Even those committed to love God forever, who listen for His voice, ready to obey, and who are in awe of God with a healthy fear of God for all He has done, is doing, and will do, cannot fathom or fully describe God with human words formed only by what we see and hear or feel about God.  Yes, this sentence was long, deep, and wide but so is our God!  God’s Word is God!  We can try to describe God as young Elihu passionately does in the next three chapters but we also see how Elihu used God to  actually accuse Job of his sins along with his arrogance for talking honestly to God in Job’s suffering and wondering! 

Elihu speaks the truth about God—mostly—but his interpretation of God’s heart is not quite as accurate when we compare his words to what God says about Himself in His Word!  In fact, it is always dangerous to read a verse, out of context from the rest of the verses, and to prove your point of base your life upon.  Half-truths but not the whole truth is not the truth.

Elihu turned Job’s attention to some of God’s attributes, including God’s eternity of life. Since God’s years have no beginning and no end to man, and since God is perfect, Job ought to turn reverently to the wonders of God’s creation and turn from his rebellious ways that have caused his suffering—in the opinion of Job’s friends and Elihu!

What Job’s friends did not know was the conversation God had with Satan about Job, a man who was righteous in God’s sight—not perfect, but who strive to do the right things at the right time.  We are also convinced by Elihu’s listing of the attributes of God. However, we know the whole story because we have read and thought about the whole story of Job from the beginning! See Chapter 1 again!  Here is a small portion;

One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

¹² The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.” Job 1:6-12

Ah, this pulls us back to the Truth of the whole matter! The Truth Job’s friends do not know.  “Forgive them for they know not what they are doing” says Jesus on the cross of suffering as our example.  We convict, judge and execute without knowing the whole story.  Yes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God in this very habitual behavior.

Yes, God is the Maker of the earth and everything in it.

Yes, God created Job and blessed him, his family, work, and in his worship of God. 

Yes, God saw Job as a righteous man. God also knew Job’s heart. 

Can we believe that God knew Job so well that He knew Job would not deny him—even in suffering?  Why, yes we can! In the middle of the pain and suffering inflicted upon him by Satan—not by God but allowed by God to show His glory and Job’s faithfulness—Job said;

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15) This profound declaration from Job was the key to victory in the war with Satan.  These heartfelt, committed words demonstrated to the world his unconditional trust in God despite extreme suffering, loss, and what Job thought to be apparent abandonment. Job maintains his belief throughout his life while defending his integrity, believing God is just even when circumstances seem to contradict His goodness. 

We may scientifically 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 or space.  God is God. We are not. This is not opinion but Truth.  Hold these thoughts as Elihu speaks…

Job 35

Then Elihu said:

² “Do you think this is just?
    You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’
³ Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,
    and what do I gain by not sinning?’

⁴ “I would like to reply to you
    and to your friends with you.
⁵ Look up at the heavens and see;
    gaze at the clouds so high above you.
⁶ If you sin, how does that affect him?
    If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
⁷ If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
    or what does he receive from your hand?
⁸ Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,
    and your righteousness only other people.

⁹ “People cry out under a load of oppression;
    they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.
¹⁰ But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
    who gives songs in the night,
¹¹ who teaches us more than he teaches the beasts of the earth
    and makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?’
¹² He does not answer when people cry out
    because of the arrogance of the wicked.
¹³ Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;
    the Almighty pays no attention to it.
¹⁴ How much less, then, will he listen
    when you say that you do not see him,
that your case is before him
    and you must wait for him,
¹⁵ and further, that his anger never punishes
    and he does not take the least notice of wickedness.
¹⁶ So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;
    without knowledge he multiplies words.”

Job 36

Elihu continued:

² “Bear with me a little longer and I will show you
    that there is more to be said in God’s behalf.
³ I get my knowledge from afar;
    I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
⁴ Be assured that my words are not false;
    one who has perfect knowledge is with you.

⁵ “God is mighty, but despises no one;
    he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
⁶ He does not keep the wicked alive
    but gives the afflicted their rights.
⁷ He does not take his eyes off the righteous;
    he enthrones them with kings
    and exalts them forever.
⁸ But if people are bound in chains,
    held fast by cords of affliction,
⁹ he tells them what they have done—
    that they have sinned arrogantly.
¹⁰ He makes them listen to correction
    and commands them to repent of their evil.
¹¹ If they obey and serve him,
    they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity
    and their years in contentment.
¹² But if they do not listen,
    they will perish by the sword
    and die without knowledge.

¹³ “The godless in heart harbor resentment;
    even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.
¹⁴ They die in their youth,
    among male prostitutes of the shrines.
¹⁵ But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering;
    he speaks to them in their affliction.

¹⁶ “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress
    to a spacious place free from restriction,
    to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.
¹⁷ But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked;
    judgment and justice have taken hold of you.
¹⁸ Be careful that no one entices you by riches;
    do not let a large bribe turn you aside.
¹⁹ Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts
    sustain you so you would not be in distress?
²⁰ Do not long for the night,
    to drag people away from their homes.
²¹ Beware of turning to evil,
    which you seem to prefer to affliction.

²² “God is exalted in his power.
    Who is a teacher like him?
²³ Who has prescribed his ways for him,
    or said to him, ‘You have done wrong’?
²⁴ Remember to extol his work,
    which people have praised in song.
²⁵ All humanity has seen it;
    mortals gaze on it from afar.
²⁶ How great is God—beyond our understanding!
    The number of his years is past finding out.

²⁷ “He draws up the drops of water,
    which distill as rain to the streams;
²⁸ the clouds pour down their moisture
    and abundant showers fall on mankind.
²⁹ Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
    how he thunders from his pavilion?
³⁰ See how he scatters his lightning about him,
    bathing the depths of the sea.
³¹ This is the way he governs the nations
    and provides food in abundance.
³² He fills his hands with lightning
    and commands it to strike its mark.
³³ His thunder announces the coming storm;
    even the cattle make known its approach.

Job 37

“At this my heart pounds
    and leaps from its place.
² Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
    to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
³ He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
    and sends it to the ends of the earth.
⁴ After that comes the sound of his roar;
    he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
    he holds nothing back.
⁵ God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
    he does great things beyond our understanding.
⁶ He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’
    and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’
⁷ So that everyone he has made may know his work,
    he stops all people from their labor.
⁸ The animals take cover;
    they remain in their dens.
⁹ The tempest comes out from its chamber,
    the cold from the driving winds.
¹⁰ The breath of God produces ice,
    and the broad waters become frozen.
¹¹ He loads the clouds with moisture;
    he scatters his lightning through them.
¹² At his direction they swirl around
    over the face of the whole earth
    to do whatever he commands them.
¹³ He brings the clouds to punish people,
    or to water his earth and show his love.

¹⁴ “Listen to this, Job;
    stop and consider God’s wonders.
¹⁵ Do you know how God controls the clouds
    and makes his lightning flash?
¹⁶ Do you know how the clouds hang poised,
    those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?
¹⁷ You who swelter in your clothes
    when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
¹⁸ can you join him in spreading out the skies,
    hard as a mirror of cast bronze?

¹⁹ “Tell us what we should say to him;
    we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.
²⁰ Should he be told that I want to speak?
    Would anyone ask to be swallowed up?
²¹ Now no one can look at the sun,
    bright as it is in the skies
    after the wind has swept them clean.
²² Out of the north he comes in golden splendor;
    God comes in awesome majesty.
²³ The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
    in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
²⁴ Therefore, people revere him,
    for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

We may never know the whole story of each other’s lives. But we do know this—it is not our job to force a person to prove themselves worthy of our love or the love of God who sent His Son to die for WHOEVER would believe in Him!  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

Thank you, God; Thank you, Jesus; Thank you, Holy Spirit for guiding us away from our opinion to Truth.  Yet, will I trust, love, and obey You as King of kings and Lord of lords!

In Jesus Name, for your glory and our good, Amen!