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Job's friends insist he is wicked. Why else would he be suffering? Zophar, who chirps tidbits of Truth, insists that the wicked are punished. Even though the wicked appear on top of the world, Zophar is convinced: "He shall perish forever like a whirlwind; those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?'.. His children shall be crushed with poverty, and he shall stretch out his hands toward them.. Because he knew no justice himself, he shall not be spared by his covetousness." ¹¹⁶ As he chirps, Zophar releases a tidbit of Truth; still, he does not understand how this Truth unfolds.

"With the measure with which he had measured, he shall be recompensed." ¹¹⁷ Zophar assumes that when God does not punish the wicked while they live on physical plane, he must do so after death. "All darkness is kept in store for his posterity; a blazing fire shall consume him . the heaven shall reveal his sins; and the earth avenge itself upon him. The foundations of his house shall be left bare and he shall be scourged in the day of his wrath. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him from the Highest." ¹¹⁸ This lack of understanding is the basis for humanity's gross misconceptions of God as One of wrath and punishment. When we believe in such a God, we treat our fellow human beings in the same manner. We seek revenge and punishment for those who hurt us. In doing so, we set up ourselves to be recompensed with the measure we have measured out for others.

Zophar has stumbled upon one of the universal laws. "You reap whatever you sow." ¹¹⁹ Zophar and Job believe the law, but cannot figure out how it manifests in their daily lives. Job asks, "Why do the ungodly live, and why are the mighty in power full of years?.Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them .. They say to God, 'Depart from us; for we do not desire to know thy ways.'" ¹²⁰ All of us have asked the same questions. "Why, when I try so hard to be good, do I suffer; while others, who care nothing about God, live their lives untouched by suffering?"

In his search for the answer, Job decides: "God reserves man's iniquity for his children; he pays it back to him, and he shall know it. His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall know of the wrath of the Almighty." ¹²¹ Job's explanation is as appalling as Zophar's. According to Job, God waits and punishes the children for their parents' evil ways. As if this is not bad enough, God punishes the children while the parents watch.

Job and his friends are unable to discern why good people suffer and the wicked go free. Although they have touched on Truth, they trudge on, unaware of the light on their path.

Looking back, we remember Job observing the cycles of nature and realizing that if a tree is chopped down, it will sprout and grow again. Zophar, signifying the part of us that without a Wayshower seeks hither and yon, intuits a fragment of Truth. "With the measure with which he had measured, he shall be recompensed." Truth surrounds Job and his friends; but they are not ready to behold it. We behave in the same manner when we choose to cling to our traditional beliefs rather than be open to the influx of an expanded knowledge of Truth. When we choose to accept as truth a concept of a wrathful, punishing God, we deprive ourselves of the joy and peace that comes from experiencing His love. Even today, at the dawn of the 21^st century and the New Aquarian Age, most religiously oriented people resist the truth of reincarnation as a demonstration of the grace and love of God. Their resistance erects barriers on their own pathway to attaining higher consciousness. We fail to understand that the universal law-"We reap what we sow"-applies to everyone. It is within divine order that each of us reap whatever we have sown, at the perfect time for our soul's growth. Within the span of one lifetime, the wicked are seldom ready to learn from their mistakes. We have all been wicked in prior lifetimes. To make mistakes is a part of our human evolution. It can take many incarnations before we have evolved spiritually to the point of being strong enough to reap what we have sown. The goal with the process of reincarnation is not to defeat the soul. The Karmic Board and our spiritual guides will not allow us to take on a larger karmic burden than we can successfully pay off.¹²² The objective is that we experience karmic liberation and an expanded sense of freedom and movement into the Light.

There are countless ways to pay off karmic debt. Selfless service to others is a most constructive means of eliminating our debt. A word of warning is in order: selfless service must not be confused with serving as a martyr. Anytime we play the role of martyr, there are strings attached. Selfless service expects nothing in return and stems from unconditional love. The end result may be that we are loved and appreciated by others, but it is not to be our motivational basis for serving.

Before we take on a physical body, we all choose how we desire to pay off our karmic debts. Some of us decide to reap exactly what we sowed in prior lifetimes. When we make this choice, our soul is agreeing to experience the trauma and pain that we created for others in previous incarnations. There are no innocent victims. Persons upon whom acts of violence are perpetrated, during the present incarnation, have attracted those events via the energy created by their own behavior in previous lifetimes. The soul has chosen to learn by walking in the shoes of those it harmed. In prior incarnations, Job may have stolen from others. He may have created situations in which others suffered great physical pain. He may have caused the loss of physical plane life. Whatever the reason for Job's suffering, it is an outpicturing of the electromagnetic energy field surrounding his lower self.¹²³ The universal law-"Like attracts like"-is unfolding in Job's life. Likewise, we attract into our lives whatever type of energy is lodged within our auric field.¹²⁴

The suspicion of Job's friends that he must have been wicked is not out of the realm of possibility. Job's soul may have chosen to reap, through his suffering, what he sowed in prior lifetimes. Even if this is the case, it is essential to remember that it does not render Job wicked in his present incarnation. Instead, it is more likely a signal that Job's soul has progressed to the point of being ready to transmute the karmic debt from his past. Remember, the goal is not that we be slapped down by life, but that we overcome and transmute our past. By listening to our soul and its guidance, we can intuit the reasons for the traumatic experiences in our lives. The reason is never that God inflicted the pain upon us; never that we are being punished; and never that we are unworthy of a happy, prosperous, and carefree life. The goal is that we reap what we have sown and that we do so according to the method our soul selected prior to incarnating. This elimination of negative karma from our auric field is a prerequisite to passing successfully the higher initiations and to making our ascension. It is what life on Earth is all about. The Apostle Paul taught this when he told the Romans, "All things work together for good for those who love God [The Greek New Testament uses the word God instead of Lord in this passage]"¹²⁵

The second cycle of dialogues ends with Job's growing frustration with his friends and their inability to help him understand his suffering. Job is becoming increasingly aware that our materialistic and intellectual views of life fail to provide depth of meaning to our experiences. He is learning that tidbits of Truth, without the cohesive structure offered by a Wayshower, tend not to be integrated into our daily lives. As a result, we lack the wisdom required to confront times of challenge with tranquility, understanding, and faith.

Eliphaz begins the third cycle of dialogues by attempting to castrate Job. "O man, can you converse with God; are you equal with him in wisdom?.. Behold, your wickedness is great, and there is no end to your sins. For you have taken a pledge from your brothers for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.. You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless you have broken." ¹²⁶ Remember Eliphaz, evaluating Job on the basis of his materialistic view of life, is speaking of the man whom God called righteous. We, like Eliphaz, may underestimate another person by observing only the surface behavior and life situations.

Not only does Eliphaz misjudge Job, he would have Job believe that God is separate and concealed from humanity. "Behold, God is in the height of heaven, and sees the highest of the stars that are very high.. Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that men cannot see him; and he walks upon the circle [or zodiac] of the heaven." ¹²⁷ The belief that God is separate from humanity is very destructive. Jesus taught, "the kingdom of God is within you," ¹²⁸ and referred to his human body as a temple.¹²⁹ The Apostle Paul told the Athenians, "In him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.'" ¹³⁰ Yet, many of our religious leaders continue to propagate the belief in the separation of God from the created universe, especially humanity. This belief in our separation from God leaves us wandering around in the dark, crying out to a God we are not even sure exists. It has severed our connection to the rest of the created order. Feeling disconnected from all that is renders us an island unto ourselves. No matter how hard we try to believe in the traditional religious teachings and achieve, thereby, a feeling of security within ourselves, fear pierces through our façade. We tend to adopt one of three postures. One, we live with the fear: "What if I do something that makes God angry?" Two, we attend religious gatherings, then go home and forget what we heard until the next time. Or, three, we reject a belief in God. A God separated from us is unreachable. Like Eliphaz says, "Can you converse with God; are you equal with him in wisdom?" ¹³¹ God becomes the "man in the sky" who can do anything He chooses to do. This unaccountable God is not One whom we can love with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. It is a God we either fear or dismiss as irrelevant to our lives.

Eliphaz adopts the posture of traditional religions. He encourages Job to repent and seek God's forgiveness, so he will be blessed. "If you shall repent before God, you shall be built up.. Then you shall lay up silver like dust, and the gold of Ophir as the sand of the valley."¹³²

Eliphaz is unknowingly approaching Truth. Though it is not God that withholds abundance from us, Truth does lead us into prosperity. The more closely we attune to God, the more our true divine nature manifests in our lives. The metaphysical meaning of Ophir signifies that part of self that remains after undergoing the purification by fire.¹³³ Fire assumes various forms: intense suffering, the transmuting flame, the Holy Spirit. By whatever method we have chosen to be purified, the end result is the pure gold that is our true being-a child god, made in the image and likeness of God. Eliphaz describes this individual: "For then you shall lift up your face to God. And you shall make your prayer to him, and he shall hear you, and you shall fulfill your vows. You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light shall shine upon your ways. For it is said, 'He who humbles himself shall be exalted; and he who is meek shall be saved. The innocent man shall be spared wherever he is, and he shall escape by the purity of his hands.'"¹³⁴

Eliphaz relates some of the characteristics of the Christed Consciousness. Even so, neither he nor Job grasp the true significance of his words. We, too, often hear Truth long before we can understand it. Once comprehension awakens us, we wonder how we could have been blind to Truth for so long. But for now we, and Job, continue on our journey toward enlightenment.

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"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and rely not on your own wisdom.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths." ¹³⁵

116 Job 20:7, 10, 20.

117 Job 20:22.

118 Job 20:26-29.

119 Galatians 6:7.

120 Job 21:7, 9, 14.

121 Job 21:19-20.

122 The Karmic Board is made up of Ascended Masters who incarnated on earth plane numerous times.  They understand the challenges we encounter on this plane of existence.

123 The lower self is made up of our physical, etheric, emotional, and lower mental bodies.

124 We are not, however, left helpless.  We can choose to transmute this energy with the technique of purification that is most meaningful to us.  You may find an explanation and guided meditation using the Purple Transmuting Flame on pages 116-118 of my book A New Age Christian:  My Spiritual Journey.

125 Romans 8:28.  The Apostle Paul, as a Pharisee, understood the unfolding of divine order within reincarnation.  See the chapter from my book, A New Age Christian, found on this web site and entitled "Reincarnation in the Bible" in the left hand column on my Home Page.

126 Job 22:2, 5-7, 9.

127 Job 22:12, 14.  The circle of the heaven refers to the zodiac of star constellations.  Our Sun completes (or walks through) a circle of the heavens approximately every 26,000 years.

128 Luke 17:21.

129 John 2:21.

130 Acts 17:28.

131 Job 22:2.

132 Job 22:23-24.

133 Fillmore.  Metaphysical  495.

134 Job 22:26-30.

135 Proverbs 3:5-6.