Friday, October
19, 2018
Elihu, Job’s friend, continues his
speech from yesterday, attempting to show Job the futility of arguing with God:
“Pay attention to this, Job. Stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God! Do you know how God controls the storm and causes the lightning to flash from his clouds? Do you understand how he moves the clouds with wonderful perfection and skill? When you are sweltering in your clothes and the south wind dies down and everything is still, he makes the skies reflect the heat like a bronze mirror. Can you do that? “So teach the rest of us what to say to God. We are too ignorant to make our own arguments. Should God be notified that I want to speak? Can people even speak when they are confused? We cannot look at the sun, for it shines brightly in the sky when the wind clears away the clouds. So also, golden splendor comes from the mountain of God. He is clothed in dazzling splendor. We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty; but even though he is just and righteous, he does not destroy us. No wonder people everywhere fear him. All who are wise show him reverence.” Job 37:14-24(NLT)
Yesterday, Elihu (in my humble opinion),
flirted with the border of meddling where he didn’t belong, flinging out a
defense of God’s character and behavior.
He offered the standard thinking of the day: if you’re suffering, you’ve done something
wrong, and God is justified in raking you over the coals until you get it right.
However, I believe Elihu missed
two important points:
a.
He wasn’t
qualified to know Job’s insides, and what guilt was or wasn’t there
b.
He definitely
wasn’t qualified to know God’s insides, and why God does what God does!
Common sense would have been
well-served had Elihu followed the advice of the sage: It is better to keep one’s mouth shut and be
thought a fool, than to open that mouth and remove all doubt![2]
Well, here, even though Elihu’s
lips are still cranking out what his brain is trying to understand, he seems to
have scrambled back on the higher ground of reverence for both God and Job, his
friend, who appears to be going under in a classic crash-and-burn of
self-justification. Elihu rehearses for Job some of the everyday miracles of
God’s sovereignty over the universe – the heavens filled with clouds, thunder
and lightning, and just like trying to look into that fireball of a sun with
naked eyes will blind you, attempting to scrutinize Jehovah’s right to meddle
with Job’s good life could get you toasted to a crisp. Elihu is telling his friend to be careful
when he opens a conversation with God.
As much as there is wisdom and verity
in what Elihu says (and probably a very pure-hearted concern for Job), I still must
take issue with that part about being careful when you speak
to God. Rather, I would say it is at
those times when you talk to God that it is particularly important to drop your
guard completely and let everything out!
Prayer is not a time to convince
God of anything or try to flatter God into giving you what you want. Prayer is a time for emptying the heart and
letting God choose what to put in there.
As others, wiser than I have suggested, I don’t change circumstances by my
prayer; in prayer God changes me to stand and face the circumstances. I am like a frightened little boy who runs to
his Papa. Papa embraces me, and then
turns me around to face what frightened me…from HIS perspective.
For You Today
And so, the bottom line, for
Elihu, Job, or any of us, is:
When you go to God, don’t hold back…run full-speed into His arms,
empty it all out, fears, needs, sorrow, joy, anger, unbelief…
And then don’t be surprised when he turns you back around to face
the music; just know that you’re not standing alone…He’s standing right where
He can have your back!
Go to VIDEO
[2] Proverbs 17:28 (also famously attributed to such wise men as Mark
Twain and Abraham Lincoln)
