365 Reflections

In the Lord's speech to Job, God unloads His immense job description for four chapters. And when you read it, you quickly realize, it's a job only GOD is big enough for.  Job 38:39–39:4 (ESV) “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? 41 Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food? 1 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? 2 Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, 3 when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young? 4 Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them. After unpacking how the cosmos works at the direction of God, the Lord talks about the animal kingdom. In some ways, you are seeing God address creation here in the ord...

Job 38:1–3 (ESV) Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Why does God show up to Job "out of the whirlwind"? He could have come any number of ways. The NIV calls it a "storm" and the Message version says, "violent storm". What is the point here? I think it's pretty simple. We have a God in heaven that will embrace the storm for us and with us. And his storm was far more violent than Job's.  No matter what you're facing today, I can guarantee this - Christ knows what it's like and has been through it already. The storm of the cross was agony and separation. The storm of Christ's cup of suffering endured the wrath of God for you and for me. Second, the Lord speaks out of the "whirlwind" because the breath of God shaped the heavens.  Psalm 33:6 (ESV) By the word of the ...

Are you the kind of person who longs to hear from God's Word? Or are you the kind of person who kind of appreciates it? I would suggest that to the extent you long for His Word you experience His presence. Conversely, the less you long for it, the less you experience Him. God is looking for people who want to hear what He has said. This is the great testament of Scripture itself. And when we get to the climax of Elihu's speech to Job, we find a man in Elihu who LOVES and LONGS for the WORD of GOD.  Job 37:1–4 (ESV) “At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place. 2 Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. 3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth. 4 After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard. What does your heart leap for? Elihu's heart lept for God's voice. And he called Job to listen....

Elihu heads into the final stretch of his speech to Job in Job 36. I love how he has defended God every step of the way. While Job has only concerned himself with his plight, Elihu is setting the stage for the dramatic entrance of God.  Job 36:5 (ESV) “Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding. Job has been concerned primarily with one thing, what he's done to deserve this punishment. As with most people, Job has dwelt only on the personal realities of his experiences. He's questioned why God is punishing him while letting the wicked "go free." I don't judge him at all, I would have fared far worse. But Elihu introduces something interesting to Job in verse 16.  Job 36:16 (ESV) He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness. In the New Living Translation: Job 36:16–17 (NLT) “God is leading you away from danger, Job, to a place f...

Everyone will know good and evil. That is a result of the curse. Remember God said after the first transgression about the woman and Adam: Genesis 3:22 (ESV) Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil . Job asks us to look the evil in this world straight in the eye and dig deeper than the surface of our mere discomfort. Our hearts are at stake, and who we become matters greatly to the Lord.  Job has thought it was all useless to be righteous. Thus Elihu asks him: Job 35:3 (NLT) For you also ask, ‘What’s in it for me? What’s the use of living a righteous life?’ Elihu's response: Job 35:5–7 (ESV) Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you. 6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? 7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? It is very true that our righteous or wicked livin...

Elihu continues to answer Job in chapter 34.  Job 34:7-9 (ESV) What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water, 8 who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men? 9 For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.’ He first sounds a lot like the three friends with a twinge of condescension for these are familiar attacks on Job. But his words are taken to a far different conclusion. Where Job's three friends assumed his guilt brought just condemnation, Elihu turns a corner and defends the awesome "otherness" of God.  Job 34:12–15 (ESV) Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. 13 Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world? 14 If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, 15 all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust. Elihu makes the case for the sovereign wisdom of God. No one put God in charge. H...

I think the figure of Elihu operates in the same way John the Baptist does for Jesus. He prepares the way for Job to encounter God. And as Elihu commences the content of his speech he arrives at the first hint of the sort of ideas he is going to bring to the table in this book.  Job 33:9–12 (ESV) You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me. 10 Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy, 11 he puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.’ 12 “Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man. Elihu is the first person to ask Job to consider that God is not as a man. He is greater than a man. Job has acknowledged God's greatness already but Elihu presents it in the framework of Job's contending with God. Elihu stipulates that God speaks in ways we do not understand and operates in ways we cannot often comprehend.  Job 33:13–18 (ESV) Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘...

In Job 32 we are introduced to a 5th person named Elihu. Job 32:1–5 (ESV) So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. 3 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. 4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. 5 And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger. Elihu is a young man (note the anger) who stood by during the conversation has found the arguments of Job and the three friends wanting. Now the question before us is, who is this guy? We know who his father is and who his people are but what's his deal? Does he speak truth? Is his anger justified?  Elihu's name means, "He is my God." The first thing he...