So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes.
Then Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite of the family of Ram, burned with anger.
He burned with anger at Job because he justifies himself rather than God.
He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer,
although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.
Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he.
And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.
And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said,
I am young in years, and you are aged.
Therefore, I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.
But now hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words.
You say, I am pure without transgression.
I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.
Behold, he finds occasions against me.
He counts me as his enemy.
He puts my feet in the stalks and watches all my paths.
Behold, in this you are not right.
I will answer you, for God is greater than men.
Why do you contend against him, saying,
He will answer none of man's words?
For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.
Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times with a man,
to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.
Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding.
Far be it from God that he should do wickedness,
and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
For according to the work of a man, he will repay him,
and according to his ways, he will make it befall him.
Of a truth God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
Shall one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
who saith to a king, worthless one, and to nobles, wicked men,
who shows no partiality to princes,
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?
When he is quiet, who can condemn?
When he hides his face, who can behold him,
whether it be a nation or a man?
For has anyone said to God,
I have borne punishment, I will not offend anymore.
Teach me what I do not see.
If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more.
Will he then make repayment to suit you because you rejected?
And Elihu answered and said,
Do you think this to be just?
Do you say,
It is my right before God that you ask,
What advantage have I?
How am I better off than if I had sinned?
Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
nor does the Almighty regard it.
How much less when you say that you do not see him,
that the case is before him,
and you are waiting for him.
And now, because his anger does not punish,
and he does not take much note of transgression,
Job opens his mouth in empty talk.
He multiplies words without knowledge.
God thunders wondrously with his voice.
He does great things that we cannot comprehend,
whether for correction or for his land,
or for love.
He causes it to happen.
Hear this, O Job.
Stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
Out of the north comes golden splendor.
God is clothed with awesome majesty.
The Almighty, we cannot find him.
He is great in power.
Justice and abundant righteousness,
he will not violate.
Therefore, men fear him.
He does not regard any who are wise
in their own conceit.
This is the word of God.
Let's try this and see if this works.
Thank you, Anastasia.
That was a long and difficult reading,
and if you feel like I don't have a clue
what is going on, that's okay.
A couple of reasons for that.
One, Job is a difficult book
to understand and comprehend.
The second reason is
these chapters are very difficult,
and so on Wednesday,
when I needed to give the scripture reading
to the office to print the bulletins,
I was still trying to work out
what on earth was going on,
and so there's a whole lot there,
and subsequently,
between Wednesday and Saturday,
I found out a whole lot more,
and so that was a long, difficult passage.
Anastasia, thanks for reading it for us.
Guys, let's see if we can make sense of this,
but maybe before we do that,
why don't you join me in prayer?
Let's pray together,
and just ask God to speak to us.
So, Heavenly Fathers,
we come before you this morning.
We pray that you will speak to us.
We pray, God,
that we will understand more of who you are.
We will see you, behold you,
and it will result in us adoring you.
Jesus, come and have your way, I pray,
in your powerful name.
Amen.
Friends, let me start asking you a question.
Have you ever suffered terribly?
Maybe lost a loved one?
Been unfairly treated at work?
Been the victim of some traumatic experience?
And when you went through that,
where was God?
How did God speak to you at that time?
Was He silent?
Did He explain Himself?
Did He answer your questions
or explain His actions?
Did He help you to see the bigger picture
of what He's doing?
Friends, have you ever found yourself
in a place of desperation,
only to feel like,
not only has God removed His hand from you,
but He's turned His face away
and is now silent?
I ask you these questions
because that's the place
that Job finds himself once again.
And if you're new to church
or new to Watermark,
we're working through this
very difficult book of the Old Testament
called Job.
For seven weeks,
we're in week five,
I think it is,
and so we're almost coming to the end.
It's an exceedingly different book,
a difficult book of the Bible.
And in it,
this righteous and good man
called Job,
He's described as God-fearing
and righteous man,
blameless in all His conduct.
He suffers terribly.
In one day,
everything that He has
is taken from Him.
His possessions,
His wealth,
His status in the community,
but most painfully,
even His children,
in one day,
everything is taken away from Him.
And to make matters even worse,
He is inflicted
with a terrible skin disease,
and He is really brought
to the end of Himself.
And Job doesn't know
why any of this is happening.
We know,
the Bible tells us,
but Job doesn't know.
It's because God and Satan
have had a conversation.
And God has allowed Satan
to do this to Him.
And Job then gets
these three lousy friends
that come to Him.
They come to comfort and console Him,
but they do the very opposite.
They don't comfort Him,
they just condemn Him.
And they say to Him,
Job,
this is divine retribution.
We know that you seem
to be an honest,
a good man,
but there must be
some wickedness
that you've done.
God is punishing you
for something
that you've done wrong.
And Job goes back
and says,
it's not true.
I haven't done anything.
And so for 24 long chapters,
there's this back and forth
between Job and his friends.
They say,
you're guilty.
He says,
I'm not.
And they debate Job's goodness
versus God's goodness,
Job's righteousness
versus God's justice.
And Job's friends say,
God is just.
You must be a wicked sinner.
And Job says,
I'm innocent of what you say.
God is the one
who's being unjust.
And then finally,
in chapters 29 to 30,
Job gives his final speech
and he pours out his heart to God.
And he says,
I haven't done anything wrong.
I'm not perfect,
but I haven't defrauded anyone.
I haven't cheated on my wife.
I haven't stolen anything.
I haven't treated the poor unfairly.
I haven't worshipped a foreign God.
And then ultimately he says,
all I want is the friendship of God.
He says,
oh,
that I were as the days of old
when the friendship of the Lord
was upon my tent.
Oh,
that God would hear me
and answer me.
And so he pours out his heart
and he lifts his eyes to heaven
and he says,
God,
what are you going to say?
God,
are you going to answer me?
Or are you just going to stay silent?
Friends,
have you ever felt like that?
Well,
what happens next in the book of Job
is that God doesn't answer him.
Not immediately.
He sends a messenger
and he sends a rather difficult messenger
because he sends a rather brash,
self-confident young man
called Elihu.
And that's what Anastasia read to us this morning.
In many ways,
it's disappointing.
Job pours out his heart
and he says,
God,
where are you?
What are you going to say?
And God,
rather than answering him,
sends him Elihu.
Friends,
I wonder if you can relate to that.
Have you ever felt desperate for God?
Desperate for a sign from above?
God,
are you hearing my cries?
Are you paying attention to me?
And all God does is
give you a Bible.
Or maybe an awkward CG member.
Or a difficult church member.
Or maybe a brash pastor.
The kind of person you don't want to speak to
at that point of time.
Can you relate to that?
Well, that's what Job gets here.
And so having called upon God,
God instead sends him Elihu.
And so look at what happens in chapter 32.
If you've got your bulletin,
you're going to need to follow on.
And maybe if you've got a Bible,
open up.
We're going to be jumping around quite a bit.
But it says,
Elihu,
the son of this guy,
he burned with anger.
He burned with anger at Job
because Job justified himself
rather than God.
He burned with anger also
at Job's three friends
because they found no answer,
although they declared Job
to be in the wrong.
Now Elihu waited to speak to Job
because they were all older than him.
And so he says,
I am young and you are aged.
Therefore,
I was timid and afraid.
You see,
he's a good Asian, right?
He lets the older people speak first
and he knows his place.
He says,
I was a timid and afraid
to declare my opinion,
but now hear my speech,
oh Job.
Listen to my words.
And so this is Elihu
and he comes to speak
and he has a message for Job.
Now commentators,
scholars go back and forth
whether Elihu is somebody
that we should pay attention to
and listen to
or whether he's just like
the other friends
and we should write him off.
And I went back and forth
on this this week.
At the beginning of the week,
I thought,
no, Elihu,
he's just like the other guys.
He's got nothing good to say.
But as I studied it,
actually,
I thought,
no,
actually,
Elihu's got a lot to say
and maybe we should listen to him.
And so this is what Elihu says.
Essentially,
he answers Job
by challenging Job's thinking
about God
and challenging Job's hard attitude
towards God.
Okay?
So Job says this,
God is silent.
He doesn't answer me.
And Elihu says,
no,
God's speaking in a thousand ways,
but your hard heart
is making you deaf
to his voice.
Okay?
Job says,
God is unjust.
He allows bad things
to happen to good people.
And Elihu says,
no,
God is not unjust,
but his justice
doesn't operate
in the timing
or the manner
that you want.
And Job shakes his fist
at the heavens
and he says,
what's the point
in being good
when God abandons me anyway?
And Elihu says,
God doesn't answer
those who demand
an answer from God
or try and manipulate him
with their good behavior.
He answers those
who come to him
humbly
in humility.
And the point
of Elihu's speech
is this,
Job,
it's true that maybe
your suffering
is not a direct result
of some sin
that you did
in your life.
That's what Job's
friends are saying.
But are you possibly
sinning now
in the way
that you are
handling your suffering?
That's the point.
That's why
the narrators
left these speeches
in here.
Rather than just
jumping from Job
to 38
where God speaks,
Elihu is saying,
Job,
you may not have sinned
in a way
that causes your suffering,
but are you sinning
in the way
you're handling
your suffering?
So,
Huell Jones,
the commentator,
says,
Job's friends
said that Job
was suffering
because he had sinned,
they were wrong.
Elihu challenges Job
whether he has sinned
in the way
he's handling
his suffering.
And that's the reason
why these chapters
are in here.
In other words,
here's the question
that these chapters
want to ask of us,
and this is a profound question.
Do you know
how to suffer
wisely and well?
If you live long enough,
friends,
you will suffer.
Hardship will come
to all of us.
It's just a matter
of a question
of timing.
But do you know
how to suffer well?
Do you know
how to suffer wisely?
You see,
the friends,
they come,
and ultimately
they're rebuked by God,
but they have this
very simplistic
understanding of the world.
They say,
Job,
you're going through
a hard time,
you must have done
something wrong,
right?
It's very karmic.
Very karmic,
not very Christian.
And there's this
back and forth,
and Job says,
no, I haven't,
and they said,
yes, you have,
et cetera, et cetera.
But Elihu comes along
and says,
Job,
even though you may
not have done anything
to deserve the suffering
in the first place,
how are you handling
your suffering?
In other words,
is your suffering
making you hard
and angry
and bitter
and resentful,
or is it making you
humble,
gentle,
and wise?
As Henry said
to me earlier,
is suffering
making you bitter,
or is it going
to make you
a better person?
And that's the question
that these chapters
are asking us.
As a result of our suffering,
are we hard
and angry
and bitter,
or are we gentle,
wise,
and humble?
Now,
David Paulson
and Timothy Lane
wrote a book
many years ago
called How People Change.
And one of the premises
of their book
is that one of the main ways
that God uses,
or methods that God uses
to grow us
and change us as people
is to bring hardship
and suffering
into our life.
What David Paulson
calls the heat.
Okay?
So God turns up
the heat in our lives,
and it's uncomfortable
and it's difficult,
and God uses that
to grow us
and mature us.
But the key question
is this,
when the heat
comes your way,
who is God
to you
in that point of time?
Who is God
and how do you
turn to God?
In other words,
let me give you an example.
Let's say
your marriage
is really difficult.
Marriage is hard.
And you're feeling
the heat at home.
Well,
who is God
to you
at that point of time?
Well,
one of the things
that the Bible says
is that God
is the one
who teaches us
how to lovingly
and sacrificially
lay down our lives
for our spouses
and to treasure them
and cherish them.
Not serve ourselves,
but to serve them.
We see that example
in Christ.
Well,
let's say maybe
money is really tight.
And so life is difficult
because you've got to
watch every cent.
Well,
who is God?
God is a provider.
He's promised
to take care of you.
In other words,
is that hardship
going to make you bitter
and angry and hard?
Or are you going to come
and see who God is
and relate to God
on the basis of that
and let that change you
and soften your hearts
that you become wise
and gentle
and humble?
Well,
friends,
in this passage,
Elihu
wants to show Job
who God is
and by doing so
bring Job
back from the brink
of bitterness
and resentment
and hardship
and bring him
to a place
of humility.
And he wants Job
to repent,
but more than that,
he wants to build
faith in Job
so that Job
trusts God
and relies on him.
Okay,
does that make sense?
Do you follow the logic?
What's happening?
Yes,
okay.
Okay,
do you follow the logic?
Okay,
okay,
let's see if we can
do this.
So,
who is God?
That's the question
that Elihu's asking.
Job,
you say that God
has abandoned you,
you say he's unjust,
he's silent,
he's wrong,
he's unfair,
who is he?
Well,
Elihu's going to give us
three things
about who God is
and the first thing
he says is this,
God is the God
who is not silent.
He is not silent.
Chapter 33,
verse 13,
Elihu says,
why do you contend
against him,
Job,
saying,
he answers none
of my words.
Okay,
so that's been
Job's complaint.
All this time,
Job has been
complaining.
God is silent to me.
Chapter 13,
I would speak
to the Almighty.
I want to argue
my case against him,
but he's walked
out the room.
God is nowhere
to be found.
Or chapter 31,
oh,
that I had want
to hear me,
but when I call
out to God,
he just turns
his back on me.
God is silent.
And Elihu says,
that's not true.
Look at what he says,
verse 13,
why do you contend
against him?
Saying,
he answers none
of man's words.
For God speaks
in one way,
in two,
though man does
not understand it.
Behold,
God does all
these things,
twice,
three times
with a man,
to bring back
his soul
from the pit,
that he may be
lighted with
the light of life.
Elihu says,
God is not silent,
but just because
you don't understand
what he's doing,
or don't see
what he's doing,
doesn't mean
that God
has abandoned you.
friends,
throughout scripture,
one of the things
that God says,
one of the things
that differentiates
the one true God
from false gods
and idols,
is that God
is a God
who speaks.
So Psalm 115
says,
the idols of the nations
around us,
their gods are
the work of human hands.
They have eyes,
but they do not see,
ears,
but they do not hear,
mouths,
but they cannot speak,
and they make no sound
in their throat.
The idols that we trust in,
they promise so much,
but they can't hear
our prayers,
and ultimately,
they cannot promise us
anything.
But God,
the one true God
is God who speaks,
and Elihu reminds us,
he speaks in a thousand ways,
but sometimes,
we can't perceive
his voice.
Sometimes,
God speaks through
his written word,
probably the most
comprehensive way
that he speaks.
God speaks through
his spirit in our hearts.
God speaks through
creation.
But here,
Elihu says,
sometimes God speaks
through visions
and dreams of the night.
I don't know if you've
ever had this.
I haven't had it very often,
but I have had it
from time to time.
There have been times
when I've had a dream
in the night
that's been so vivid,
so crystal clear,
I woke up in the morning
and I knew exactly
what it meant
and what God was trying
to say to me.
I'll tell you one
such instance.
I was 20 years old,
a university student
in Cape Town,
South Africa,
studying politics
and economics,
and I can still
picture it absolutely
to this day,
almost 20 years ago.
I was studying
politics and economics
in South Africa.
I had a dream one night
and in my dream,
I was in a train
railway carriage
and the carriage
was full of Chinese people
that were locked up
and imprisoned
unfairly and unjustly.
And in this dream,
somehow I had a role
to freeing these people
and letting them out
of this carriageway.
And when I woke up,
I knew absolutely
that one day
I was going to be a pastor
in Asia
to a city full
of Chinese people.
I just knew absolutely
with clarity
that that's what God
was saying.
That's what Job says.
Sometimes God,
he speaks in a thousand
different ways
and sometimes we don't
perceive them
and understand them.
Look at what Elihu
says here.
God speaks through
our guilty conscience.
Verse 16,
One of the roles
of God's Spirit
is to bring conviction
of sin,
to make us aware
of the fact
that we're on
the wrong path.
One of the ways
that God helps us
to see our own hearts.
Now one of the challenges
with this
is that we live
in a culture
that tells us
that no one can question
your version of truth
and that what feels good
must be good, right?
And so what that means
is we live in a day and age
where we suppress
our conscience
because our conscience
often tells us
this is not a good path
and yet our culture
tells us
if it feels good
it must be good.
Who's your conscience
to tell you not to do it?
No, no,
what's good for you
must be right and true.
But here our conscience
is one of the ways
that God speaks to us.
God opens the ears of men.
He warns us
by speaking to us.
Elihu says
sometimes God speaks to us
in our pain.
Verse 19
Man is rebuked
with pain on his bed
with continual strife
in his bones.
Elihu says
sometimes God allows
difficulty and hardship
to come to us
not as punishment
but as waking
as a warning
to wake us up.
God speaks in our pain
and there's a
very famous quote
by C.S. Lewis
you might know it.
Listen to what he says.
He says
I hope you can see this
The human spirit
will not even begin
to try to surrender
self-will
as long as all
seems to be well.
Error and sin
both have this
deceptive property
that the deeper
they are
the less we suspect
their existence.
They are a masked evil
but pain
is an unmasked evil
unmistakable evil.
We can rest contentedly
in our sins
but pain insists
on being attended to.
God whispers to us
in our pleasures
speaks to our consciences
but he shouts
in our pains.
It is his megaphone
to arouse
a deaf world.
And Job is struggling
because not only
is he suffering
but in his pain
he has become deaf
to God's voice.
He's unable
to hear God
speaking to him
unable to sense
God's leading
and so now he feels
the double agony
of suffering
and that God
has turned his face
away from him.
But Elihu's point is
God is not silence.
Our God is a God
who speaks
and he may not speak
in the way that you
want to hear him
or you think he ought
to speak
but God is speaking.
He has not left you.
Friends,
the most powerful way
that God spoke to us
about his commitment
and his love
is actually through
the silence of Jesus.
As Jesus was silent
before Pontius Pilate,
as Jesus was silent
before Caiaphas,
as Jesus was silently
led like a lamb
to the slaughter,
as Jesus silently
hung on the cross.
In the silence of Jesus,
God was speaking
powerfully and profoundly
of his commitment
and his love.
That though you and I
are sinners,
God has not abandoned us
and he has not
turned his face away.
Friends,
when life is hard
and it may be hard
for you this week,
when suffering
comes your way,
when you lose your job,
when a relationship
comes to an end,
when a loved one
passes away,
when a child
is diagnosed
with a rare disease,
when the doctor
phones you
and says,
the report says cancer.
Friends,
when you suffer
a miscarriage,
how are you going
to respond?
Elihu reminds us
that God is not silent
even in our pain
and sometimes
the pain
and the anger
and the disappointment
can crowd out
God's voice
and yet his voice
is the one thing
we need.
God is not silent.
Secondly,
Elihu reminds us
that God is not unjust.
Now,
in chapter 34,
Elihu addresses
Job's biggest concern
and that is that
God is simply unjust.
Job has been a God-fearing
and a blameless man.
He has loved God
and loved people
and where has it gotten him?
At a ruin.
Sorrow.
Anguish
of the severest kind.
He's lost everything
that was precious
and valuable to him.
It's been taken away
and this leaves Job
with one conclusion.
God is unjust
and not trustworthy.
The one thing Job concludes
is whoever God is
or whatever he's up to,
he's certainly not trustworthy,
not good.
And so look at how Job says this.
Earlier on,
he says,
chapter 27,
God has taken away my rights.
The Almighty has made me
bitter in soul.
Chapter 9,
Though I am in the right,
I cannot answer him.
He crushes me with a tempest.
He multiplies my wounds
without cause.
To God,
it's all the same.
He destroys both the blameless
and the wicked.
He mocks the calamity
of the innocent.
The earth is given
into the hands of the wicked
and God,
he covers the faces
of the judges.
It's a common feeling, right?
I wonder if you felt like this.
How can God allow suffering
and hardship
to come our way?
If God is good,
if God is powerful,
why does he allow evil
to happen in our world?
Why does he allow difficulty
to come our way?
Sometimes it seems
that God allows disaster
to mock the misfortune
of the innocent,
that the earth is given
into the hands of the wicked.
And Job considers that
maybe God is blind
to what's really going on.
And maybe God just can't see.
Or maybe God is influenced
by the rich and the powerful
and so he's turned a blind eye
to the poor
and the suffering.
Or maybe,
thinks Job,
God has struck a deal
with the wicked.
That he said,
listen,
if you don't cause
too much trouble for me,
I won't cause
too much trouble for you.
But look at what Elihu says.
God will not do wickedly.
The Almighty
will not pervert justice.
And then he gives
a profound argument.
He says,
who gave God charge
over the earth?
Who laid on him
the whole world?
Now,
Elihu's argument is this.
He says,
the reason you can trust God
is because God
is God.
Now,
that sounds circular.
Okay?
But listen to his argument here.
In other words,
Elihu's saying,
God's authority
of running the world
was not delegated
to him
by some higher deity.
So,
it's not that,
you know,
there's all these deities
in the sky
and the supreme deity
is dishing out
job descriptions.
And he says,
who's going to take
planet earth this month
or this millennium?
And all the gods
come say,
no,
not me.
And he says,
okay,
Yahweh,
it's your turn
to take planet earth
this millennium.
And God says,
really?
I had planet earth
last millennium.
Do I have to get them again?
Okay,
fine,
I'll take planet earth.
And he says,
if that were the case,
we can imagine
that God grumbling,
selfishly,
unjustly,
deals with us
as we don't deserve,
right?
Kind of like
some middle manager
in the company
that's given a portfolio
they don't really care about
and all they care about
is their career
and so they don't care
about treating
the people underneath
them fairly or justly.
All they're thinking about
is their own interests.
And I says,
but that's not God.
God is the designer
and the architect
and the creator
of the world.
This world is his world.
He is the supreme being.
And he's not looking
after the world
begrudgingly
because somebody
gave him this portfolio
that he doesn't want.
This is his delight,
his creation.
He loves it.
And the fact, Job,
that you long for justice
is proof
that this God
has put justice
into the heart
of creation.
The fact that you want justice
is because God is just
and this is how he has
organized the world.
God is the one true God,
the supreme architect
and governor
and owner of the world
and his world,
he loves it.
And so look at what he says.
God is just
because it's the way
he has designed our world.
Furthermore,
he says,
Job,
you've misunderstood
God completely.
He shows no partiality.
God isn't influenced
by the powerful
and the rich.
Me,
immortals,
we're persuaded.
We influence
some powerful person
comes in
and we all say,
yes,
okay,
yes,
sir,
I'll do what you want.
But some other person
comes in
and we turn our back
at them.
But God is not like that.
Look at verse 18.
God says to the kings,
worthless one,
to a noble or a prince,
wicked man,
he shows no partiality
to princes.
He regards the rich
no more than the poor
for they are all
the work of his hands.
God is not partial
towards the rich
and the powerful
like you suppose.
Job says,
well,
maybe God,
you know,
maybe he doesn't know
all that much stuff.
Maybe he's busy
investigating my case.
So he's like a detective
in the police force
and there's some crime
and he takes a year
or two years
or three years
to kind of find out
what's going on
and Elie says,
no,
his eyes are on
all the ways of man.
He sees everything.
There is no gloom
or darkness
where evil deers
may hide.
God has no need
to consider a man further.
God knows everything
that's going on.
You see what Elie is saying?
He's saying,
God is just.
There is no darkness
that hides things from God.
He is not in the dark
wondering about
what's going on.
Maybe there's a court case
and some piece of evidence
is buried or hidden
or the defense lawyers
do a great job
of keeping it out of
not admissible into court.
But God says,
Elie says,
everything is before God.
He sees it.
But his final point here
is when bad things happen
and the righteous suffer
and we cannot tell
what God is doing,
that's not because
God is doing nothing.
In other words,
God's apparent inaction
does not contradict
his justice.
God's slowness of act
as we would like it
does not mean
he is unable to act
or unwilling to act.
It simply means
that his justice
doesn't run
on our time scale.
Friends,
have you ever felt
that God is doing nothing?
Maybe God's justice
doesn't run
on our time scale.
And so in the final summation,
Elihu reminds Job
that he is not God.
There is a God
who is omniscient
and sovereign
and on the throne
and that throne
is not occupied
by you, Job.
It's occupied
by God.
Friends,
what about you?
How are you going to respond
when things go,
don't go your way
this week?
When injustice
and unfairness
come your way?
Will you throw
your hands in the air?
Will you shake
your fist at God?
Will you tell him
that he doesn't know
how to run the world?
Elihu calls Job
and indeed calls us
to the most counter-cultural
and the most counter-intrutive
thing in the world.
Rather than pacifying Job
and patting him on the back
and says,
oh shame Job,
I'm so sorry for you.
I understand
how it must feel.
Rather than coddling Job
in his self-pity,
he calls Job
to repent
and he says,
Job,
you are not God.
You are not God.
There is a God in heaven
and it is not you
and maybe
you should trust him.
Now friends,
why do we find this so hard?
Maybe you're here this morning
and you find this offensive.
You find,
you say,
Kevin,
you're just like Elihu.
You're this brash young man
and you've got no compassion
in your heart.
Okay,
maybe that's true.
But still,
why do we find this so hard?
Why is Elihu's word so hard?
Well,
let me give us a couple of reasons.
Firstly,
I think self-justification
runs really deep
in the human heart.
Remember his words
at the beginning of chapter 32.
It says,
Elihu burnt with anger
at Job
because he justified himself.
Self-justification
runs very deep.
I find it in my own life.
Secondly,
as I mentioned earlier,
we are increasingly told
that no one can disagree
with your version
of the truth,
right?
And so,
who is Elihu?
In fact,
who is God for that matter
to tell Job
that he's wrong?
I mean,
if Job feels right,
it must be right.
And don't we feel the same?
Who is God
to call me
to repentance?
But then thirdly,
as I said,
we live in a time
in which
what feels to be true
is often deemed
or given more significance
than what may
actually be true.
And so,
we live in a time
that what feels
to be your truth
must be true.
And therefore,
if I feel God
is unjust or wrong,
that I'm right
and justified
to think like this,
then we live in a culture
that says
that must be the case.
But friends,
you see,
that's why we need
Elihu.
That's why we need
the Bible.
That's why we need
a church community
that can sometimes
tell us
what we feel
to be true
is not always
the whole truth.
That there is a God
and we can trust Him.
Friends,
God is God
and He is good.
God is God
and He is just.
God is God
and He is trustworthy.
And even when we
can't see and understand it,
He is still good.
Friends,
the only time
in the history of the world
when God really was unjust
was when He allowed
the perfect,
innocent Son of God,
Jesus Christ Himself,
the innocent man
to take upon Himself
the sins of the world
so that we who
really are guilty
can go free.
Friends,
when life looks unfair
and seems unjust,
God has not forgotten
or abandoned you.
Look to Jesus
and see what He did
and what He went through.
And so,
Elihu says,
God is not silent.
Secondly,
He is not just.
Thirdly and finally,
this will be quick,
God is not small.
Now,
it's a bit hard
to summarize
the last three chapters
very quickly,
but I encourage you
to read them.
Chapters 36 and 37,
Elihu essentially
comes to Job
and He says,
Job,
your view of God
is way too small.
And look at what He says here.
In verse 35,
chapter 35,
verse 9,
Elihu says this,
because of the multitude
of the oppressions
of people,
people cry out.
They call out for help
because of the arm
of the Almighty
that is against them.
But none says,
where is my God,
my Maker?
In other words,
Elihu says,
people often
when they come
to hardship,
they call out to God
like superstitious people
call out to their charms.
They say,
God,
I don't know who you are,
but you must be good.
You must be powerful.
Come and deliver me.
But they don't call out
in faith.
They say,
they cry out to God,
but none says,
oh my God,
my Maker,
the one that I've trusted.
Oh Lord,
I need you.
They cry out in anguish,
they cry out in pain,
but they do not cry out
in faith.
And so what does God think
of these empty cries
into the heavens?
Verse 12,
they cry out,
but he does not answer them
because of the pride
of evil men.
Surely God does not hear
an empty or deceitful cry.
The Almighty does not regard it.
In the rest of chapter 36 and 37,
Elihu reminds Job
that God is both great
and majestic
and all-knowing
and all-powerful,
but he's also gracious
and merciful.
And utterly fair
and kind.
Look at verse 5.
He says,
behold,
God is mighty,
he does not despise any.
He is mighty in strength,
but also mighty in understanding.
And so Job,
beware lest wrath
entice you into scoffing.
Don't become arrogant
and conceited
in your pain.
Verse 21,
take care, Job,
not to turn to iniquity.
Job,
don't let your suffering
lead you into sin.
Finally,
at the end,
Elihu says,
behold,
God is exalted in power.
Who will be his teacher?
Who has prescribed
his way away for him?
Or who can say to him,
you have done wrong?
Elihu says,
Job,
your view of God
is way too small
and you don't know
who he is.
And so Elihu
brings imagery
after imagery.
He says,
Job,
consider the weather.
How is snow created?
How are the weather patterns
formed?
Do you know?
Will you teach God?
Will you teach God
when it should rain
and when it should not?
Job,
you are not God.
Let God be God.
And so friends,
have you ever suffered terribly?
Have you ever lost
a loved one,
been unfairly treated,
been the victim
of some traumatic experience?
And where was God
in all of that?
Was he silent?
Did he allow the unjust
to get away with it?
Did he explain himself to you
or answer your questions?
Friends,
if you haven't experienced
suffering or a hardship yet,
it's unlikely that you won't.
There will come a time
when you experience it.
And when such tragedy
comes your way,
how will you respond?
Will you grow bitter
and angry
and hard?
Will you grow resentful
towards God?
Or will you become
withdrawn and isolated,
away from community,
will you withdraw
into yourself?
Will you become
conceited and angry
to those that are
enjoying life
and enjoying
the blessings of God?
Or friends,
will you allow,
will you open yourself
up to God?
Will you cry out to him
not in superstition
but in faith?
Will you trust him?
Will you allow
the suffering
and the sorrow
to soften you,
to humble you,
to make you a wiser,
more gentle person,
more full of faith?
Friends,
you can only do that
if you know
who God is.
He is not silent.
He is not unjust.
He is not small
and he does not respond
to manipulation.
He is the sovereign God
of all,
mighty and majestic,
but merciful
and gracious
and kind.
Let's come to him
now in prayer.
Let's pray together.
Father God,
this passage
is so challenging.
It's so provocative
and God,
it's somewhat easy
to maybe sit
through a sermon,
put up with me
for 35 minutes,
but God,
to actually live this
in the day-to-day
experience of life
on a Tuesday afternoon,
on a Wednesday morning,
on a Thursday night,
God,
when children are sick,
when marriage is hard,
when money is tight,
when things go wrong
at work,
God,
it's hard.
Won't you help us
in those times
to turn to you?
Won't you help us
to trust you?
Won't you help us
to love you?
God,
I pray,
won't you give us faith
to do that this week,
I pray,
in your good
and gracious name.