I Think He Gets It

A lot is communicated when Job 32 says Elihu did not speak until everyone older than him finished speaking. It communicates value to those with more life experience. It communicates listening skills that wait for everyone to finish speaking. It communicates a desire to understand Job and his three friends. It communicates great wisdom on Elihu's part. It communicates that age is no necessary indicator of wisdom, knowledge, or godliness.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Elihu is the closest to understanding God in the book to this point. Job understands God, but he definitely accuses God of many things. He genuinely thinks God made Job an enemy. The three friends obviously do not get it because, like Job, they take the sowing and reaping principle to an extreme. Elihu begins angrily because none of the older, would-be wiser gentlemen are giving God His due honor. Elihu reminds us that sowing and reaping are part of life, while God seeks to rescue from much of what we've sown! Elihu rightly observes that God isn't happy about Job's condition; He wants to rescue Job from it. However, Job didn't wait. Job complained from day one. Though he never turned against God, his complaints and mutterings accused God unwisely.

I thought the book of Job was about suffering at one point in my life. If Elihu is as wise as he seems so far, that isn't the case. The book is about grace. God let Satan wreak havoc around Job and eventually to Job. Nevertheless, God preserved Job's life. God had the rescue for Job, even when Job complained and demanded God's justice on his own terms (as Elihu pointed out). Our just God listened to the complaints and preserved Job's life anyway. (After all, if Satan sought to get Job while he was righteous, I imagine he sought to kick Job while he was down and end that life. God said, "No." That conversation in the throne room is just not recorded.) God not only had a just plan; He would use it. That would come after Job learned some valuable lessons that should teach us a thing or two. In suffering what is our response? Do we complain? If so, we're being honest. But are we demanding justice on our own terms? Are we questioning God's ability to hold us in His hands? Are we accusing Him of turning against us? In suffering are we open conduits for God's grace?