Elihu: Suffering as a Disciple Part 2 (Job 32-37)
Elihu, the Voice of Youth (32)
Elihu begins his speech with a twice repeated (once direct and once poetic) appeal to his right to speak despite his young age. In fact, he declares that he can no longer contain himself due to everything he has heard! Elihu is a good reminder that humanity—even people with a lot of tradition, knowledge, and experience—may still lack wisdom. Everyone reaches the limit of their own wisdom. Young people who are less experienced or educated may know more than elders on occasion, because wisdom comes from God and His revelation. It is not produced by us.
Punishment or Growth? (33)
Elihu’s first point is that Job and his friends are mistaken in their limited view of suffering. Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives are a way of God speaking to us. Yes, as a warning or admonition perhaps, but also as an attention grabber. God is always speaking, but we too often do not heed what He is saying. We don’t even notice! Before the days when God’s special revelation had been collected in scripture—but even still—God will speak in dreams, visions, and thoughts. But these are often overlooked as well. So, God uses the danger, peril, and evil in the world—the bad things that happen to people—to speak as well. If we will listen! God wants to save people from even greater danger and suffering that awaits them.
You are not God! (34)
Elihu goes on to point out that we are not God. It is ridiculous to accuse God of injustice by our standards because He is the standard of universal justice. God cannot be wrong because He is the definition of right. He cannot be unfair because He is the definition of fair. We only know and understand ethics and justice insofar as we understand God and the way He has created the universe. And we only know evil insofar as we comprehend God who is good. Evil is just the absence of good the way that darkness is the absence of light. And for Job to accuse God of wrongdoing is in itself sin. If he had not done wrong before (as we saw in the prologue), then he is on the verge of doing so now with his words!
Elihu begins his speech with a twice repeated (once direct and once poetic) appeal to his right to speak despite his young age. In fact, he declares that he can no longer contain himself due to everything he has heard! Elihu is a good reminder that humanity—even people with a lot of tradition, knowledge, and experience—may still lack wisdom. Everyone reaches the limit of their own wisdom. Young people who are less experienced or educated may know more than elders on occasion, because wisdom comes from God and His revelation. It is not produced by us.
Punishment or Growth? (33)
Elihu’s first point is that Job and his friends are mistaken in their limited view of suffering. Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives are a way of God speaking to us. Yes, as a warning or admonition perhaps, but also as an attention grabber. God is always speaking, but we too often do not heed what He is saying. We don’t even notice! Before the days when God’s special revelation had been collected in scripture—but even still—God will speak in dreams, visions, and thoughts. But these are often overlooked as well. So, God uses the danger, peril, and evil in the world—the bad things that happen to people—to speak as well. If we will listen! God wants to save people from even greater danger and suffering that awaits them.
You are not God! (34)
Elihu goes on to point out that we are not God. It is ridiculous to accuse God of injustice by our standards because He is the standard of universal justice. God cannot be wrong because He is the definition of right. He cannot be unfair because He is the definition of fair. We only know and understand ethics and justice insofar as we understand God and the way He has created the universe. And we only know evil insofar as we comprehend God who is good. Evil is just the absence of good the way that darkness is the absence of light. And for Job to accuse God of wrongdoing is in itself sin. If he had not done wrong before (as we saw in the prologue), then he is on the verge of doing so now with his words!
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