have hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. This is what he says. And this is one of the passage that I equated with with all of this. But anyway, uh Brother Jeff encouraging the servant and then candy.
SPEAKER_04:Jonathan, the deeper that we go into this and what Job's, I use the term loosely, friends, were doing, it it really makes me question the level of their friendship. Because Jonathan, I'm I'm I'm beginning to question whether or not they are really friends of Job at all. And I know we we I alluded to this last night, but they they seem more like business associates than they do friends, because so far, as we have pointed out several times, they've done zero to comfort Job. In fact, they're making it worse. And you use the term dogpiling on top of them. That's exactly what they're doing. They're digging the pit deeper and deeper and deeper. Job is screaming, babe, stop, and they just keep going. Again, I I I come to the question, Jonathan, and I'll mute my mic. What is their goal here? I mean, they are accomplishing nothing, they are producing nothing. Things are infinitely worse for Job. I'm I'm trying to get my head around what it is they think they are doing. I'm trying to get into their brain. I mean, that I know they think he's guilty of some sin, but Job has said enough here, I think, Jonathan, for them to begin to question. Uh, wait a minute, we may have been wrong about what has happened with Job. This may have happened through no fault of his. But they will find that out later. But right now, it's just it just boggles my mind that Job is having to deal with this on the level that we're learning that he's dealing with this.
SPEAKER_06:Right. Absolutely. Uh go ahead, Candy. Uh what are you gonna say?
SPEAKER_07:I mean, it it goes back to it goes back to Jesus. They're a Judas. They're a Judas, they're what they're right there with him up until the moment that the truth matters, and the truth can be staring you in the face, you can be hearing it all day long. Right. And what do you do with it? You cast it to the wolves, you throw it, you put it on a cross, and you sacrifice it for what purpose?
SPEAKER_06:Right.
SPEAKER_07:Because the the the enemies on your shoulder whispering in your ear and you're weak. That's why Jesus tells us to pray for them.
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_07:Don't hate them. Pray for them and love them, anyways.
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_07:Good to those who are bad to us. Let them feel ashamed for their own behavior.
SPEAKER_06:Right. So look at look at verse uh 28. Um I'm hopefully, hopefully, I'll be able to get through um the last three verses before I close because I don't want to start with one verse to get through and let tomorrow. So I'm gonna try to get through these last three verses. Verse 28, Job says, Now therefore, be content. Look upon me. For it is evident, it will be evident unto you if I lie. And he goes on to say in verse 29, return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity. Return again, my righteousness is in it. In the last verse, is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things. So let's look at verse 28 for a second. He says, Be content, look upon me. It is evident, it will be evident unto you if I lie. And I like this because Job is saying, listen, he's trying to appeal to their inward parts. You know, he's trying to get them to look inside. He's saying, he's saying, what he's saying now is have a heart. Have a heart. Okay? And he says, and he says, he offers them to examine himself so that they can try to find a way to be fair with him rather than be suspicious. He's he's trying to appeal to the conscience. It's sort of like, you know what, you you guys, you know how we rolled in the past. Give me a break. Just just he's like, is it possible that what I'm telling you is true? Is it possible? And he's trying to appeal to their conscience. He's not trying to hide anything. They think he is, but what he's saying is that if I were lying, he says, he's he said, if I were lying, it would be all over my face. You can tell. Every one of us here knows that there's somebody who is close enough to us that if they lie, we know it. Especially a mother knowing their kids. You know when they when they can't, no matter what they try to do, when they lie, we know. And that's what Job is appealing to. He's going, examine me. Because you will, you know me well enough. You will know if I'm lying. If you are, if you put if you put out something to me that that has the even the slightest monicum of truth to it, if I try to deny what is true, you're going to know it. You're going to know. It will be apparent. It'll be all on my face, and I won't be able to hide it. He said, He's telling them, and he's appealing to their own intellect. He's saying, listen, he goes, Don't, don't, don't make a wholesale assumption about me. Don't do that. But you speak as those who have who have made observations in the past. You speak of those who've had experiences that we can attribute to wisdom. He's asking them, use that with me. I've used it and exercised it with people in my community, wherever he he lived and influenced people. You've done it where you guys come from. He's asking, use that with me. What would you tell somebody else? What would you tell somebody else? Talk to me as you would talk to one of those. Unless they talk to them the way they're talking to Joe. We don't know. We don't know a whole lot about them. But what he's saying in effect is this. Search me. Check me out. Check me out. And if you do so, I am of the opinion that you're gonna find that I'm being honest. I'm being honest. I'm not being deceitful. If I were not, if I'm not honest, if I'm being deceitful, you're going to know. You are men of experience, you observe these things in other people, you're gonna know it with me as well. And so he is he is showing them how confident he is that that that their accusations have no foundation and no merit at all. That's what he's that's that's what he's he's saying. But he says, I'm gonna be silent. I'm gonna be silent. Verse 29, return, I pray, let it not be iniquity. Let it not be iniquity. Return again, my righteousness is in it. He's asking them, he's saying basically, give me a second chance. Reconsider your position. Rethink this. Rethink it. In other words, your position was that I did something wrong. He's asking them and appealing to them, reconsider that position. Again, is it possible that you got it wrong? Is it possible? Because even if it is possible that you got it wrong, then I deserve to have that consideration affect me and have you view me differently. Take away that charge that you have against me, whether it be mentally or whether it be outward, withdraw that charge. Examine me and see if what I'm saying is true. Again, you're going to know. Please rethink the situation. Because it's not going to be until we do, you do do that, that we're going to start going somewhere. We're going to start getting somewhere with this. So he's asking them to take another review. Take another stab at this. Look at me once more. Try to see me different. And I hope that if you do so, when you make that examination, you will find out what I'm saying is true. And let's be frustrated together. You're my friends. All he's asking for is a second look so that they can take advantage of the possibility that what he is saying is honest. Is honest. Now we know that when Christ was here on earth, that people rejected him. We know we know that people reject Christ today. And when you reject Christ, like these men are rejecting Job, you are judging Christ. You are falsely accusing Christ. When you reject Christ, you are condemning Christ. When you reject Christ, you are deriding Christ. When you reject Christ, you are promoting suspicions about him, who he is, and what he did. This is what everyone who is rejecting Christ is doing. They are saying, you are not the Messiah. You did not die for my sins. You are not the Son of God. You cannot save men from their souls. You are not taking people to heaven. Your cross was worthless and it did nothing. You are just a dead man on the cross. You've done nothing for me. This is what everyone who is rejecting Christ is doing and saying. And they will be held accountable for that. Verse 30. Is there iniquity in my tongue? Is what Job is asking. Cannot my taste discern perverse things. So Job closes out this chapter by saying that he is capable of discerning the truth. If you bring me some truth, I will recognize it for what it is. In other words, when you tell me something, or I say something to you, and I'm not honest, you're gonna know that I'm lying. You're gonna be able to know it will be evident to you. But if you tell me the truth, I too am also going to be able to discern and acknowledge the moral truth that you present before me. Whatever violation against the most high that I have leveled, you will be able, I will be able to know that. I just want you to tell me what it is. So he is saying, I'm not deliberately harboring sin. I'm not doing that. I'm not a corrupt human being. I can tell what is perverse. I can tell basically, he's saying, I know the difference between right and wrong, and I'm willing to admit it if you show me what I did that was wrong. And he denies the charge that he is speaking wickedly and that any wicked speaking that they think he's doing that is not coming from a wicked heart. This is what he's doing. In Psalm 45, verse 2, it says about Christ, you are fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore, God has blessed you forever. And this was a verse when I that I related to this passage, verse 30, where he says, When Job says, Is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things. And the psalmist says about Christ that he is fairer than the children of men. And and I love this verse. Grace is poured into his lips. Therefore, God has blessed thee forever. We know that in the beginning of this book, what God said about Job, he's perfect, upright, shoes evil, fears God. And Job is asking these guys to point out the error of his ways, and he will be corrected because he can tell. And he says, and he's saying, there is no iniquity on my tongue. He's asking the question in a rhetorical sense. Because the response demands an emphatic negativity. Negative. No, there is no iniquity on my tongue, and my tongue can discern perverse things. But he says that's not the case. For the same reason that we read in Psalm 45, too about the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is poured into his lips. With that, I will give everyone their last word before we close tonight. And I'm sorry if I felt if it seemed like I rushed it. I think that part of it, me rushing it, had to do with my little diatribe a little earlier, but I think it needed to be said for the benefit of everyone and for your edification, if you will take it that way. But what I want to do is I want to give everybody their last word tonight before we close on this section of Job. And the next session will be beginning Job chapter 7. And there's about 21 verses there before we hear Bildad speak in chat in Job chapter 8. So, Brother Lucky, I'll call on you first for your last word, brother.
SPEAKER_03:Um yeah, my mind is still stuck in the same place of this is just the enemy using them to poke the Stick at him still, like he's still just trying to get him to curse God and die. Like the same thing the wife said, like, I yeah, just curse God and die. Like he's still on the first chapter, and he's like, Look, I did all this physical stuff. Now I gotta get he went from the ground game and he changed his tactics. Now he's using the the uh the air force pretty much.
SPEAKER_06:Amen, brother. I appreciate that. Uh Sister Lisa, last word.
SPEAKER_02:Ooh, well, I was just gonna say I agree with with Lucky. Um, you know, in our own lives, if you think about it, um the devil uses people to come at us sometimes, even the ones we love. You know, I'm looking at what happened with um Job's wife. And these are, you know, they came there, and I keep going back to that. And I know Brother Jeffrey thinks these guys are horrible people. Um, they do seem that way, but they came, I I believe, originally with the right intention. And I I agree with everything you said earlier, Jonathan, about it was when Job, you know, started the conversation, you know, something clicked. And I think that was the prompting of Satan, you know, going, oh, you know, the accuser, who who accuses us before before God? Um so you know, I I agree 100%, and I'm I'm looking forward to continuing. Man, this is so good. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_06:It's such a great book, sister. Appreciate you being here as always. Uh, Sister Candy, last word.
SPEAKER_07:Man, truth is what it is, like it, love it, or leave it. It can look you dead in the face, and you can still call it a liar. So voila, I can tell you the truth, and you're still gonna accuse me of being a lie. Many years ago I learned that, and it's crazy, but it's so true. And you can be so genuine and not even realize that they don't, it's not even perceived as genuineness. So all I'm gonna say is is when we read the Bible, y'all, we're reading stories of other people. But this is the word that this is the word of God given to us to reflect on our life lived in this world and how we're perceived through the grace of God, and he says, We will be known by our fruits. I say fruits, y'all heard the ass. I'm sorry, it's a fruit, and through that one fruit is many fruits. There's many fruit trees that are grown, and that's the beautiful part about the body of Christ is it's made up of many members, many fruits. Where I fall short, Jonathan, you pick up where you fall short and I fall short, Meg, you pick up. Where we fall short, Lisa, you pick up. We all go through things and experience, and this is what Job's friends lacked the consideration and understanding. They didn't, they that's one thing about the body of Christ. We all experience different things so that we can be of comfort to others as a blessing of their cries out and prayers to the Lord Jesus Christ for his help. And all I'm saying is, man, don't be that tunnel vision and see it. This is what it is, this is what it is. Don't be that gung whole self. Sorry, y'all know where I'm going with that, but at the same time, seek God first, seek his face forevermore. Seek him, ask, ask him to to let you feel for things that he feels. And I promise you, you will cry over probably like a fly getting killed. Because he doesn't like he doesn't like evil, he doesn't like death, he doesn't like none of that. That's why he one sacrifice for all, and the most precious one of all. And with that being said, okay, yeah, I'm a little emotional right now, but I love y'all.
SPEAKER_06:That's all right, sister.
SPEAKER_07:Have a good night.
SPEAKER_05:That's all right. That's all right, Candy. That's all right. That's all right, Sister May, last word.
SPEAKER_08:You took my place tonight. Because I'm always emotional in these things. Um I I have one verse and I I just want to kind of go into it a little bit, but it's Proverbs 18, 13. It says, He that answereth a matter before he heareth it. It is folly and shame unto him. And if I could give one verse for this whole chapter, that would be it. And and I wanna, it's when it says he that answereth a matter, like think about this to respond, to give a verdict, right? It's not it's not casual conversation that Job and his friends were having. It it's referring in this verse to rendering a conclusion before they even got the opportunity to sit here and really listen to Job. And so they didn't hear him. So a couple things that I learned from this verse true wisdom requires patience. We have to be patient with people when we're when we're talking to them. And judgment without knowledge, think about that. That's like morally not good of a person to do. To to to have judgment with with before knowing what's really going on. I mean, man, I've been guilty of that myself. But the the biggest thing I think I got from this is and this whole chapter was you cannot comfort people you refuse to understand. And these people didn't, it seems like they didn't want to understand. They wanted to get out. I mean, Eliphaz wanted to get out everything that he wanted to get out, and refused to understand Job. Good point. So, you know, I think that in my own time and reflecting on this, it's like sometimes we just need to take a step back in whatever we're doing and really try to understand. I think the world lacks a lot of compassion and a lot of empathy in today's world. And if we could be those people who are the lovers of Christ, I think that just like Jesus comforted people but understood them because he knew the hearts of all men, I think that we need to put ourselves in a position to do the very same thing that Jesus did was sit with those people who he did know the hearts of. But likewise, in our case, we need to understand people and not speak wrongly. So that's all I just wanted to say. And um, yeah, the world lacks that nowadays. So glory to God. Love y'all.
SPEAKER_06:All right, good word, sister. Brother Canaan. Last word.
SPEAKER_01:Hello, good evening, brothers and sisters. I have a few verses to read with a little bit of side note. Um, 2 Corinthians 12 7 through 10. Uh, because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations for this reason to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger to Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might lead me, and he has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I delight in weaknesses and insults and distresses and distresses and persecutions and difficulties in behalf of Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong. And so, brothers and sisters, I would just like to remind everyone that we should be expectant of these things, the persecutions, the distressing situations, the difficulties, the insults, and all these different things, but that through these things we are sanctified, we are blessed, we are able to grow. And so, just as Job went through a great ordeal of sanctification during this time, so we should be expectant uh through our daily lives uh as we follow Christ.
SPEAKER_06:Amen, brother. Absolutely. Uh brother uh Jeff, man of God. Go ahead, brother. Last word. He stepped out, Jonathan. All right. Uh Sister Mariah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00:I just want to say what a great study that it's it's all it's always a great study because it's the word of God. Um, but I was meditating on what you asked us y the other day about how can we find similarities in Job and Christ. And um the biggest one that resonated with me and I just kept meditating on was um suffering, you know, and it just reminded me of the verse that you know, whether one suffers, all of the body suffers with it. And where one is honored, the whole body rejoices. And so I I'm I'm so glad and thankful that although Christ had to suffer, that we get to share in his sufferings, and I know that this is before Christ had come, but it still doesn't negate that the fact that they too being saved by the faith and and of God that they would too have to suffer. And so I just find it so beautiful. Um, and want to thank you for pushing us to again see Christ and everything because that's what it's all about.
SPEAKER_05:Right. Amen, sister. Good word there. Appreciate that.
SPEAKER_06:You know, to add to that, the it it think of think of how weird this paradox is. You know, most people look at Job and they will say, I would never want to go through that. Or they will they will um look at how they went through it or whatever, and never want to do that again. No one wants to be in that situation. Job didn't want to be in that situation. But we're supposed to take glory and comfort in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered an affliction that he went through, which is far more severe, and far more severe because of the quality of his person, being the Son of God. But we're supposed to be thankful for his sufferings, and we think about it to the world, that doesn't make sense. That makes no sense to be glad that someone suffered. But we are we're glad that our our Lord suffered for us. We're thankful, we're grateful, and we have to recognize that without his suffering, without his suffering, there is no salvation for any of us.
SPEAKER_08:Amen, brother.
SPEAKER_06:No suffering. Without that, no way to heaven, no way to glory. Sister Lisa, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:No, I I've gone already.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, you did? Okay. And uh, Brother Jeff, encourage your servant. Go ahead, brother. Close this out last word and then close this out.
SPEAKER_04:Alrighty. Well, Jonathan, as always, you hit it out of the ballpark again tonight. But uh I want to say thank you to you, Jonathan, for this incredible teaching tonight and also say thank you to everybody uh who was a part of the panel tonight. All of you uh contributed something uh incredibly profound and wise, and we're all better for it. So tonight, everybody, I would encourage you and ask you how are you going to use your sharpened sword tomorrow to serve God and serve others? We've been given more wisdom tonight. Now we all have to apply it individually to our lives. So there's the challenge for us to take what we've been given tonight and find a way to incorporate it into our lives and then go out and share with people who Christ is and how much he suffered for us. Because, like Jonathan just said, without that, we're doomed. But because he was willing to suffer, we live. He died and we live. Hallelujah. Father, we just thank you tonight for the opportunity to be here and to receive the teaching that you have given us. Lord, we ask that you would give us the knowledge and the wisdom, Lord, to go out tomorrow and the courage and conviction to go out and use it tomorrow to bring glory and honor to you, to be salt and light to a world that is in desperate need of both. And Lord, the darker this world gets, the brighter our light can shine. Thank you. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it's difficult, yes, we risk rejection and hatred from everybody who doesn't want to hear what we have to say. But Lord, that's no reason or excuse for us to stop doing it. We can't. You've commanded us, Lord, take this message into the world and preach it, whether they want to hear it or not. So, Lord, lay that conviction on our hearts and remind us often that's what we're here to do. Whether people want to hear it or not, we're to do it anyway. If they call us names, so what? If they tell us we're bad people, so what? Father, we have you walking with us. That's all the consolation we need. There's the victory right there. Lord, you said that when we are insulted or impugned for your glory to rejoice and be exceeding glad, because great is your reward in heaven. Let's all start laying up rewards. Oh, Father, thank you tonight for this incredible group. Bring us all back tomorrow night. Give Jonathan more words to challenge us, to provoke us and persuade us, Lord, because that's what we want. We just thank you now, Father, for your love tonight. Bless every single one in the panel, everyone who had a chance to contribute in the scroll below. And Father, I thank you for all those that we touched. We don't even know anything about. We ask all this now in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus. Hallelujah and amen.
SPEAKER_02:Amen. Amen.
SPEAKER_00:That being said, be coat and be persuaded.
SPEAKER_09:We're growing like weeds, but we're weed. Every single one of you with a name of Jesus. I'm gonna be a joke free. Repeat. Repeat. I have to say, we are all so serious during this whole study.
SPEAKER_08:I love to laugh at the end because we we're all very serious about the word of God. It's good to get a little laugh before we get it.
SPEAKER_04:Well, at least I'll take it a step further. Yeah, I say it's almost essential. Because when we leave, when we leave with a smile on our face and a laughter in our hearts, it helps us to embrace what Jonathan has shared with us and given us tonight.
SPEAKER_07:Oh, it's a lot of emotion in our hearts, and you're speaking on based off of what we experience and what we hear.
SPEAKER_09:I am Queen Goofball. Like, if y'all ever meet me in person, I will have y'all rolling.
SPEAKER_04:It it's just we are going to meet you this summer. Yes, we are. I got on the calendar. And if you don't be there, I'm gonna come drive down to Houston and get you and Latham myself and drag you up here if I have to, okay?
SPEAKER_09:No, we're we're going to. We've already put it on the calendar. All right. So be provoked, be persuaded. Everybody can be.
SPEAKER_07:And if you're not provoked, then be persuaded. And if you're not persuaded, then be provoked.
SPEAKER_04:Is that a work? And encourage and serve somebody tomorrow, okay?
SPEAKER_07:Do you see what your your motto is has done to us? It has corrupted us. But for the good shirts.
SPEAKER_09:We do we need first part.
SPEAKER_04:We all need to get shirts and hats. It says be provoked, be prevented.
SPEAKER_07:You need to let us know how much it costs and post it in the post, wherever it is, whatever group.
SPEAKER_04:I will look into it.
SPEAKER_07:Hey, could you let us know what we need to do? Could you imagine how we can rock it?
SPEAKER_09:Because I will be able to imagine how many people would take Jonathan seriously if he started his post off with Christian.
SPEAKER_07:With all due respect, have you ever seen a dark man turn red? Look at him. He's not even Indian.
SPEAKER_09:And then you're like, he's not even Indian. Hello you guys.
SPEAKER_07:How do you deal with this man?