October 24, 2023
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Job? Here’s today’s reading:
Job 36 (NIV)
1 Elihu continued:
2“Bear with me a little longer and I will show you
that there is more to be said in God’s behalf.
3 I get my knowledge from afar;
I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 Be assured that my words are not false;
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.…..Continue Reading
“He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.”
Job 36:15 ESV
I really like how the ESV translates this passage. In my life, it took great affliction for God to open my ears, my eyes, and my heart. Affliction and adversity do not always come from outside us…Paul makes it clear that there is a war between our flesh and our mind/Spirit…that war brings affliction and adversity, even if it is self-inflicted! But “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Rom 7:25
As many have pointed out in this study, the book of Job serves as a wonderful testament and reminder that God is always working, and He is always working for the good of those He loves, because He loves us. But, there may be times where it is very difficult for us to perceive that love, given our earthly circumstances! May we all grow in mercy and grace so that we might build one another up in times of trial, and help us all to remember that God is good!
Again Elihu speaks and he says that he has perfect knowledge of God and speaks for him. God doesn`t need anyone to speak for Him for what He does is always just, right, and for the best. Elihu is thinking like so many Christians today is the prosperity gospel. That God will always make one prosperous with material things, health, etc. if someone is walking with God. This implies that if bad things happen to people it is because of their sin or lack of faith. Not true from what we see about Job and so many others in scriptures. God cares more about the person than He cares for stuff. Jesus taught this and lived it. He wasn`t born as a ruler with wealth but instead was born to humble people with nothing but their faith in God and each other. His step-dad was a carpenter. Thank God that Jesus who was from the beginning when everything was made chose to be born of a virgin so He could take our place on the cross and then conquer death. Philippians 2;6,7 [ Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But made Himself of no reputation. and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.] God bless us as we follow His example.
Job 36
Job 31-36
Job 36
Funny to me that Elihu makes so many spot on references to the greatness of God here. How His works are far beyond our understanding and certainly our abilities. Yet he still doesn’t seem to understand that he is trying to speak for God and explain a situation to Job that he really doesn’t understand.
Following God is not a perfect path with no bumps in the road. We can not expect that everything will always be hearts and rainbows but we do know that God is ALWAYS in control during the good times and the bad. We may not understand God’s plans but they are HIS plans! We need to trust and once again we see the importance of leaning into Him in the good times so when the bad times come (and they WILL come) we have a firm foundation to stand on and we are trusting that He has us in the palm of His hand!
Job 36, so what I hear Elihu say, is that God always punishes the wicked, and prospers the righteous vss. 10-15 in particular.
Tell that to the the rich man and Lazarus! He was shocked in the damnation, he wanted his brothers to be warned! The scribes, pharisees, saducees, a host of other desperately wicked people who prosper, here on earth, while others suffer. Tell it to the christian church, the saints, who will be abused to death in Revelation.
Elihu sounds magnanimous in his defense of God, but he should know, very good and well, that he is wrong. It goes back to the premise of all this, men do not perceive the invisible things of God. There is a “behind the scenes” reality, not natural or physical. In this life, wicked men flourish, but not in the world of the dead. -gy
Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could hear Elihu speak, and the others as well, because there appears to be a prideful attitude when he states there is one here perfect in knowledge…and he is not talking about God! A prideful attitude sullies all the counsel Elihu brings as even his knowledge of God can be given with a know it all flair. He certainly is right to declare the things he does about God and once again he is mostly right. But knowledge puffs up and love builds up. So even if Job was what Elihu claims here, Elihu’s approach is off. May we all find the way to speak the truth in love, caring more about the person receiving the information than about us being right.
Elihu tells Job about God… :/
Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction. So very inappropriate to say to a friend who is suffering. Speak the truth in love to a friend in need.