Worthless Physicians

“Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God. As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all. Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom!
Job 13:1-5
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Worthless Physicians
What good is a doctor who does not know anything about medicine?  What good is a surgeon who has no knowledge of a scalpel or how to wield it?  I dare say no one would seek them out when sick and in need of healing. They are indeed worthless physicians.  Job’s friends are like this, they do not prescribe cures out of malice but ignorance.  They simply don’t know what they are saying.  Too often this is the case.  Well-meaning Christians, confusing Law and Gospel prescribe to their friends a deadly poison of works righteousness, proclaiming what those in the synagogue in Nazareth were thinking, “Physician, heal yourself” (Luke 4:23). Yet we cannot, for when it comes to earning our salvation, we are worthless physicians unable to excise the cancer of sin which has spread though out our being.  Thankfully for us though, we do have a great Physician, one who on many occasions healed the lame and cured the sick. It is only in Christ Jesus, were we find the cure for the soul.  Just as sight was given to Bartimaeus and the centurion’s daughter was raised, the Holy Spirit has opened your eyes in faith and given you a new life in Christ.  Not one contingent upon your good works of your righteousness, but one which rest solely on the work of Christ on the cross.  For we are sick and in need of a Physician. So, “He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction” (Psalm 107:20).