Author Archive: joe

That could well have been Elihu's loud cry in the preceding chapters, but as he continues in chapters 36 and 37, his words cut! They reach down to the common denominator that man is not in charge. We are just caretakers. What we have is not a right but a gift. What we are is not because of what we have done, but because of what He allows.

Elihu seems to have seen through the words that flowed back and forth between Job and his friends. The "old guys" had rambled on and on, and the kid reminds them again and again that they had turned into windbags. Almost as though "you were talking just to hear yourself talk – you weren't really saying anything!"

One of the things that Elihu makes clear is that God can only act justly – He cannot do anything else, because He IS a god of justice and righteousness. He urges Job to understand that yelling at and about God won't get an answer. Elihu's words must have weighed heavily when he said "He has the case, and you (Job) have to wait for Him to answer! Stop babbling on Job, because by doing that you make it look like you don't know what you are talking about."

For all his youth, or the fact that he was so much younger than Job, Elipahz, Bildad and Zophar, Elihu must have listened well to some wise old men. His vision of who God is and what He can do has to be the result of his listening well. Here is the student, so to speak, teaching the teachers. It many ways, it was throwing their words back at them. While Job and Company carried on about many things, it was apparent to Elihu that they were missing the heart of the matter.

One of the challenges he lays down is in chapter 36 where he capsulizes the very power of God as a reminder that "we are not so much." In effect, he says "He has done a lot of things – remember? Can you tell how old God is, or where He will make it rain? Can you explain how the clouds work or how seeds sprout into food? Why aren't you able to explain how His lightning strikes and where? We can't get our head around it, so why are we sitting here blaming Him for what is happening?"

Then comes 37:13 where Elihu says "Whatever happens, whether it is to fix something, or for His world, or just because He loves us, He causes it to happen." BAM! It's as though he has hit the four old guys across the head with the very book they told him in his youth to read and remember. He was repeating their lessons back to them. He was reminding them of "Who's in charge."

You can read it for yourself in chapter 37, but in the end of his words, Elihu repeats his message. "God will not destroy (do violence or make a mockery of) justice and all His righteousness."

The message from Elihu over and over is that God cannot do anything but love us and deal with us according to His plan of justice. His laws have not changed – they are not subject to interpretation. His justice is not "living", but set. God will not deal with us in different ways, for to do so would mean there is no justice.

Our God IS an awesome God!

Elihu wasn't finished. More like he was just getting warmed up to the challenge of pointing out the error of his "elders" words.

Remember, because of his age, he held back and let the older and wiser men speak, and then Job gave his rebuttal and they answered back. Here comes this young man who may not have had the years, but his truth quickly cut through the misinformation the old guys gave.

Here is something to which I can relate. While in general it can be said that "the older one is, the more one knows." But, the truth of the matter is that a really wise older person knows when they don't know, and consequently knows when to shutup and listen. Listening is the hard part, because all of us get set in our ways – young and old. Being set in our ways keeps us from hearing the truth.

The problem is that we get hung up on thinking we know more than the person talking, [more]and so we do not listen and actually think about what they are saying. It's not that Job was not listening, but that all that had been said up to this point was trashing or questioning God.

Elihu in these five chapters (32-37) makes it clear that the real issue was not that God was punishing Job, but rather that we (Job and his friends) don't have any right to question what God does.

Elihu's points probably sounded like fingernails on a chalk board to Job, Bildad, Eliphaz and Zophar
[html]<ul><li>God does not do wickedness (34:10)</li>
<li>God will not prevert justice (34:12)</li>
<li>He cannot rule and hate justice (34:17)</li>
<li>Our righteousness is never more than God's (35:2 & 7)</li></ul>[/html]
As Elihu speaks in chapter 35, we see the might and power he attributes to God. His words are a reminder to Job and Company that God is in control, even if we don't want to acknowledge it. Elihu reminds us (even though he was speaking to them) that pride keeps us from hearing what God is saying to us or seeing what God has put in front of us. When we reach the point that we think we know more than God and want to order our own lives, then we are really in for trouble.

At the end of chapter 35, the Kid strikes with swiftness as he says "Job did not have anything to say – he just babbled words on and on. He talked about what he knew nothing about! A big fat waste of energy!"

Maybe the words of the Psalmist work better…"Let the words that I say and what I think about a lot be something that will make you happy God, for You are the rock upon which I want to set my life and You have redeemed me." (Psalm 19:14)

Job did a very good job of rebuking his friends. Friends who did not really have any answers, but still, they spoke. Their "words" of wisdom, though many, did not move Job to confess or accept responsibility for anything that had happened to him. If anything, it confirmed for Job that something else was going on, but poor Job did not know what.

The friends should have been there to bring some comfort or support. They definitely did not do that.

They had all had their turns speaking, and Job rebutted each argument or scenario. And still there were no answers. Job's protests [more]that he had done nothing wrong seemed to fall on deaf ears.

And then the kid stood up!

No one knows how old Elihu was, but in his own words he says "I let you guys speak because you are way older than me. (32:6)" It was his sense that because of his lack of years and experiences, he should let the older people speak, because they might bring some wisdom to the subject at hand.

After listening for what must have been hours, Elihu came to the conclusion that "old people might not be wise or understand what justice really is". He hits them up side the head with a "You talked but did not say anything. For all you had to say, none of you could refute Job."

Sort of points out how even today, we talk, but the words mean nothing. We verbally wrestle with family, friends and co-workers, but our words are meaningless. Without the real picture of what is going on, we babble about what we think. Our "wisdom" is based upon false or incomplete theories or information.

My Pastor gave us a challenge a couple of weeks back from the book of James. The challenge was to read the Word. But more than that, the challenge was to "DO" the Word. You see, it's not enough for us to memorize or shout platitudes. It's what we do with what we know. Our experiences should make us different people – they should make us do things a different way. Knowing what the Bible says and doing what the Bible says are two different things.

Job's friends had words, but they were stymied. They had no answers for Job, but they wanted to be heard. It's as though they felt that the more they talked, the wiser ther were.

Elihu captures the essence of the matter when he says "Lemme tell you guys something, what you are doin' an saying ain't right, and the reason is simple. God is greater that any man, so stop trying to make Him explain Himself! (33:12 my translation)

What do you expect from God? More than that, what does God expect from you?