Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
The charge belongs to Eliphaz in the sustained debate between Job and his three friends over the cause and purpose of human suffering, and it can only be understood as part of the whole book with Job taken as a real person. Inspiration guarantees that Eliphaz actually spoke these words, not that what he said was true or was rightly applied to Job. Statements in his speeches must therefore be tested against other inspired Scripture and must not be treated as a truthful account of Job unless supported elsewhere.
The friends reasoned from their own wisdom and observation, having never known a thoroughly good man to be so afflicted, so what they said was generally true but misapplied in Job's case. Job knew his own integrity and did not accuse God wrongly even though he could not understand God's dealings. God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself, bring comfort and hope to thousands of sufferers, and prove a blessing to Job.
To cast off fear means to set aside reverence for God, and loss of that reverence always comes before and leads to restraining prayer, so no one stops praying without first giving up reverence. To withhold prayer means to hold on to care instead of releasing it to God. The loss of reverence happens not at first intentionally or willfully but gradually and generally passively, as the cares and pleasures of life come in and the world engrosses attention to the neglect of divine things, the Spirit of God withdraws, and a carnal worldly temper sets in until reverence is entirely set aside.
Merely neglecting to cultivate reverence diligently lets Satan, the world, and corrupt inclinations do the rest, the strivings of God's Spirit are resisted by refusing to listen, and then prayer is held back so that at least the spirit of prayer is lost and only the form remains. Restraining prayer is ceasing to fight, since prayer keeps the Christian armor bright and causes Satan to tremble even at the weakest saint on his knees, so holding prayer back leaves the Christian without brightness of armor and without power against Satan. This course is dreadful and lays the foundation of lukewarmness in God's service, forming the unwitting careless path of every backslider and apostate day by day and month by month until he almost forgets God or remembers obligation to God with coldness and apathy or with regret or dislike.
That path is one of contempt and ingratitude that is Satan's work yet also a person's own work because warning was plainly given, while God's Spirit first urges the backslider to prayer as the only means of return to God. People can restrain prayer and turn from God even after being taught from childhood to pray, in contrast to the Gentile woman who sought Jesus in faith. Casting off the fear of God and restraining prayer are dangers belonging to abandonment of faith, and young people led astray by infidelity may do both.
The charge belongs to Eliphaz in the sustained debate between Job and his three friends over the cause and purpose of human suffering, and it can only be understood as part of the whole book with Job taken as a real person. Inspiration guarantees that Eliphaz actually spoke these words, not that what he said was true or was rightly applied to Job. Statements in his speeches must therefore be tested against other inspired Scripture and must not be treated as a truthful account of Job unless supported elsewhere.
The friends reasoned from their own wisdom and observation, having never known a thoroughly good man to be so afflicted, so what they said was generally true but misapplied in Job's case. Job knew his own integrity and did not accuse God wrongly even though he could not understand God's dealings. God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself, bring comfort and hope to thousands of sufferers, and prove a blessing to Job.
To cast off fear means to set aside reverence for God, and loss of that reverence always comes before and leads to restraining prayer, so no one stops praying without first giving up reverence. To withhold prayer means to hold on to care instead of releasing it to God. The loss of reverence happens not at first intentionally or willfully but gradually and generally passively, as the cares and pleasures of life come in and the world engrosses attention to the neglect of divine things, the Spirit of God withdraws, and a carnal worldly temper sets in until reverence is entirely set aside.
Merely neglecting to cultivate reverence diligently lets Satan, the world, and corrupt inclinations do the rest, the strivings of God's Spirit are resisted by refusing to listen, and then prayer is held back so that at least the spirit of prayer is lost and only the form remains. Restraining prayer is ceasing to fight, since prayer keeps the Christian armor bright and causes Satan to tremble even at the weakest saint on his knees, so holding prayer back leaves the Christian without brightness of armor and without power against Satan. This course is dreadful and lays the foundation of lukewarmness in God's service, forming the unwitting careless path of every backslider and apostate day by day and month by month until he almost forgets God or remembers obligation to God with coldness and apathy or with regret or dislike.
That path is one of contempt and ingratitude that is Satan's work yet also a person's own work because warning was plainly given, while God's Spirit first urges the backslider to prayer as the only means of return to God. People can restrain prayer and turn from God even after being taught from childhood to pray, in contrast to the Gentile woman who sought Jesus in faith. Casting off the fear of God and restraining prayer are dangers belonging to abandonment of faith, and young people led astray by infidelity may do both.