This question was the first inquiry of Job as he cried out to God as he mourned the loss of beloved children, the loss of all he had acquired, and the loss of physical health.  “What is happening to me and what I have done God” to deserve these boils and bleeding wounds that will not heal were Job’s follow up questions as he suffered great pain.  He thought God had left him because he could no longer hear God in his suffering.  His friends didn’t help the situation as they concluded that God had left Job defenseless to wallow in pity because of his unrepented sins. Their words did not help answer the question of where God was because they were focused on Job’s sins. 

Although in extreme pain, with all the questions, he declared; “Yet, will I trust and hope in God”. This was the cry of his heart through it all.  He refutes the lofty speeches of his friends with what he knows about God.  We come now to deathly silence. His friends have given up trying to convince Job of his sins as they see them. They have finally stopped analyzing all they ways he could have sinned with efforts to prove guilt over innocence.  Yes, their “righteous” speeches have ceased—finally!  Job and his friends are at impasse, deadlocked on their human wisdom.

Then one more voice demands to be heard.  Elihu, the youngest of Job’s friends, stayed silent until his elders finished what they had to say. Elihu knew the advice of the other friends was wrong. Yet, he could not fully arrive at the right conclusion either.  So, he turned Job’s attention to some of God’s attributes, including the fact that God is forever!  God was, is, and always will be God.  Since God’s years cannot be counted and since God is perfect in every way; Job ought to turn reverently to the wonders of God’s creation and turn from his rebellious ways.

Listen as the youngest speak up….

Job 32

Elihu

So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ² But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. ³ He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him. ⁴ Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he. ⁵ But when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused.

⁶ So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite said:

“I am young in years,
    and you are old;
that is why I was fearful,
    not daring to tell you what I know.
⁷ I thought, ‘Age should speak;
    advanced years should teach wisdom.’
⁸ But it is the spirit in a person,
    the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.
⁹ It is not only the old who are wise,
    not only the aged who understand what is right.

¹⁰ “Therefore I say: Listen to me;
    I too will tell you what I know.
¹¹ I waited while you spoke,
    I listened to your reasoning;
while you were searching for words,
¹²     I gave you my full attention.
But not one of you has proved Job wrong;
    none of you has answered his arguments.
¹³ Do not say, ‘We have found wisdom;
    let God, not a man, refute him.’
¹⁴ But Job has not marshaled his words against me,
    and I will not answer him with your arguments.

¹⁵ “They are dismayed and have no more to say;
    words have failed them.
¹⁶ Must I wait, now that they are silent,
    now that they stand there with no reply?
¹⁷ I too will have my say;
    I too will tell what I know.
¹⁸ For I am full of words,
    and the spirit within me compels me;
¹⁹ inside I am like bottled-up wine,
    like new wineskins ready to burst.
²⁰ I must speak and find relief;
    I must open my lips and reply.
²¹ I will show no partiality,
    nor will I flatter anyone;
²² for if I were skilled in flattery,
    my Maker would soon take me away.

Job 33

“But now, Job, listen to my words;
    pay attention to everything I say.
² I am about to open my mouth;
    my words are on the tip of my tongue.
³ My words come from an upright heart;
    my lips sincerely speak what I know.
⁴ The Spirit of God has made me;
    the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
⁵ Answer me then, if you can;
    stand up and argue your case before me.
⁶ I am the same as you in God’s sight;
    I too am a piece of clay.
⁷ No fear of me should alarm you,
    nor should my hand be heavy on you.

⁸ “But you have said in my hearing—
    I heard the very words—
⁹ ‘I am pure, I have done no wrong;
    I am clean and free from sin.
¹⁰ Yet God has found fault with me;
    he considers me his enemy.
¹¹ He fastens my feet in shackles;
    he keeps close watch on all my paths.’

¹² “But I tell you, in this you are not right,
    for God is greater than any mortal.
¹³ Why do you complain to him
    that he responds to no one’s words?
¹⁴ For God does speak—now one way, now another—
    though no one perceives it.
¹⁵ In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on people
    as they slumber in their beds,
¹⁶ he may speak in their ears
    and terrify them with warnings,
¹⁷ to turn them from wrongdoing
    and keep them from pride,
¹⁸ to preserve them from the pit,
    their lives from perishing by the sword.

¹⁹ “Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain
    with constant distress in their bones,
²⁰ so that their body finds food repulsive
    and their soul loathes the choicest meal.
²¹ Their flesh wastes away to nothing,
    and their bones, once hidden, now stick out.
²² They draw near to the pit,
    and their life to the messengers of death.
²³ Yet if there is an angel at their side,
    a messenger, one out of a thousand,
    sent to tell them how to be upright,
²⁴ and he is gracious to that person and says to God,
    ‘Spare them from going down to the pit;
    I have found a ransom for them—
²⁵ let their flesh be renewed like a child’s;
    let them be restored as in the days of their youth’—
²⁶ then that person can pray to God and find favor with him,
    they will see God’s face and shout for joy;
    he will restore them to full well-being.
²⁷ And they will go to others and say,
    ‘I have sinned, I have perverted what is right,
    but I did not get what I deserved.
²⁸ God has delivered me from going down to the pit,
    and I shall live to enjoy the light of life.’

²⁹ “God does all these things to a person—
    twice, even three times—
³⁰ to turn them back from the pit,
    that the light of life may shine on them.

³¹ “Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;
    be silent, and I will speak.
³² If you have anything to say, answer me;
    speak up, for I want to vindicate you.
³³ But if not, then listen to me;
    be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Where is God in our suffering?  We all want to know when our weaknesses overcome us!  Most times we do know; but our pain depletes our memory bank of our knowledge of God in challenging painful moments of life.  May this portion of commentary be of great help to you as it has been to me.  One of my favorite Bible scholars and author, Max Lucado writes;

“Scripture says that the number of God’s years is unsearchable or “past finding out” (Job 36:26). We may search out the moment the first wave slapped on a shore or the first star burst in the sky, but we’ll never find the first moment when God was God, for there is no moment when God was not God. He has never not been, for he is eternal. God is not bound by time.

But when Jesus came to the earth, all this changed. He heard for the first time a phrase never used in heaven: “Your time is up.” As a child, he had to leave the temple because his time was up. As a man, he had to leave Nazareth because his time was up. And as a Savior, he had to die because his time was up. For 33 years, the stallion of heaven lived in the corral of time.

That’s certainly remarkable, but there is something even more so.

You want to see the brightest jewel in the treasure of incarnation? You might think it was the fact that he lived in a body. One moment he was a boundless spirit; the next he was flesh and bones. Remember these words of King David? “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (Psalm 139:7–10).

Our asking “Where is God?” is like a fish asking “Where is water?” or a bird asking, “Where is air?” God is everywhere! Equally present in Peking and Peoria. As active in the lives of Icelanders as in the lives of Texans. The dominion of God is “from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth” (Psalm 72:8).

We cannot find a place where God is not.

How do you react to that last sentence? How does that change your view of God? You can be comforted by the fact that God is everywhere. He cares about you no matter where you are or where you go.”—Lucado, Encouraging Word Bible

Hang on tight to your Bibles, for Elihu long speech encompasses four more chapters.  He will attempt to explain the character of God and applied this truth to Job’s situation. 

TAKE NOTE:  Elihu said that Job had claimed to be sinless (v. 9), which was not what Job had said. That Job claimed to be sinless had been Zophar’s interpretation, not Job’s declaration (Job 11:4). Job did say that he did not lie (Job 6:30), that he was not wicked (Job 10:7), that he was just and upright (Job 12:4), and that he had not disobeyed God (23:11, 12); but he never said he was sinless. He consistently maintained his integrity (2:3; 27:4, 5) but never said he was perfect. In fact, he denied perfection (9:20, 21).—Warren Wiersbe, Wiersbe Study Bible

Meanwhile, Job’s three friends went silent, appalled that Job had dared to speak so boldly to God and about God. They were sure that God’s judgment of Job was the next thing on the agenda. But God was silent. Does that mean He wasn’t there?  Nope.

Lord,

The book of Job convicts our hearts, renews our minds, and feeds our souls  with a deeper realization of who you are with reclaimed knowledge that you are indeed everywhere.  You are God. We are not.  You know before we know.  You had a plan to save us before we knew we needed saving.  You go before us to light the way and protect us from intruders bent on distracting us from you while trying to deconstruct our faith in you. 

You call us to you, giving us your perfect and pleasing will, as we give ourselves to you.  You accept us as we are right now; but you love us enough to grow us beyond who we think we are and can be.  Yes, You are the Potter. We are the clay. May we never forget who you are as we dwell in Your Presence, listing all your attributes with thanksgiving.  To you be all the glory, honor, and praise! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen