An Approaching Storm & Unhealed Grandkids (Job 37:1-13)

“And now let’s turn to the weather portion of tonight’s newscast.  Elihu, what’s it looking like outside in the weather garden?”

“Well Bob, it’s quite fascinating actually, and there’s a spectacular weather system that’s fast approaching out of the north…I’ve never seen anything quite like it!  I apologize for the shaking microphone but my heart is pounding so hard right now I’m having a hard time concentrating on the forecast.  The thunder and lightning are absolutely awe-inspiring; there is probably more than a little terror and panic going on right now in our viewing area…”

Just prior to the startling appearance of God at Job’s desolate ash heap, Elihu seems to give us a lesson in meteorology.    

Francis Andersen writes, “Elihu…is startled into mixed terror and admiration at the awesome spectacle of God’s power in the thunderstorm.” 

(Speaking of thunderstorms, it is said that that the Roman Emperor Caligula (AD 37-41), upon hearing thunder, would get out of his bed and hide under it.  I wonder if his generals knew that.)

37:1-4 “At this also my heart trembles, and leaps from its place.  2 Listen closely to the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that goes out from His mouth.  3 Under the whole heaven He lets it loose, and His lightning to the ends of the earth.  4 after it, a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, and He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard.”

Note how the NIV and the NLT translations of verse 1 describe Elihu’s reaction to this supernatural storm:  "At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place.” (NIV) “My heart pounds as I think of this. It trembles within me.” (NLT)

Also note the prominence of the words “thunder,” “lightning,” and “voice.” And note in particular the number of times “voice” is used:  verse 2 refers to the “thunder of His voice,” three times in verse 4 the word “voice” is used, and verse 4  speaks of the “roaring voice” (roar here refers to the deep rumbling cry of the lion), . 

Our word “thunder” perhaps comes from the Swedish “tordon” or “Thor’s Din” (the noise of Thor); and lightning was sometimes called “thunderflame.”

God thunders with His majestic voice!  No contestant on NBC’s “The Voice” can ever match the majestic thundering and roaring Voice that calls the Universe to attention.  If we tremble during a thunderstorm imagine how we would quake at the presence and the voice of the Almighty!

37:5 “God thunders with His voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot comprehend.”

The Voice that spoke in Genesis One is the same Voice that is about to break through the hopeless despair enveloping Job.  The version called “The Message” puts verse 5 this way, “His word thundering so wondrously, His mighty acts staggering our understanding.” 

I like that phrase, “staggering our understanding!” Our minds naturally view problems through the prism of our finite understanding. We behold a situation and characterize it as “hopeless,”  so at times we need something supernatural to explode our “There-is-no-way-out-of-this-problem” type of thinking.  And that something (or rather “Someone”) is the God Who can do great things which we cannot comprehend!  We need an encounter with the God “who staggers our understanding.” 

37:6 “For to the snow He says, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the downpour and the rain, 'Be strong.'"

The language of this verse is more forceful than the simple statement of “Let the snow fall…”  It is written in the fashion of the command of Genesis 1:3; but instead of “Let there be light!” we have, “Let there be snow!” 

In the span of two verses we have gone from “things which we cannot comprehend” to a discussion of snowflakes and raindrops.  But what is the point of giving Job, while still covered in the misery of open, running sores and an endless itching, a lesson in the different forms that precipitation can take?

That is a question that will be answered beginning with chapter 38.

Matthew Henry writes in his commentary, “The changes and extremities of the weather, wet or dry, hot or cold, are the subject of a great deal of our common talk and observation; but how seldom do we think and speak of these things, as Elihu does here, with an awful regard to God the director of them, who shows his power and serves the purposes of his providence by them!”

37:7 “He seals the hand of every man, that all men may know His work.  8 Then the beast goes into its lair and remains in its den.”

In generations gone by, winter seemed to be sort of a divine “time-out,” a time when God would stop man's out-of-doors work so that humanity would take thought of their complete dependence on God.  Writes Matthew Henry, “The plough is laid by, the shipping laid up, nothing is to be done, nothing to be got, that men, being taken off from their own work, may know his work…when we are confined to our houses we should be driven to our Bibles and to our knees.”

Another commentary puts it, “…the busy affairs of life come to a pause, and while nature is silent around us, and the earth wrapped in her fleecy mantle forbids the labor of the husbandman, everything invites to the contemplation of the Creator, and of the works of his hands. The winter, therefore, might be improved by every farmer to enlarge his knowledge of God, and should be regarded as a season wisely appointed for him to cultivate his understanding and improve his heart.”

37:9 “Out of the south comes the storm, and out of the north the cold. 10 From the breath of God ice is made, and the expanse of the waters is frozen.”

“South” in this verse literally means “an inner chamber or apartment”, and refers to the remote or hidden regions; and “North” literally means “scatterers.” 

For the most part our weather systems arrive out of the West.  Having lived in the Dakota’s for a few years, I can still recall seeing the storm clouds gather (sometimes spectacularly) in the West and move across the plains.  It’s a beauty that’s not seen that well in the woodlands of northeastern Minnesota.   

37:11 “Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud; He disperses the cloud of His lightning. 12  It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, that it may do whatever He commands it on the face of the inhabited earth.”

To paraphrase Poole: The clouds, seemingly pregnant with water, are made to go on long journeys.  Finally, worn out from their protracted voyage, upon reaching their destinations they empty themselves wherever God commands them. And though seeming to wander with a casual aimlessness across the sky, neither the clouds nor the lightning is haphazard in its movement. Nothing in God’s universe is beyond His guidance.

Francis I Andersen writes, “God is in complete control of all those events even though their whirling around might suggest aimless, chaotic forces.”

37:13 “Whether for correction, or for His world, or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen.”

There is a lot packed into this verse but let’s just focus on just the word “lovingkindness.” 

The Hebrew word “hesed” is perhaps the greatest word of the Old Testament (and may be the equivalent of the New Testament word “agape” or love).  It appears in the King James version of the Bible as “mercy” or “kindness” “or goodness.”  

A derivation of this word is translated “stork” because it was thought to be kind to its young. Dom Sorg observed, “This word is really the OT reflex of ‘God is love’”  Hesed refers to the eternal divine kindness. Sakenfeld tells us that “forgiveness must always have been latent in the theological usage of hesed.” It expresses an attitude of a merciful reaching out to God’s creation when that creation is in the most pitiful of states. 

It is a love that can reach down and take people from the guttermost to the uttermost!

Hesed love is unending and ever faithful.  It is a stubborn and unfailing love! 

It is a type of love that pursues its object no matter how apathetic or pathetic that person may be!

It is a love that always creates hope in the most desperate of situations and can always moves past the most impossible  of obstacles! 

As I have often stated in these “Conversations From the Ash Heap” devotionals, the word “hopeless” hardly begins to convey Job’s awful plight.  And yet on the other side of a thick veil of darkness and gloom, God’s Hesed Love (in the form of an extraordinary and terrifying storm) was just about to envelop his bleak circumstances.

The God of eternity, the Creator of time and space Himself is about to make a very personal visit to a lonely man at a deserted town dump. 

Conclusion: I stopped by to visit one of my friends at work a week or so ago.  I asked about her grandchildren – two of them are suffering from a disease so rare that one of the nation’s most prestigious medical centers has not been able to diagnose it yet. 

As she described what they are going through I just wanted to hug her and cry with her.  I guess I could have quoted some Bible verse or something, but I felt like I should simply listen – words just seemed so empty at the time.

That night during prayer I cried for her grandchildren. I prayed that the God who manifested Himself so many centuries ago in the little known city called “Uz” would bring hope to the parents and healing to those little grandkids.

If you are someone who is struggling to find even just a bread crumb of hope, remember that against all odds, God visited Job.  And God can visit you.

The Unriddler Cometh (Job 36:17-33)

With the storm quickly intensifying, the 26 foot sailboat raced to the shore of Minnesota Point in the western end of Lake Superior. As all 8 on board the vessel scrambled to get to dry land tragedy suddenly struck. With an explosive force a lightning bolt either hit one of the passengers (a nine year old boy) directly or in the water immediately around him. Most everyone was blown off their feet. Before the day was over the little boy was dead; what began as a tranquil day of sailing ended in calamity.

(Daniel Thralow, a resident of Duluth, recorded a time-lapse video of the storm [MN Point Storm]. Candace Renalls and Andrew Krueger of the News Tribune staff quoted Mr. Thralow as saying, “It was amazing how far diagonally it stretched…you expect it to go straight down, and not meander so far.” Duluth News Tribune, August 20, 2012)

Can blessings come from a devastated tranquility? At times the answer seems to be a resounding “no!”

Are there flaws in the benevolence of God? At times the answer seems to be a resounding “yes!”

It is difficult to understand why things happen as they do.

Against the backdrop of the awful sickness of a grief stricken husband and father, we are not presented with the reasons as to why these tragic events have befallen Job and his family, but with a simple (yet unexpected) response – the majesty of God! Although for a couple of chapters Elihu veered from his sermon notes and seemed to wander aimlessly in a verbose wilderness, he has now transported us to the very edge of a Grand-Canyon-like view of the Proprietor of the Universe. We are on the cusp of the Incomprehensible.

36:17 “But you were full of judgment on the wicked; Judgment and justice take hold of you. 18 Beware that wrath does not entice you to scoffing; and do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside. 19 Will your riches keep you from distress, or all the forces of your strength?”

God’s love at times takes the form of a ferocious wrestling. He is determined to bring us to the goal He has designed for us. And on occasion we seem determined to “think lightly of” or “despise” His dealings with us. Keil and Delitzsch write in their commentary, “Elihu admonishes Job not to allow himself to be drawn by the heat of passion into derision.” And Barnes writes, “It is a sentiment which is undoubtedly true—that if a man holds the sentiments, and manifests the spirit of the wicked, he must expect to be treated as they are.” Job was teetering on the edge of just such an attitude (and perhaps had gone over the edge). Trapp adds this blunt admonition, “Oh beware lest He double his strokes, and beat thee to pieces for thy disobedience and stubbornness.”

36:20 “Do not long for the night, when people vanish in their place. 21 Be careful, do not turn to evil, for you have preferred this to affliction.”

In the “fight or flight” options open to Job during this epic struggle, Job from time to time leaned toward the “flight” response. The battle, the struggle and the loneliness were wearing him down. Job longed for a respite from the conflict. But Elihu’s admonition not to “desperately long for night’s deep darkness” is perhaps a warning to Job not to plunge into the despair of chapter 3. The Message puts verse 20 this way, “And don’t think that night, when people sleep off their troubles, will bring you any relief.”

And the Living Bible puts verse 21 this way, “Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for God sent this suffering to keep you from a life of evil.” Note the words “to keep you.” Elihu is pleading with Job, “This wasn’t sent to punish you for past deeds -- but perhaps to keep you from a wrong course in the future.”

36:22 “Behold, God is exalted in His power; who is a teacher like Him?”

“Behold” can include the sense of “wondering admiration.” Adam Clarke writes, “He who says he can examine the earth with a philosophic eye, and the heavens with the eye of an astronomer, and yet says he cannot see in them a system of infinite skill and contrivance, must be ignorant of science, or lie against his conscience, and be utterly unworthy of confidence or respect.”

“Who is a teacher like Him?” None is as powerful as God – therefore none is a teacher like Him! One commentator writes, “He (God) is a teacher of perplexed things, an unriddler of riddles. He knows all things exactly, and does all things with singular skill and understanding.” In just a short while God will manifest Himself at Job’s desolate ash heap and will raise him up far beyond his imagination. Thus the theology of Elihu seems to lead us into the majestic approach of Yahweh.

36:23 “Who has appointed Him His way, And who has said, ’You have done wrong’?”

Again Adam Clarke writes, “Who can prove, in the whole compass of the creation, that there is one thing imperfect, superabundant, or out of its place? Who can show that there is, in the course of the divine providence, one unrighteous, cruel, or unwise act? All the cunning and wickedness of man have never been able to find out the smallest flaw in the work of God.”

36:24 “Remember that you should exalt His work, of which men have sung. 25 All men have seen it; Man beholds from afar.”

Note the first word of this verse, “Remember…” We are such great forgetters. How often is it that we follow the admonition of that word “Remember!” During this long ordeal Job has been seeking a legal challenge against God and the way He has treated him. But Hartley reminds us that “God is worthy of praise rather than seeking a legal challenge with him.” We so easily forget to genuinely and enthusiastically worship God!

36:26 “Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him; the number of His years is unsearchable.”

I like how The Message translates this verse, "Take a long, hard look. See how great He is—infinite, greater than anything you could ever imagine or figure out!”

FI Anderson makes this very thought-provoking statement, “God's eternity is conceivable, but not comprehensible. We know that God is great. That is an enormous amount of positive knowledge. But we can never know just how great He is. Yet this perceived limitation does not invalidate what we do know, especially when that knowledge is grounded, not in transcendental speculation, but in contemplation of God in His manifold works of creation.”

God’s eternity is conceivable but not comprehensible. Job 9:10 reminds us that God does the “past-finding out things.” When trying to “comprehend the incomprehensible” one gets the feeling he is trying to feebly grasp at the concept of Ezekiel’s “wheel in the middle of a wheel…that had rims full of eyes!” (Ezekiel 1:16) How are we to comprehend and try to envision that which has not even entered our imagination? But then again the Apostle Paul does ask us to, in a paradoxical way, “Know the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge!” (Ephesians 3:19).

36:27 “For He draws up the drops of water, they distill rain from the mist, 28 which the clouds pour down, they drip upon man abundantly. 29 Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thundering of His pavilion? 30 Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him, and He covers the depths of the sea. 31 For by these He judges peoples; He gives food in abundance. 32 He covers His hands with the lightning, and commands it to strike the mark. 33 Its noise declares His presence; the cattle also, concerning what is coming up.”

Immediately following a call to behold the greatness of God, we are met, not with a deep theological treatise on His majesty, but with a lesson in meteorology. The dialogue turns from the splendor of the Creator to drops of water – cloud vapor – that are so small (approximately 0.002 inches in diameter) that it would take about 500 droplets to equal 1 inch!

In verses 27 through 33 Elihu mentions raindrops and clouds and thunder and lightning. Thunder and lightning were seen as the “artillery of the skies” and (as per Hartley) the ancients thought that lightning was hurled from the deity’s hands. Elihu seems to have taken a sudden turn to the everyday lunch counter conversation of “How’s the weather?”

So how does this fit into finding an answer to Job’s pitiful plight? It seems to me that the thrust of Elihu’s argument is found in one word in verse 29, “Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds….” Even with the aid of today’s supercomputers and satellite imagery, it is hard for meteorologists to “understand” (or predict) the weather. This word “understand” appears more than 20 times in Job. One Bible dictionary defines it as “so much more than IQ – it refers to insight that is uniquely God’s.”

Can anyone understand what the weather will be like in a week? As I am writing this an early winter storm has blasted northern Minnesota – this wasn’t predicted a week ago. So if we have a hard time “understanding” what the weather will be like in a few days, how are we to understand the ways of God? How can the finite understand the infinite?

Our problems may be on a par with Job's – a son has died, a wife is suffering from the Monster called Alzheimer’s, an alcoholic husband has ruined your dreams of golden-retirement-years.

Or our problems may be much less dramatic or less life altering.

We may not understand – but the One Who created galaxies and raindrops knows and understands and cares with an incredible intensity! Whatever our lot in life, the call to each of is to spend time contemplating the greatness of God. In so doing our heart can be enlarged, our vision can be expanded, and life can be renewed -- even though circumstances may still be the same!

A Situation of Perplexity (God will make a way, where there seems to be no way) Job 36:1-16

Chapter 34 began, “Then Elihu continued and said…”
Chapter 35 began, “Then Elihu continued and said…”
Chapter 36 begins, “Then Elihu continued and said…”

Someone needs to signal the sound booth to cut Elihu’s microphone.

Elihu, suddenly aware of his long-windedness, noticed that the gathered throng was beginning to fidget.  As a result he pleads in verse 2, “Wait for me a little, and I will show you that there is yet more to be said in God’s behalf…” The King James Version puts it best, “Suffer me a little…”  Believe me Elihu, they were! Writes Spurgeon, “Assuredly, short and pointed addresses are more likely to reach the heart than long and dreary sermons.”  Elihu’s marathon sermon had a good beginning, a good ending, but a meandering middle.  So much so that some in the congregation began counting the ceiling tiles.

36:2 “Wait for me a little, and I will show you that there is yet more to be said in God’s behalf.  3 I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. 4 For truly my words are not false; One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.”

Misinterpreting Job’s strenuous defense, Elihu gives the impression that he wants to counteract Job’s assertion that he (Job) is more righteous than God.  Again, the brashness of this young preacher causes the three comforters to roll their eyes, because when he says “I will fetch my knowledge from afar,” Elihu implies that this knowledge is coming direct from God and is only available to him. 

In the first part of verse 4 Elihu seems to assert that his words are beyond contradiction or rebuttal.  And although commentators differ on the interpretation of the second part of verse 4, when the young preacher declares, “One who is perfect in knowledge is with you…” he appears to be speaking about himself.  Writes FI Anderson, “It seems as if Elihu is giving himself a certificate of genius!” 

36:5 “Behold, God is mighty but does not despise any; He is mighty in strength of understanding.”

The second half of the verse is literally, “He is mighty in heart.”  We often think of God as being “mighty in power,” but “mighty in heart?”  Writes Poole, “He is truly magnanimous, of a great and generous mind or heart, and therefore not unrighteous; for all injustice proceeds from littleness or weakness of heart…”

36:6 “He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives justice to the afflicted.  7 He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; but with kings on the throne He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.”

Trapp reminds us that a deluge of calamites may simply be the precursor to a season of blessing.  On the ash heap, with maggots as his kingdom, Job will soon be elevated out of his prison of pain and restored to his previous estate.  In our trials it is at times hard to see through the tears and beyond the present circumstances, but remember that God NEVER takes His eyes off the righteous!  There is an intensity to His care – He is so lost in love for the crushed and the poor that they are constantly in His thoughts.

36:8  "And if they are bound in fetters, and are caught in the cords of affliction, 9  then He declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they have magnified themselves.”

God doesn’t give up on us; He has a goal for our lives.  And if we stray or tend to let the flame of our passion for Him begin to ebb, then His love seems to take the form of a “gentle severity.”  We should never forget the words of Hebrews 12, “No discipline for the moment seems to be joyous, but grievous.”  We may one day find that when we look back on the “Job Episode” in our lives that this time was of the greatest benefit to us. 

Seasons of difficulty tend to focus our priorities and make us think about eternal things.  Writes Trapp, “By these sharp waters he clears up their eyesight...”  In a pivotal episode in the life of the prodigal son (Luke 15), in my minds eye I picture the younger brother, on his way to feed the pigs on a gloomy Monday morning, tripping and falling face down in the mud with the slop spilling all over him.  At that moment the Bible says “he came to his senses.”

36:10 “He opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they return from evil.”

“He opens their ears” is literally “He uncovers their ears.”   Sometimes it takes a covering of pig slop for our ears to become uncovered!

The NLT puts it “He gets their attention.”  As a kid I remember our dad sneaking up the stairs into our bedroom and suddenly grabbing the end of the bed and shaking it.  We had apparently been goofing around instead of going to sleep.  A suddenly-shaking-bed tends to get your attention.  The conclusion I am trying to draw is obvious…God can shake our beds and get our attention!

36:11 “If they hear and serve Him, They will end their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures.”

The goal of God’s dealings with us is to make us sweet and pleasant.  Our heavenly Father doesn’t want His kingdom populated with crabby and ungrateful children.  The phrase “end their days” emphasizes that He has a desire to bring the process to completion.  The word “prosperity” carries the idea of the well-being of a servant with a good master; “pleasures” is used to describe David’s anointed music upon the lyre or the taste of bread; its also used in Psalm 16:11, “…at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.”

36:12 “But if they do not hear, they shall perish by the sword and they will die without knowledge.”

Writes Barnes, “They shall die without knowledge…That is, without any true knowledge of the plans and government of God, or of the reasons why he brought these afflictions upon them. In all their sufferings they never “saw” the design. They complained, and murmured, and charged God with severity, but they never understood that the affliction was intended for their own benefit.”

Do not refuse to see the blueprint that the Grand Designer has for you!  Believe that God has a wonderful plan for your life even though you cannot see one right now.

36:13 “But the godless in heart lay up anger; they do not cry for help when He binds them.”

Note the phrase “lay up anger.”  Various versions of the Bible translate it this way: “heap up anger”…”store up wrath”…”cherish anger”…”pile grievance upon grievance”…”harbor resentment.”  And the word “anger” is literally “flaring nostrils.”  (I recently read somewhere that back in Bible times a teenager put a dent in his father’s camel while learning how to drive.  The next day at school he told his buddy Ishmael, “Wow were my dad’s nostrils flaring last night!”)  

Are you harboring or piling up anger in your life?  Are you so angry at God that the song your heart used to sing is silent?  The problem may not be your circumstances, but your heart.

36:14-16 "They die in youth, and their life perishes among the cult prostitutes.  15 He delivers the afflicted in their affliction, and opens their ear in time of oppression. 16 Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress, instead of it, a broad place with no constraint; and that which was set on your table was full of fatness.”

Do you see the word “oppression” in verse 15 and the word “distress” in verse 16?  Both are used in the story of Balaam and the donkey in Numbers 22:25-26, “When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pressed herself to the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall, so he struck her again. And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.”

The word “oppression” is the same as “pressed” in Numbers 22:25.  One writer says of this word, “…no more graphic word picture of the meaning of “lahas” (oppression/pressed) can be given than that of Balaam’s donkey squeezing up against the wall and thereby crushing or “oppressing” Balaam’s foot.”

And the word “distress” is the same as “narrow” in Numbers 22:26.  It’s the Hebrew word “tsar” and refers to something that confines or hampers or hinders.  It conveys the pressure and anxiety that is felt when our circumstances have hemmed us in. Balaam and his donkey had come to a “tsar” place, a place where one could only travel in one direction: there was a wall on the left, a wall on the right and an angel with his sword drawn (that only the donkey saw) directly in front of him. Simply put, there was no where to go!   

Those two words aptly describe Job’s condition:  he was oppressed or crushed (lahas) and thus felt as though he was trapped in a “tsar” place because he didn’t see any way out.

I realize I am getting a little Elihu-ish with this section of chapter 36 and these manifold word pictures and definitions, but if you could bear with me for just one more.  The Amplified Version puts verse 16 this way, “Indeed, God would have allured you out of the mouth of distress into a broad place where there is no situation of perplexity…” “Perplexity” comes from two words: “per” meaning "completely" and “plexus” meaning "entangled or entwined. The picture is that of a ball of twine so utterly entangled that one despairs of ever making something useful of it again.  A tangled, complicated and confused situation.  At this juncture that describes Job’s life perfectly.  But while Job battles through his befuddlement (and pain), the One Who is able to “un-perplex” is swiftly approaching.        

God will make a way where there seems to be no way!  Listen to this song by Don Moen: God Will Make A Way!

His Mercies in Disguise (A Divine Vending Machine) Job 35

Upon hearing Chuck Swindoll announce yet another sermon on Job, a young daughter asked her father, “Daddy was I five or six when Pastor Chuck started preaching on Job?”


We started these “Conversations from the Ash Heap” in the last decade (November of 2009); we should be done by the end of this decade.


Just kidding.


Sort of.


It’s good for us to take a trip back to the beginning for a few moments to remind ourselves of the awful plight of this man and the display of his enduring faith through all of the hellish nights of pain and loneliness. Warren Wiersbe paints the scene for us, “There the city garbage was deposited and burned, and there the city’s rejects lived, begging alms from whomever passed by. At the ash heap, dogs fought over something to eat, and the city’s dung was brought and burned. The city’s leading citizen was now living in abject poverty and shame. All that he humanly had left were his wife and three friends, and even they turned against him.”


Throughout the book Job has forcefully defended his integrity. But in so doing he has also questioned God as to why he should be treated so harshly. Hearing this, Elihu interprets Job’s avowals of innocence as him saying, “I am more righteous than God!” Hartley writes, “…while Job has not uttered those exact words (I am more righteous than God), he has so fervently defended his innocence and so vigorously accused God of treating him unjustly that he seems to have claimed for himself a righteousness that surpasses God's.” (Page 463)


35:1 Then Elihu continued and said, 2 “Do you think this is according to justice? Do you say, ’My righteousness is more than God’s’? 3 For you say, ’What advantage will it be to You? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’”


The New Living Translation renders verse 3 this way, “For you also ask, ’What’s in it for me? What’s the use of living a righteous life?’” Elihu’s misrepresentation of Job’s words comes strikingly close to the charges of Satan from chapter one: “Job only serves You God because of what he can get out of it.”


And The Message puts verse three this way, “And then you say, ‘It doesn’t make a bit of difference whether I’ve sinned or not.’” Elihu seems to be saying that Job believes, “What is the point of sinning or not sinning?” Mason writes, “Once again Elihu puts words into Job’s mouth, and in the process not only misquotes him but grossly misrepresents his position.”


35:4 “I will answer you, and your friends with you. 5 Look at the heavens and see; and behold the clouds—they are higher than you. 6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are many, 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? 8 Your wickedness is for a man like yourself, and your righteousness is for a son of man.”


Bradley writes, “If it is true that because God is so great and so high, the innocence or guilt of a petty human being is a matter of profound indifference to his Maker, on the ground that it can bring Him neither gain nor loss, we are landed, we see at once, on a very gloomy shore…”


Professor Elihu in effect says, “Job if you can't affect the nearest cloud for good or evil, how can you affect God? If we can't reach the visible heavens, how can we reach to the invisible?”


Read again this passage from The Message: 35:4 “Well, I’m going to show you that you don’t know what you’re talking about, neither you nor your friends. 5 Look up at the sky. Take a long hard look. See those clouds towering above you? 6 If you sin, what difference could that make to God? No matter how much you sin, will it matter to him? 7 Even if you’re good, what would God get out of that? Do you think he’s dependent on your accomplishments? 8 The only ones who care whether you’re good or bad are your family and friends and neighbors. God’s not dependent on your behavior.”


It seems to me that Elihu, in wanting to call attention to the impartiality of God, has instead drifted toward a theology of indifference on the part of El-Shaddai.


Is God impartial? Yes. Is God indifferent? Absolutely not! I think Elihu would be surprised to meet the Jesus of Luke 19:41, “When He saw the city He wept over it.” Francis I Anderson writes, “Elihu doesn't have a sufficiently personal understanding of God to believe that God can be delighted with a good man, and grieved by sin.”


35:9 “Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out; they cry for help because of the arm of the mighty. 10 But no one says, ’Where is God my Maker, Who gives songs in the night, 11 Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’ 12 There they cry out, but He does not answer because of the pride of evil men.”


The progression of thought seems to be this:
1. People cry out and complain because bad things are happening to them
2. But, unlike the beasts and the birds, they don't necessarily cry out to God
3. Our Maker has given us more wisdom and knowledge than the beasts and birds, but it doesn’t seemed to have helped
4. And when they do pray, their prayers are not answered because of the pride, not of the oppressor, but of those being oppressed


And did you catch that portion of verse 12? “…He does not answer, because…” We’ll come back to that.


35:13 “Surely God will not listen to an empty cry, nor will the Almighty regard it. 14 “How much less when you say you do not behold Him, The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him! 15 “And now, because He has not visited in His anger, nor has He acknowledged transgression well, 16 so Job opens his mouth emptily; He multiplies words without knowledge."


“An empty cry” (verse 13) is how Elihu characterizes all of the praying of Job, and is obviously (according to Elihu) the reason why Job has not been healed! David Guzik writes, “Elihu saw that God had not yet answered Job, at least not in any way that Job had hoped. Therefore he said ‘Job opens his mouth in vain.’ The idea was, ‘Job, if you were really a godly man, then God would have answered you by now. The fact that He hasn’t shows your ungodliness.’”


(In actuality God was regarding the prayer of Job and regarding it with great concern!)


"He does not answer, because…"


Elihu’s theology of prayer is reduced to a simple mechanical formula. To him, God is no more majestic than the vending machine in the company break room. Your bag of Doritos didn’t fall out the chute when you hit D-8? Well the Vending Machine did not answer because you obviously didn’t put in the right amount of money or you didn’t push the right buttons. Or perhaps you didn’t shake the machine correctly. It’s as simple as that.


There is no mystery, there is no majesty; all is scrutable and all is fathomable.


“He does not answer, because…”


Elihu would have been much wiser to say, “Hey Job I don’t know why the answers haven’t come, but I want you and your wife to know that my friends and I are interceding for you. Oh, and can I maybe help out by changing your bandages? Or maybe me and my buddies could take some food to a few of the families that lost loved ones on that horrible day…”

At Ash Heap Seminary God only “seemed” to be distant. Just over the horizon and just beyond the view of the students a supernatural storm cloud was beginning to take shape.

In the struggle to understand it is so easy to lose sight of the love of God. Job’s ash heap existence had swallowed up any evidence of the mercy of God. But what if the ash heap was only the mercies of God in disguise?  What if His healing comes through tears?  What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know He's near?  These last few lines are the lyrics from the song "Blessings" by Laura Story.  Perhaps this YouTube video/song will minister to your heart: "Blessings" by Laura Story

The Hungry Sheep Look Up…And Are Not Fed (Job Chapter 34)

With his body aching from an incurable disease and his heart still broken over the loss of his children, Job asked his wife to drive him to church. He tried to worship as he sat in his wheelchair near the back of the sanctuary, but the words and music seemed so agonizingly devoid of the presence of God.

When the music faded away Pastor Elihu strutted to the pulpit and spoke these words in an impassioned manner to the First Congregational Church of Uz,

34:34 After all, bright people will tell me, and wise people will hear me say, 35 ’Job speaks out of ignorance; his words lack insight.’ 36 Job, you deserve the maximum penalty for the wicked way you have talked. 37 for you have added rebellion to your sin; you show no respect, and you speak many angry words against God.’’

Job couldn’t believe what he was hearing. To say that Elihu’s words were cold and cruel would probably be too kind. As his wife wheeled him out of the church, Job scrawled this little poem on the back of his church bulletin,

I went to church today
I wanted to get fed
I expected Manna from above
My hopes were crushed instead

For all of Elihu’s insight into the mind of God for Job’s tragic experience, in the middle part of his address to the Sheik of Uz (chapters 34 and 35), this young pastor-philosopher appears to lose all sense of compassion for the man on the ash heap. Although he gets back on track in chapters 36-37, the wheels have completely fallen off his sermon. FI Anderson writes, “He is no longer reasoning with Job with a view to helping him; he is attacking Job in order to score a point. For all their lucidity (eloquence), his words are devoid of pastoral concern.” Swindoll writes simply, “…Elihu, roused to anger, goes for the jugular.”

Notice verses 36-37 from the Amplified Version, “Would that Job’s afflictions be continued and he be tried to the end because of his answering like wicked men. For he adds rebellion (in his unsubmissive, defiant attitude toward God) to his unacknowledged sin; he claps his hands (in open mockery and contempt of God) among us, and he multiplies his words of accusation against God.” And the same two verses from the New Living Translation, “Job, you deserve the maximum penalty for the wicked way you have talked. For you have added rebellion to your sin; you show no respect, and you speak many angry words against God.’’ And Young’s Literal Translation clearly brings out the viciousness of Elihu’s attack, “…Transgression among us he vomiteth…” Adam Clarke wrote in his commentary, “This is a very harsh wish: but the whole chapter is in the same spirit; nearly destitute of mildness and compassion.”

Much of what is said in this chapter has been dealt with in previous sections of Job, so we are just going to take a closer look at the words of Elihu in vs. 34-37. I attached the rest of the verses from the version called “The Message” at the end of the devotional.

A few centuries ago a poet by the name of John Milton (1608 to 1674) wrote a straightforward poem that spoke volumes to the apparent poor state of affairs between the ministers and the laity during his day. Battling the corrupt clergy in the Church of England he penned a satirical poem titled “Lycidas.” One of the lines simply reads,

The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed.

Phillip Keller, in his book “A Shepherd Looks At the 23rd Psalm,” laid out in stark detail how utterly dependent the sheep are upon the shepherd for their very survival. Under the care of a good shepherd, the sheep thrive. But under the ill-treatment of an uncaring or lazy shepherd, the sheep suffer. More than one part of that book spoke to my heart about my care and management of the flock that God had entrusted to me during my time as a pastor. I would like to quote a long section from the chapter “Thou Anointest My Head with Oil”:

"Summer time is fly time…Only those people who have kept livestock or studied wildlife habits are aware of the serious problems for animals presented by insects in the summer.

To Name just a few parasites that trouble stock and make their lives a misery: there are warble flies, bot flies, heel flies, nose (nasal) flies, deer flies, black flies, mosquitoes, gnats and other minute, winged parasites that proliferate at this time of year. Their attacks on animals can readily turn the golden summer months into a time of torture for sheep and drive them almost to distraction.

(Don’t read this next section if you are eating!)

Sheep are especially troubled by the nose fly, or nasal fly as it is sometimes called. These little flies buzz about the sheep’s head, attempting to deposit their eggs on the damp, mucous membranes of the sheep’s nose. If they are successful the eggs will hatch in a few days to form small, slender, worm-like larvae. They work their way up the nasal passages into the sheep’s head; they burrow into the flesh and there set up an intense irritation accompanied by severe inflammation.

For relief from this agonizing annoyance sheep will deliberately beat their heads against trees, rocks, posts, or brush. They will rub them in the soil and thrash around against woody growth. In extreme cases of intense infestation a sheep may even kill itself in a frenzied endeavor to gain respite from the aggravation. Often advanced stages of infection from these flies will lead to blindness.

Because of all this, when the nose-flies hover around the flock some of the sheep become frantic with fear and panic in their attempt to escape their tormentors. They will stamp their feet erratically and race from place to place in the pasture trying desperately to elude the flies. Some may run so much they will drop from sheer exhaustion. Others may toss their heads up and down for hours. They will hide in any bush or woodland that offers shelter. On some occasions they may refuse to graze in the open at all.

All this excitement and distraction has a devastating effect on the entire flock…Some sheep will be injured in their headlong rushes of panic; others may be blinded and some even killed outright.

Only the strict attention to the behavior of the sheep by the shepherd can forestall the difficulties of “fly time.” At the very first sign of flies among the flock he will apply an antidote to their heads. I always preferred to use a homemade remedy composed of linseed oil, sulfur and tar which was smeared over the sheep’s nose and head as a protection against nose flies.

What an incredible transformation this would make among the sheep. Once the oil had been applied to the sheep’s head there was an immediate change in behavior. Gone was the aggravation; gone the frenzy; gone the irritability and the restlessness. Instead, the sheep would start to feed quietly again, then soon lie down in peaceful contentment.” (Pages 114-116)

All week long the world (and this world’s emperor) attempts to discourage, depress, demoralize, dispirit, dishearten and destroy the sheep. They are assaulted by “fly time” all week long! The sheep come longingly to church to be fed and encouraged and strengthened and to have the oil of the Holy Spirit poured with compassion upon their broken hearts and minds.

Matthew reminds us of the tremendous compassion that Jesus had for the sheep, “And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd” (9:36). AT Robertson writes of this verse, “A sad and pitiful state the crowds were in. Rent or mangled as if by wild beasts…They were harassed, importuned, bewildered by those who should have taught them…The masses were in a state of mental dejection. No wonder Jesus was moved with compassion.”

Having worked at least part time in secular employment during most of the years that I was a pastor gave me an intimate view of the struggles of working people in the work-a-day world. Many times I have entered my place of employment and sensed the touch of the Holy Spirit burdening my heart for people struggling with “fly time” and wanting respite from things ranging from petty annoyances to lifelong joy-draining and faith-debilitating struggles. You hear first hand of their struggles in every day life – a daughter suffering from cancer, a grandson afflicted with a debilitating and undiagnosed disease, or a family struggling financially.

As a result, there was a deepened sense that when the sheep arrived at church on Sunday, they needed to be encouraged, strengthened and uplifted.

How desperate Job was to hear an encouraging word from the lips of his friends. He so wanted to hear something – anything that would encourage his heart. He had been beaten down in body and spirit and longed for the waters that would have quenched the thirsting in his spirit. He ached for the presence of God.

But all he received was a sheep-beating from Pastor Elihu.

In John chapter 21 Jesus met the disciples on the shores of Galilee for breakfast. Following the meal Jesus went for a walk with Peter. Three times the Great Shepherd importuned Peter, “Feed my sheep!”

The hungry sheep look up…and are not fed.

May the words of Milton never be found to be true of our churches and ministries.


Chapter 34 from The Message:
1 Elihu continued:
2 "So, my fine friends—listen to me, and see what you think of this.
3 Isn’t it just common sense—as common as the sense of taste—
4 To put our heads together and figure out what’s going on here?
5 "We’ve all heard Job say, ‘I’m in the right, but God won’t give me a fair trial.
6 When I defend myself, I’m called a liar to my face. I’ve done nothing wrong, and I get punished anyway.’
7 Have you ever heard anything to beat this? Does nothing faze this man Job?
8 Do you think he’s spent too much time in bad company, hanging out with the wrong crowd,
9 So that now he’s parroting their line: ‘It doesn’t pay to try to please God’?
10 "You’re veterans in dealing with these matters; certainly we’re of one mind on this. It’s impossible for God to do anything evil; no way can the Mighty One do wrong.
11 He makes us pay for exactly what we’ve done—no more, no less. Our chickens always come home to roost.
12 It’s impossible for God to do anything wicked, for the Mighty One to subvert justice.
13 He’s the one who runs the earth! He cradles the whole world in his hand!
14 If he decided to hold his breath,
15 every man, woman, and child would die for lack of air.
16 "So, Job, use your head; this is all pretty obvious.
17 Can someone who hates order, keep order? Do you dare condemn the righteous, mighty God?
18 Doesn’t God always tell it like it is, exposing corrupt rulers as scoundrels and criminals?
19 Does he play favorites with the rich and famous and slight the poor? Isn’t he equally responsible to everybody?
20 Don’t people who deserve it die without notice? Don’t wicked rulers tumble to their doom? When the so-called great ones are wiped out, we know God is working behind the scenes.
21 "He has his eyes on every man and woman. He doesn’t miss a trick.
22 There is no night dark enough, no shadow deep enough, to hide those who do evil.
23 God doesn’t need to gather any more evidence; their sin is an open-and-shut case.
24 He deposes the so-called high and mighty without asking questions, and replaces them at once with others.
25 Nobody gets by with anything; overnight, judgment is signed, sealed, and delivered.
26 He punishes the wicked for their wickedness out in the open where everyone can see it,
27 Because they quit following him, no longer even thought about him or his ways.
28 Their apostasy was announced by the cry of the poor; the cry of the afflicted got God’s attention.
29 "If God is silent, what’s that to you? If he turns his face away, what can you do about it? But whether silent or hidden, he’s there, ruling,
30 so that those who hate God won’t take over and ruin people’s lives.
31 "So why don’t you simply confess to God? Say, ‘I sinned, but I’ll sin no more.
32 Teach me to see what I still don’t see. Whatever evil I’ve done, I’ll do it no more.’
33 Just because you refuse to live on God’s terms, do you think he should start living on yours? You choose. I can’t do it for you. Tell me what you decide.
34 "All right-thinking people say—and the wise who have listened to me concur—
35 ‘Job is an ignoramus. He talks utter nonsense.’
36 Job, you need to be pushed to the wall and called to account for wickedly talking back to God the way you have.
37 You’ve compounded your original sin by rebelling against God’s discipline, Defiantly shaking your fist at God, piling up indictments against the Almighty One."

Once, Twice; Twice, Thrice:Love’s Unrelenting Pursuit (Job 33:14-33)

Corrie Ten Boom lived in Holland during WWII but was imprisoned by the Nazi’s in the concentration camp known as Ravensbruck for her family’s involvement in concealing Jews in their home. Members of her family died as a result of what the Germans had done. But the love of God pursued them into the pit of hell. Corrie’s sister Betsie died in the concentration camp on December 16, 1944. Among her last words to her sister were these, “We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still.”

In essence she was saying that God is working in places we do not think He is, in ways we do not think He is and in times we do not think He is.

Peering back into years and decades gone by we do see God’s tapestry and handiwork in the smallest of circumstances. But from the perspective of the present it’s sometimes hard to see how our circumstances could possibly fit into God’s plan.

But they do.

In this section of Job, Elihu essentially says to the one so tormented and afflicted, “You may not realize it Job, but God IS speaking and working! And in more ways than you can comprehend.”

33:13 “Why do you complain against Him That He does not give an account of all His doings?”

“God, WHY is this happening to me?” is a cry often found on the lips of his saints. And most of the time the answer seems to be, “Trust me.” “Our part is not to strive with God,” writes JFB in their commentary, “but to submit. To believe it is right because He does it, not because we see all the reasons for His doing it.”

According to Keil and Delitzsch it is remarkable that, without the use of any synonyms, the writer uses the word “pit” five times in this portion of chapter 33. It is the Hebrew word “shachath.” Note these phrases:

“He keeps back his soul from the pit” (vs. 18)
"Then his soul draws near to the pit” (vs. 22)
“Deliver him from going down to the pit” (vs. 24)
"He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit” (28)
“To bring back his soul from the pit” (vs. 30)

The pit (or death) is seen as a region without any ray of light (see Job 3:5 10:21, 22).

The sinful nature of man drives him ever-onward toward the pit, the underworld, the unseen places of everlasting darkness and torment. Were it not for the unrelenting pursuit of the hand of God in our lives we would hurl ourselves headlong into this awful place.

These are some of the verbs used to describe the actions of Unseen Love:
“He opens…” (vs. 16)
“He seals…” (vs. 17)
“He turns man aside…” (vs. 17)
“He keeps him from…” (vs. 17)
“He keeps back…” (vs. 18)
“He chastens…” (vs. 19)
“He reminds…” (vs. 23)
“He delivers…” (vs. 24)
“He accepts…” (vs. 26)
“He restores…” (vs. 27)
“He redeems…” (vs. 28)
“He does…” (vs. 29)
“He brings back…” (vs. 30)

God is an active God who relentlessly pursues the heart of mankind. Adverse circumstances may simply be the Hand of love reaching out to get our attention.

33:14 “Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices (perceives) it.”


God is speaking…and no one notices it. What a tragic statement.

“God,” says Elihu “IS working in your life Job! You just don’t notice or perceive it.” The root word for perceive (shuwr) is used 23 times in the Old Testament – 16 times in Job alone. But notice this: 11 times that the word is used in Job, it is found in the speeches of Elihu! The word contains the idea of “going round for inspection” or gazing.

Do you get the idea that God is trying to say something to Job?

And maybe to us?

Elihu’s first speech/sermon could be boiled down to a couple of bullet points:

First (in verses 15-18), God speaks by dreams (and sometimes those dreams are terrifying – remember Pilate’s wife? [Matthew 27:19])

Secondly (in verses 19-22) God speaks through pain (with Job it was a never resting fever that racked his ghostly frame).

Here are the verses for the first point:
33:15 “In a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men, while they slumber in their beds, 16 then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, 17 that He may turn man aside from his conduct, and keep man from pride; 18 He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from passing over into Sheol.”

Note verse 17 from the version called The Message, “To turn them back from something bad they’re planning, from some reckless choice…”

God is the Divine Keeper Backer! He is constantly working and striving to rescue souls from some reckless course.

Here are the verses for the second point:
33:19 “Man is also chastened with pain on his bed, and with unceasing complaint in his bones; 20 so that his life loathes bread, and his soul favorite food. 21 his flesh wastes away from sight and his bones which were not seen stick out. 22 then his soul draws near to the pit and his life to those who bring death.”

Note verse 21 – it’s literally, “The normally seen flesh and skin can’t be seen and the normally unseen bones are prominently sticking out!”

I want to emphasize strongly that I am a firm believer in divine healing and the fact that God is active in the world today performing miracle after miracle through his servants to touch those afflicted with disease and disabilities. And ultimately, Job is a book about divine healing! (It just takes a while to get to that part [chapter 42, but note also vs. 25 in this chapter]). But I also believe that God sometimes trains and corrects and shapes and molds us through pain and suffering.

Portions of the following are hard verses to interpret and there is a wide variety of opinion on what exactly they mean.

33:23 "If there is an angel as mediator for him, one out of a thousand, to remind a man what is right for him, 24 then let him be gracious to him, and say, ’Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom’; 25 let his flesh become fresher than in youth, let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’; 26 then he will pray to God, and He will accept him, that he may see His face with joy, and He may restore His righteousness to man. 27 he will sing to men and say, ’I have sinned and perverted what is right, and it is not proper for me. 28 He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit, and my life shall see the light.’”

The angel of verse 23 is the opposite of the death angel (those who bring death) mentioned in verse 22.

I wonder how many times our lives have been directed by the ministry of these unseen heavenly beings?

We have dwelt so much on the negative, but notice these positive results of God’s dealings: physical healing (vs. 25), spiritual healing (vs. 26), emotional healing (vs. 27) and destiny healing (vs. 28).

33:29 “Behold, God does all these oftentimes with men, 30 to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life. 31 Pay attention, O Job, listen to me; keep silent, and let me speak. 32 Then if you have anything to say, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you. 33 If not, listen to me; keep silent, and I will teach you wisdom."

This portion of chapter 33 begins with “God speaks once, twice.” And it ends with, “Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man…” (vs. 29 ESV).

Once, Twice; Twice, Thrice... The language points to the idea of an ongoing persistence. It simply means that God works over and over and over and over again. He is unrelenting in his love.

Perhaps you are weary of God’s dealings with you. We may view ourselves as compliant and obedient to the voice of the Heavenly Father. But the person that we perceive to be the most gentle and yielding may in fact be the most stubborn in the sight of God! He sees things differently.

Perhaps you are even complaining about the way that “life is treating you.” Are you seeing the hand of man as simply that – the hand of man? Or do you believe that Divine Love is relentlessly guiding your circumstances and is weaving all things together for your ultimate good?

An appointment with God lay directly ahead for Job.

And it may be right around the corner for you.

Keep on plodding and don’t give up!