A God Named Clarence (Job 38:1-4)

38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me!” 

If I hadn’t already read the end of the story I would have thought that this epic struggle would have culminated this way:

• God flies in on a chariot accompanied with a squadron of angels
• God puts His arm around Job to comfort and console him
• God explains in lengthy detail the heavenly contest that transpired in chapters 1 and 2 between God and Satan
• God gives Job a medal for passing the test with flying colors
• The angels do the “wave” and give Job a standing ovation
• God heals Job and then gives him a bear hug
• God allows Satan to chase Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar across the Chaldean plain
• God answers Rabbi Kushner’s question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
• And as an added bonus He goes on a long walk with Job and also explains why good things happen to bad people

But guess what?  That isn’t how the story ends. And at the first read it seems that the Comforter-in-Chief has miserably failed “Compassion 101.”

God doesn’t show up at Uz in His whirlwind limo and say, “Wow Job! You’ve really been mistreated!”  In drill sergeant fashion He just says, “On your feet!  And put your pants on…I’ve got a bunch of questions to ask you.”  He doesn’t even acknowledge Job’s awful suffering.

On “Working Preacher.Org” Professor Kathryn Schifferdecker remarks, “Like George Bailey in ‘It's a Wonderful Life,’ Job responds to his troubles by wishing he had never been born (Job 3). But Job doesn't get a visit from the portly, comforting Clarence the angel. Instead, at the end of the book, the One who appears to Job is none other than the Creator of the cosmos, the LORD God Almighty! And God doesn't come to comfort Job. Instead, God lays into Job, lecturing him from the center of a cyclone…”

It was a “great wind” (a cyclone?) that destroyed Job’s family in chapter one.  It is now at last “out of a whirlwind” that God manifests His presence to His broken and suffering servant.  (The Hebrew word for "whirlwind" in 38:1 usually appears in the context of upheaval and distress and signifies “turbulence.”  That certainly fits the context of the story of Job.)

Remember Jobs anguished cry in chapter 29?  "Oh that I were as in months gone by, as in the days when God watched over me; when His lamp shone over my head, {and} by His light I walked through darkness; as I was in the prime of my days, when the friendship of God {was} over my tent; when the Almighty was yet with me, {and} my children were around me.”

Although the pain from the loss of his children (and the loss of his employees) must still tear at his heart, the spiritual dereliction and the destitution are over. Yet in these final few chapters there is not one single answer to any of the questions that have haunted and perplexed Job.  To the great question of “Why?” there is only silence.  And yet when God is finished speaking with Job, he is totally satisfied, contented, and revitalized.

Francis I Andersen writes, “That God speaks at all is enough for Job.  All he needed to know is that everything is still all right between himself and God….to that extent it does not matter much what they talk about.  Any topic will do for a satisfying conversation between friends.  It is each other they are enjoying.”

“…to that extent it does not matter much what they talk about…”  I like that.  Job is simply thrilled that God has broken the silence.  That aching cry of his heart has finally been answered.  Not in the way that he expected for God shows up in unusual ways and speaks unexpected things to us. 

In previous chapters Job had wanted either a formal indictment, a list of the charges against him, or a declaration of his innocence, an acquittal) from God.  He got neither.

 

God doesn’t answer any of Job’s questions (perhaps we feel like we have a “right” to an answer for the problems that are plaguing our lives.  But perhaps we don’t). Nor does He charge him with any wrongdoing (to the chagrin of the three).  He simply says, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge” (or “Who is this that distorts and obscures My carefully thought out plan for your life by words without knowledge?”)  We could paraphrase it by saying, “You don’t know what you are talking about Job!  You are making assumptions about your life’s trial without seeing the big picture.”

Let me repeat verse 3 again, “Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct Me! 

Did you catch the little phrase “…like a man”?  The word for “man” used here is the Hebrew “geber.”  FIA writes, “As distinct from the more general Hebrew words for ‘man’ this word specifically refers to a male at the height of his powers. As such it depicts humanity at its most competent and capable level.” And Hartley gives us this insight, “This choice of words means that neither his affliction nor his inflamed rhetoric has diminished his intrinsic worth as a human being.”

In other words, the Creator is saying to this extremely sick, extremely weak and extremely discouraged man, “You are still a warrior prince in My eyes Job; your disease and trial have not diminished that one bit; now stand up like that warrior I know you to be and prepare for battle!”

I think something happened to Job at that moment.  Even though from our viewpoint God’s words appear almost harsh, something happened in the heart of Job.  This man, so wracked by disease and trial, so spent from battling through the thick veil of blackness, reached deep within himself and, for the first time in weeks, sat up!  Tears of hope began to course down his cheeks.     

38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding…”

What follows in the next four chapters is a rather remarkable synopsis of a trip with God to the planetarium and the zoo.  In the New American Standard Version I count sixty-two question marks in these chapters. Those 62 question marks punctuate some 70 plus questions that are put to Job in rapid fire succession.

And the topics of those questions range from goats to eagles, from horses to ostriches, from the footings of the earth to the boundaries of the ocean, from ice to frost to dew to rain to snow, from the great land monster called “Behemoth” to the great sea monster called “Leviathan.”     

God questions Job on two themes – the structure of the world and the maintenance of the world.  Hartley writes, “God raises Job's sight from his own troubles to the marvelous order that undergirds the world.”       

“Where were you…?”  Job was in a state of nothingness, a mere non-entity; he wasn’t even an onlooker. God hurls question after question at him and he could not answer the least of them!  (Even modern day man with his great engineering skills cannot come to agreement as to how the pyramids were built.)

Professor Schifferdecker writes, “Is this an adequate response to Job's suffering? It is not, in a conventional sense, very comforting. God would probably fail a present-day pastoral care class. Nonetheless, these speeches of God at the end of the book of Job accomplish something profound. They move Job out of his endless cycle of grief into life again. They enable him to live freely in a world full of heartbreaking suffering and heart-stopping beauty…”

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A God named Clarence or a God named Yahweh?  Most of us want to have our prayers answered and we want our circumstances changed.  We want our ash heap existence fixed!

But we generally want sort of a portly, good-natured, non-combative and somewhat defective god named Clarence to do more of a general “rearranging of the ash” instead of a full-blown tornadic wind upheaval of my entire life!  (Even ash heaps can get to be comfortable places.) And we sure don’t want to have to “stand up and put our pants on.” That means I need to stop complaining and that I can’t blame everything under the sun for my problems and that I’ve got some responsibility in this mess.

We think it would be cool for El-Shaddai to show up at our doorstep in a divine whirlwind…but are we ready to have everything we hold dear (our world view, our theology, and our “stuff”) turned upside down?

We want God to answer prayers, but do we want God?

God may not visit your ash heap in a manner that you think He will; He may not visit your ash heap at a time that you think He should.  And when He does show up, He may not speak to you the words you think you need to hear.

He may just say, “Stand up!  Put your pants on!  I want to talk to you for awhile…..”

You Are God Alone! (Phillips Craig and Dean)

Our Desperate Need to "Wonder" (Job 37:14-24)

When our three year old granddaughter Naomi saw our Christmas tree for the first time this year, it was a joy to see her eyes filled with wonder and hear her expression of, “Wow!” 

In a nutshell it is this expression of wonder that infuses Elihu’s theology at the end of chapter 37 as he beholds the approach of the terrifying beauty and majesty of God.  And it is this very vein of thought that ultimately begins to lift Job out of his awful circumstances.

37:14 “Listen to this, O Job, Stand and consider the wonders of God!”

At first reading Elihu’s admonition seems a little cruel. How can a man so diseased and despairing even attempt to stand?  And yet twice in the chapters to follow it is this exact admonition that Jehovah uses during His encounter with Job. But perhaps it may be more of an admonition to “stand still” then simply to “stand.”  Immobilized by his weakness, Job still had to be reminded that the raging of his spirit needed to be quieted.    

“Listen” comes from a root word meaning “to expand” and so literally means to “broaden out the ear.”  Five of the six times this word is used in Job it is found in the speeches of Elihu. 

Sometimes our spirits may resemble Job’s – agitated, mad at God, and un-listening – when what would truly bring healing are silence and stillness and a “standing still.”  

37:15 “Do you know how God establishes them, and makes the lightning of His cloud to shine?  16 Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, the wonders of one perfect in knowledge…?”

Picking up a refrain from chapter 36 and the first half of chapter 37, Elihu again focuses on the meteorological mysteries of clouds and lightning and thunderstorms (the word “cloud” is found 22 times in Job).

The word “wonder” is found twice in these first couple of verses, and it refers to things that are beyond human capabilities, the unsolvable “I-can’t-find-a-way-out-of-my-problem” things. These abnormal events are designed to strike the mind forcibly, to create a sense of wonder, and cause us to know that there is a God Who cares!  In the midst of his gloom, Job’s sense of wonder needed to be rekindled.

37:17 “You whose garments are hot, when the land is still because of the south wind?  18 Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, strong as a molten mirror?”

Throughout this book, Job has wanted an encounter with his seeming Antagonist (he would get his wish shortly). But Elihu wants Job to consider something, “You know Job – when it gets really hot out here in Uz and you are sweltering and all you have strength to do is to take a nap, are you able to ‘hammer out the sky like a metal mirror?’”  Francis I Andersen reminds us, “Since the sky seems firm and solid to a viewer on earth, the poetic comparison with ‘a molten mirror’ should not be spoiled by introducing quarrels about its scientific accuracy.  The Hebrews were fully aware that the structure of the heavens was much more complex than that of an inverted bowl.”

The version of the Bible called The Message puts those verses this way, “Why, you don’t even know how to keep cool on a sweltering hot day, so how could you even dream of making a dent in that hot-tin-roof sky?”

37:19 “Teach us what we shall say to Him; we cannot arrange our case because of darkness.  20 Shall it be told Him that I would speak? Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up?”

Note the word “arrange.”  It is used of the arranging of pieces of firewood in Genesis 22:9, of the setting in order of the pieces of showbread (two rows of 6 cakes each) in Leviticus 24:8, and of the preparations for a legal case in Job 13:18. It often contains a militaristic/battleground tone and is used in the context of warfare and means a ‘drawing up in battle order.’   At one point Job described himself as being “attacked by the terroristic forces of God ‘arranged’ against him.” (Job 6:4)

Throughout this book Job was desirous of taking legal action against God in a court of law.  But in this very poetic scene, Elihu reminds Job that he can scarcely formulate an opening statement let alone argue or arrange an entire case.  “Job, your dispute arises from a lack of knowledge of God’s ways (your darkness); you can hardly see past your tears let alone peer into the omniscience of God and plumb the depths of His love!”

The Arabs had a proverb, “Take care that thy tongue cut not thy throat.”  Barnes writes in his commentary, “We are surrounded by mysteries which we cannot comprehend, and we should therefore approach our Maker with profound reverence and submission.”  And Trapp reminds us, “Silence may be our best eloquence!” 

Perhaps verse 20 could be paraphrased, “You are on the verge of being swallowed up by your raging and bitterness; should I really ask one of the angels to approach the One Who dwells in unapproachable light and say, ‘I hate to bother you Sir, but Job has a few complaints….’”

37:21 “Now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies; But the wind has passed and cleared them.  22 Out of the north comes golden splendor; Around God is awesome majesty.”

It’s a little difficult to tell exactly how this scene plays out.  Is it that the dazzling splendor of God is in the initial storm or is it that the natural metrological storm clears and the supernatural storm appears? However it takes place, one thing is for sure – the dazzling splendor of God begins to agitate Elihu and his speeches indicate as much.  Barnes writes, “God is introduced in the following chapter with amazing sublimity and grandeur…He comes in a whirlwind, and speaks in tones of vast sublimity…as Elihu discerned (the approach of God) he was agitated, and his language became abrupt and confused. His language is just such as one would use when the mind was overawed with the approach of God…”

Our speech would become a little agitated also if the earth was reverberating with the thunder of God, a lightning storm filled the blackened sky and suddenly a tornado appeared!

Verse 22 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible, “Out of the north comes golden splendor; around God is awesome majesty.”  The Message renders it, “…a terrible beauty streams from God.”  Instead of trying to reason our way out of our problems, maybe we just need a glimpse of “the terrible beauty that streams from God!”

I cringe when I hear someone refer to the Creator of the Universe as “the Big Man upstairs.”  We are but one breath away from eternity and we should speak of eternal things with far more reverence and respect.

37:23 “The Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power and He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.  24 Therefore men fear Him; He does not regard any who are wise of heart.”

Trying to paint a word picture of the immensity of God is a little like trying to gain a sense of the vastness of the ocean by putting our ear next to a sea shell and “listening to the ocean.”

Concerning verse 23 one writer states, “This is a very abrupt exclamation and highly descriptive of the state of mind in which Elihu was at this time – full of solemnity, wonder and astonishment at his own contemplation of this ‘great First Cause’…" Barnes puts verse 23 literally and simply by translating it this way, “The Almighty! We cannot find him out! Great in power, and in justice, and in righteousness!” 

And Clarke summarizes this section by saying, “…the incomprehensible glory and excellency of God confound all his (Elihu’s) powers of reasoning and description; he cannot arrange his words by reason of darkness; and he concludes with stating that, to poor weak man, God must for ever be incomprehensible and to him a subject of deep religious fear and reverence. Just then the terrible majesty of the Lord appears! Elihu is silent! The rushing mighty wind…proclaims the presence of Jehovah: and out of this whirlwind God answers for and proclaims Himself!”

A weatherman has enough difficulty trying to remain upright and do a broadcast during the fury of a hurricane.  But can you imagine trying to introduce the King of kings during this storm?

Concerning verse 24 Matthew Henry writes, “He regards the prayer of the humble, not the policies of the crafty.” 

The approach of God had left Elihu and Job and the others in a state of wonder. The dictionary defines “wonder” as “to be filled with amazement, bewilderment, astonishment or awe.”

Our God is a wonder-working God – He is able to do the “beyond our comprehension” things, the extraordinarily difficult things that baffle the imagination.  I believe that we are created with a need “to wonder.”  Whether it is contemplating the wonder of the tiny spring-like cucumber tendril (by Harvard scientists nonetheless!) (to see, click on this link: Cucumber Tendril), or writing a blog about a desire to “Reclaim Curiosity in a Ho-Hum world”  (One Man's Wonder) or thinking about the origins of the universe, we have a desperate need to wonder.

Perhaps this is why, during a very, very dark period in Israel’s history, I find it so striking that the prophet Isaiah wrote, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall rest upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)

His Name shall be called “Wonderful…”  He is able to bring hope to your un-resolvable situation.

Dan Vander Ark
Copyright 2013

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