Enter Elihu, Part 1

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Lance Sparks

Enter Elihu, Part 1
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Scripture: Job 32:1-37:24

Transcript

So good to have you with us tonight as we study God's Word together

If you got your Bible Job chapter 32 Job chapter 32, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 Job in the book of Job Elihu enters at this time a very specific time a very particular time Elihu is a unique individual and And you'll hear tonight and next week as we talk about him that I will take a different perspective on Elihu then then most Commentators will take on Elihu. I think he's a he's a pretty good guy And I think you realize as soon as you open up to chapter 32 that Elihu has been present the whole time You don't know this because no one says anything until you get to this chapter and you realize that Elihu has been there listening to the conversation Since chapter 4 He's all always been there and it begs the question who else was there We don't necessarily know because the Bible didn't tell us right

Maybe there were others that were present Certainly there had to be had to be somebody that would was there who was interested in knowing what's happening I mean after all if Job is the greatest man in the East everybody knows who he is, right and You know all that he had and now they know that everything's been taken from him even his health and Even to look upon him must have been quite the sight you'd think that that would draw a crowd, right? You'd think that someone would come along and say wow, you've seen Job No, no, come here

Let's go look at Job No, he looks pretty grotesque today So they make their dirty down to see Job and the ash sheep and and try to figure out what's going on with him Maybe they listen in on the conversations

Maybe they want to know what's what's being said We don't know we can only speculate But we do know because the chapter 32 that Elihu Has been there the whole time And what Elihu has to say is is very important So much so that he speaks for a long time He speaks so long it's longer than 12 books in the New Testament and 1117 books. I'm a 12 books in the Old Testament 17 books in the New Testament So his conversation is longer than 29 books of the Bible Now the question is does what do you have to say is it important? We do know that at the very end Job's three miserable comforters are all rebuked by the Lord and They have to repent But Elihu is not The Elihu doesn't have to repent So what is it about Elihu that makes him different than the other three friends And then we as soon as you begin to open up to Job 32 It says then these three men ceased answering Job they were done Right Zophar Eliphaz build it build that they're all done Because he was righteous in his own eyes that was their estimation He was a righteous man in his own eyes No one else's but we know that that's not true because that's not God's testimony about Job but verse 2 the anger of Elihu the son of barakal the Buzite of the family of Ram burned against Job and his anger burned against Bernard burned because he justified himself before God The singer burned against his three friends because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were Years older than he and when the lie who saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men his anger burned Elihu is an angry man But some come fears would think that that was the wrong way to be I Tend to think it's it's a righteous indignation that you can be angry Ephesians 4 26 and not sin. I Think Elihu was rightly incensed with the conversation that's taking place. I Mean he just sat there and listen to everybody speak He knows what's being said If you ever been in a conversation and hear people speak and they're not getting to the point and they don't provide the answers and you sit back and say Mmm, I got I got to say something sometime. I got to interject something somewhere because these guys are wrong Right. I believe that that's where Elihu is His name simply means My God is he? he's a son of barakal, which mean God blesses and Barakal is a Boozite, okay Boozite is a land and that land Was governed by the young man named booze or buzz he was the brother of Us in Genesis 22 21

So you have us and butts and so And so the very first thing you notice is that there's a genealogy about Elihu, but there's no genealogy about the other three friends none whatsoever and Then he's present With the conversation so he knows all that's taken place up to this point He's heard it all He's heard what Job has had to say He's heard what his friends have had to say

He's not pleased necessarily with either person's comments Because he knows There's another answer And on top of that Elihu is going to be one who helps us understand how it is you prepare for the presence of God some would believe that Elihu was like a Prophet or a forerunner like Elijah or John the Baptist because he speaks right before the Lord comes on the scene It's gonna help begin to answer some of Job's questions He's gonna answer them from a very spiritual biblical perspective And there's gonna be a big contrast between what he says and what the other three friends have said Because their source is different than his source Their source was experience their source was tradition But his source is from the Lord himself Which makes it a different perspective and I'll show you that in a moment But as he speaks he begins to address these issues and begins to answer some of Job's questions Job's biggest question was why is it God not answering? Why is heaven silent? Why is there no response? I just need to bring my argument before God and if I can I can plead my case and I can plead my integrity Then I'll be vindicated and but why isn't God listening and So Elihu is going to answer that question Which reminds me of the story of President Ronald Reagan Who was a great communicator? He loved to tell one particular story of a young country boy who had just finished school But had never preached a sermon When he arrived at at this country church, he walked in and to his amazement there was one rancher president The church was empty except for this one man He was sitting about halfway back on the hard pew So the young preacher walked back there shook his hand and said well, what do you think I ought to do? The old rancher said well, I don't really know son. I'm just a cowpoke But if I went out into my field and found only one steer I'd feed it That's all the young preacher needed

He climbed up in the pulpit and delivered a sermon that went on and on and on And on Over an hour later He he finally ended the marathon He walked back to the rancher and asked Well, what do you think? I Don't really know son, but I'll tell you this if I went out in my field and found I only had one steer I wouldn't feed him the whole load Elihu feeds Job the whole load the whole load and With Elihu there There is no other conversation other than him Job doesn't speak Job's words are done

We saw that that last week But what he wants to do is address some of the questions that Job hasn't had any interest in And he has become angry with the conversation that he has heard Because I firmly believe that he wants to provide a biblical spiritual perspective for Job And begin to show him the answers he longs for And so I've divided these six chapters under four points, okay chapter 34 is about Appropriating the truth of God chapter 33 is about Enunciating the graciousness of God chapter 34 and 35 is all about Accentuating the justice of God in Chapter 36 and 37 is about articulating the majesty of God Those are the four points

We're going to cover this week and next week I'm going to get to the first two this week in chapter 33 and chapter 34 and cover the four remaining chapters next week In verse 6 it says so Elihu the son of Barakal the Buzite spoke out and said I am young in years And you are old therefore I was shy and Afraid to tell you what I think. I thought age should speak and increased years Should teach wisdom Stop right there I'm younger than the rest of you and Out of courtesy and out of humility He wouldn't say it say a thing He let the older generation speak first. I mean rightly so but as he let them speak He would assume that with age comes wisdom And with that wisdom insight in terms of what's happening But he soon found out that with their age There was very little wisdom If any and so he knows that he has to say something and so in the verse number eight it says But it is a spirited man and the breath of the Almighty Gives them understanding He's gonna repeat that statement But I think it's a very important statement because I think it believe it really leads to the fact that he is talking about not Just his spirit, but the breath of God infusing his spirit to speak the things of God I believe he's claiming divine inspiration. I Think that that Eli who is going to speak To Job and to his friends from a biblical perspective from God's perspective not from traditions expect perspective or not from what Experience teaches you but from what the Word of God the truth of God really Teaches you and you'll see that as we go on In verse number nine

He says the the abundant in years may not be wise nor may elders understand justice in a body so He recognized that they didn't know as much as they thought they knew So I say listen to me. I too would tell you what I think and come tears will say well You know what? That's just him being arrogant as a young man

Let me tell you what I think I've heard what you guys have thought. I don't think so I don't think Eli who is that kind of guy and we'll show you that as we go through these next few chapters He says behold. I waited for your words. I had listened to your reasonings while you pondered what to say I even paid close attention to you Indeed

There was no one who refuted Job not one of you who answered his Words I listen I listen intently and Job was pleading for answers and Job was asking asking What do I do? How is this the way it is and you guys gave him no answers? And the reason they gave him no answers is because in their own minds Everything was made up in terms of what they believe what's happening to Job But he recognized they gave him no answers and that's why God will rebuke those three men in the end So it says in verse number 13 do not say we have found wisdom God will rout him not man for he has not arranged his words against me nor will I reply to him with your arguments I'm not gonna speak the way you guys spoke. I'm not gonna use your arguments against Job because your arguments are wrong So verse 15 they're dismayed They no longer answer words that failed him Shall I wait because they do not speak because they stop and no longer answer I to answer My share I also would tell my opinion for I am full of words the spirit within me constrains me behold my belly is like Unvented wine like new wineskins

It is about to burst Let me speak that I may get relief

Let me open my lips and answer Let me now be Partial to no one nor flatter any man for I do not know how to flatter Else my maker would soon Take me away She's listen. I Am so filled with what I need to say. I am fired by the Spirit of God I am fed up with what you guys have said and I am filled with the truth that needs to be spoken My belly is about to burst He's like Jeremiah who said woe is me if I do not speak and here's a lie You he has sat back and listened to all the conversation and all the interaction and all the debate and he sat back and thought This isn't right They're wrong They've missed the point and yet he said nothing the whole time Until now Job's words were done The other three had nothing else to say So now he believes it's his time to speak and Now he's about to burst wide open Because he has so much to say He's filled with what God wants him to say and So he's going to address Job and you will note in chapter 34 33 verse number one

He says however now Job Do you know that? the other three men Never addressed Joe by name Only Eli who does they never said? Hey Joe, listen up Joe

What do you think about this? Hey Joe? No, never said that They just spoke But Eli who six times calls Joe by name It's very important I Mean just the things by observation of a text will help you understand a little bit more about this man Eli who who truly be tends to be very sensitive to Joe He'll say some very direct things He'll be very confrontive because he's a true man of God who wants to speak the the truth of God So he's going to do that but at the same time He addresses Job from a very personal standpoint, did he know Job before this we don't know But we do know that when he addresses Job he calls him by name Which is three friends did not not even once But Eli who does He says however now Job, please hear my speech and listen to all my words Behold now I open my mouth my tongue in my mouth Speaks he's pleading Job to listen

So I want you to hear what I have to say. I Know you've been listening to everybody else. I know you're probably tired of listening to anybody else. I get it, but just give me a chance Just listen to what I have to say I'm going to speak and when I do he says verse 3 My words are from the uprightness of my heart and my lips speak knowledge sincerely The Spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty gives me life In other words, he repeats what he said in chapter 33 So he's going back to what he believes that God has spoken to him Now he's going to speak it to Job and you'll notice that when he speaks he speaks Sincerely Spiritually seriously and sympathetically That's a lie unlike the other three He's going to speak first of all sincerely When someone speaks sincerely they do it because of their integrity and because of their intelligence Which says verse 3 my words are from the uprightness of my heart

That's his integrity And my lips speak knowledge sincerely So he's going to speak with great sincerity And then he's going to speak spiritually the Spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty gives me life Refute me if you can array yourself before me take your stand Behold I belong to God like you I too have been formed out of the clay Behold no fear of me Should terrify you nor should my pressure weigh heavily on you Surely you have spoken in my hearing and I've heard the sound of your words What a statement I've listened and I've heard the sound of your words and Job what I'm gonna say is very serious Very serious, but it's going to come from a standpoint of great sympathy. I Listened to what your friends have said and I'm gonna respond to them as well And so when you converse with someone and you're really intent on leading that person into into the knowledge of the truth Well, it must be done with sincerity and it must be done with spirituality And it must be done with all the seriousness of what it means to follow the Lord and honor the Lord And it must be done sympathetically And that's a lie So the verse 9 he says I am pure without transgression He's talking about what Job has said and he's right about this. I am pure without transgression I am innocent and there is no guilt in me behold

He invents pretexts against me He counts me as his enemy He puts my feet in the stocks He watches all my paths In other words, he is reiterating back to Job What he's already said to let him know that I've listened to your words and this is what you've said You know great counselors take your words and lead you into biblical truth The other three men did not take Job's words and lead him into biblical truth They had their own idea as to what he should be doing But great counselors listen

Well listen enough and well enough to be able to take the words that you've already spoken and Lead you into biblical truth the biblical understanding of what's happening in your life That is a lie who? That's what he wants to do So as he appropriates the truth of God in chapter 33 now, he's going to enunciate the graciousness of God He wants to show Job how gracious God is Because Job's question is is heaven silent Why hasn't God? Spoken and so what life is gonna do is gonna challenge that thinking This is what he says Verse 10 behold, he invents pretext against me He counts me. I'm sorry

That's not gonna be Verse number 12 behold

Let me tell you you are not right in this Job you're not right You got it wrong For God is greater Than man, so wait a minute Job was already said that Job knows that God is Almighty God Job knows that God is great He's already spoken about the greatness of God back in the in the in this the last chapter But he does it from a perspective of the fact that You want to question God Job? He says why do you complain against him? That he does not give an account of all his doings Job you really think that God is accountable to you Do you really think that God has to give you an answer? Eli who's being very truthful here because you know what think about us we Demand answers from God we want God to answer us

Why why is this happening? God? Tell me why tell me why I can't do this and why I have to do this and or why you're not responding God Tell me what's going on here

It's almost as if we demand God to respond to us And Eli who's saying job are you demanding God to respond do you think God owes you an explanation for what's going on Because most of us believe that God owes us an explanation He doesn't That's what I love over in the book of Romans chapter 9 verse number 19 It says you will say to me then why does he still find fault for who resists his will on the contrary? Who are you O man who answers back to God Who do you think you are? to answer back to God Take it over in Isaiah chapter 45 Isaiah says something very similar as I as Isaiah speaks about young Cyrus 150 years before the event happens a hundred years before Cyrus is ever born God Calls Cyrus his Messiah His deliverer God is going to use a pagan king to be his rescuer of the nation of Israel and So it's the first time and the only time that a Gentile is called God's anointed Thus says the Lord chapter 45 or someone to Cyrus is anointed whom I have taken by the right hand This would do nations before him and to loose the loins of kings and to open doors before him Said the gates will not be shut

In other words He's gonna use Cyrus To get Israel back to Jerusalem, but Cyrus isn't even born yet It's a hundred years before his birth 150 years before it actually happens He says verse number four for the sake of Jacob my servant in Israel my chosen one I have also called you by your name. I have given you a title to honor Though you have not known me. I am the Lord and there is no other beside me

There is no God I will gird you though You have not known me that men may know from the rising to the setting of the Sun that there is no one besides me I am the Lord and there is no other the one forming light and creating darkness causing well-being and creating calamity I am the Lord who does all these things Verse 9 woe to the one who quarrels with his maker an earthenware vessel Among the vessels of the earth with a clay say to the Potter What are you doing or the thing that you are making say he has no hands woe to him who says to a father What are you begetting or to a woman to what are? you giving birth The Lord says cursed it is the man who wants to quarrel with me For who do you think you are because I am God there's none other there's none like me yet

You want to question my Plan in my process Jeremiah says the same thing Jeremiah 18 verse number one the word came the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying arise and go down to the potter's house and there I will meet I will announce my words to you Then I went down to the potter's house and there he was making something on the wheel But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the Potter So you remade it into another vessel as it pleased the Potter to make for the word of the Lord came to me saying Can I not Oh house of Israel deal with you as this Potter does declares the Lord? Behold, I declare in the potter's hand

So are you in my hand Oh house of Israel at one moment? I might speak concerning the nation or concerning the kingdom to uproot to pull down or to destroy it That nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil. I will relent Concerning the calamity I plan to bring on it Or at another moment, I might speak concerning the nation or concerning the kingdom to build up or to a planet If it does evil in my sight by not obeying my voice Then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless so now then speak to the men of Judah and Against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying thus says the Lord behold I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you Oh Turn back each of you from his evil way and reform your ways and your deeds God says I'm gonna do whatever I want to do And if you don't do what I tell you to do Then it's gonna be worse for you But if I tell you it's gonna be bad and you repent I'll relent But you gotta know that I'm not changing my plans What I've decided to do I'm going to do That's in essence what Eli he was saying

He says God is Greater than man Job Do you really think that that God owes you an explanation for his plan? Do you really think that God should should explain to you why you've lost everything? Why you're in such pain why you can't sleep at night? Do you really think the maker of the universe? requires Is required to give you an answer Oh Job you've got it wrong He's not At that he says this indeed God speaks once or twice yet No one Notices it in other words

God is speaking And God speaks all the time Job and you've missed it Now notice he was gonna say two things Job speak God speaks Job Why you're saying two ways? one in dreams and one Through discipline and God has been speaking to you all along You think he's silent But he hasn't been silent He has been speaking to you This is gonna be the answer to his question This is very important. I Recall the words of of one individual who said this Once there was a man who dared God to speak Burn the bush like you did for Moses God and I will follow Collapse the walls like you did for Joshua God, and I will fight Still the waves like you did on Galilee God, and I will listen So the man sat by a bush near a wall close to the sea and waited for God to speak And God heard the man So God answered He said fire Not for a bush But for a church he brought down a wall not a brick but of sin He stilled a storm not of the sea but of the soul and God waited for the man to respond And he waited He waited And he waited But because the man was looking at bushes and not hearts bricks and not lives Seas and not souls He decided that God had done nothing Finally he looked to God and asked have you lost your power and God looked at him and said Have you lost your? hearing profound Life says Job God Has been speaking

Have you been listening? It's the words for all of us Because God always wants to communicate to his children Now we know that he doesn't communicate through dreams anymore, but he did in in Bible times, right? he communicated to Jacob through a dream about providing Jacob an understanding on how how to get to heaven remember the staircase that came down out of heaven and angels ascending and Descending on on that staircase and when he arose from his sleep He realized that God had shown him the gateway to glory So God spoke to Jacob God spoke to Joseph in dreams so much so that he was able to save not just Egypt but all of Israel his brothers God spoke through Daniel in dreams and visions and God spoke through Ezekiel through dreams and visions and Nebuchadnezzar He would sleep at night

He'd have all kinds of dreams that that put great fear into his life, right? So it's so that he wanted someone to come and tell him what his dream was and then interpret the dream But nobody could do that except Daniel and Daniel would defend all the other magicians as God would give him the knowledge of the dream and then he would interpret the dream for Nebuchadnezzar And that would eventually lead to Nebuchadnezzar down the road coming to a place where he would give his life to the Living God If you're with us in our study of Daniel you realize how God would use those dreams to save Nebuchadnezzar as Job would say six times five times in chapter 34 from the pit so he says These words Indeed God speaks once or twice yet

No one notices it in a dream a vision of the night when sound Sleep falls on men while they slumber in their beds Then he opens the ears of men and seals their instruction that he may turn man aside From his conduct and keep men from pride He keeps back his soul from the pit from the realm of the dead Job don't you know that God speaks? And God has spoken and Job Job had a dream Eliphaz he had a dream in the night visions, right? And so he's heard about Job's dream He's heard about Eliphaz his dream So he already knows he's been a part of the conversation

He sat and listened He knows that God does speak through dreams because that's how God did it in those days He would speak through dreams and visions He would sleep with man He would speak when man was least likely to listen and to hear Because this is all about the graciousness of God This is why he enunciates God's graciousness Because God is so gracious to you job to speak to you in your dreams because God is doing this He doesn't speak just one way

He speaks in a myriad of ways But outside of that job he speaks to you in the discipline He says these words he says verse 19 man is Also chastened with pain on his bed and with unceasing complaint in his bones So that in his life blows bread and his soul Favorite food his flesh wastes away from the sight and his bones which were not seen Stick out Then his soul draws near to the pit and his life to those who bring death God uses discipline God uses suffering God uses affliction people who suffer greatly God speaks in profound ways remember CS Lewis in his book the problem of pain Remember what he said? He said the human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender Self-will as long as all seems to be well with it Now error and sin both have this property that the deeper they are the less their victim suspects their existence They are masked evil pain is unmasked Unmistakable evil every man knows that something is wrong when he has been he is being hurt We can rest contentedly in our sins But pain insists upon being attended to attended to God whispers to us in our pleasures Speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world And see us lose was right God speaks to us immensely amidst our affliction amidst our pain

It's like a megaphone from from heaven It's like Luke chapter 13 remember when when the Tower of Siloam fell on 18 people and killed them and they've stepped me walking by Or where pilot would would mix the sacrifices of those who came to worship God with their sacrifices and God said Do you think those people were worse than anybody else? Because a tower fell on them or because they were slaughtered why they went to go worship the Lord No, unless you repent you will likewise perish The pain of their loss the pain of their death was like a megaphone to all around you better repent or you're likewise going to to perish Over in Psalm Psalm 107 The psalmist says these words Verse number 23 those who go down to the sea and ships who do business on great waters They have seen the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep for he spoke and raised up a stormy wind And lifted up the waves of the sea they rose up to the heavens They went down to the depths their soul melted away in their misery They reeled and staggered like a drunken man and were at their wits end Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their distresses God caused a storm in the sea You've heard about the the man he's the psalmist says who go out to sea and they know all about the sea They know about storms in the sea But when a storm arises that's so immense and so dangerous that that men fear for their lives They cry out to the Lord and the Lord hears their cry and delivers them from the distress Why because the pain of impending death was like a megaphone to wake them up from their spiritual stupor to realize? Death is imminent

Will you repent? Will you follow the Lord? Will you be saved from the pit? That's exactly what a lie

He was saying lie who has Has great wisdom Because I firmly believe he is speaking from the words of God the breath of the Almighty Because he's preparing Job for when God is about to speak Now there's a lie who know God's gonna speak. I don't think so But it becomes the prophet for Job to prepare him when God speaks he's not gonna give you any explanation job He's not gonna explain to you why you lost your kids He's not gonna explain to you why your wife has not come to visit you or sits with you in the ash heap He's not gonna do that He's not gonna explain to you why all your servants are dead and why your house is destroyed and why your finances are all gone He's not gonna tell you that Job All he's gonna do is reveal to you himself He wants you to know who he is Because if you know who he is, none of that other stuff matters

It doesn't Because everything will be seen from the perspective of God's eyes not your eyes So Eli who is in the process of preparing job for what God's going to say to him He tells them listen God is speaking and In dreams when man's asleep when he's very passive God arouses him and opens his eyes opens his ears Because he knows that judgment is right around the corner He needs to listen to what God has to say and those who suffer pain like yourself Joe Like you Joe, you're sitting here in an ash heap You're here and all kinds of pain

You're in misery Joe and God is speaking to you Loudly Are you listening? Have you heard? What he's saying to you? Now we know this is true Why because at the very end he will say I have heard of you with the hearing of my ear But now my eyes have finally seen you So God is at work in Job's life In fact, Job has been working a guy's been working Job's life all along Remember back in Job chapter chapter 9 in Job chapter 9 It tells us that Job cried for a mediator

He cried for an advocate when someone to defend him, right? But when he come to Job chapter 16 He says these words even now my witness is in heaven and my advocate is on high So so God is increasingly Telling him exactly what's happening opening his eyes to understand that he does have a mediator

He does have an advocate He is in heaven and when you come to chapter 19 Job says my I know that my Redeemer lives and one day he will stand upon the earth and Then when you come to chapter 23, he says listen, I know that when he's tried me I'll come forth as gold So so God is teaching Job Job is growing in his knowledge and understanding of God as the chapters go on All Elihu do is doing is opening Job's eyes to help him See that God is already at work in your life Job You just haven't been Listening

So Elihu's words are are very very profound He says in verse number 23 There's an angel a messenger as a mediator for him One out of a thousand to remind a man what is right for him Then let it be gracious to him and say deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom Let the flesh become fresher than in youth Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor that 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 He will sing to men and say I have sinned and perverted what is right and it is not proper for me He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit and my life shall see the light then he says behold God does all these Oftentimes with men why because God is gracious God is kind God is good That's what God does Job See he's a totally different perspective than the other three guys They're hammering on Job They're berating Job you've sinned you have what you have because you have secret sin You're keeping from God Job

You're out of fellowship with God Job This is all wrong You got to repent Elihu says hey Job Listen, listen I'm not gonna rag on you because of some secret sin because I don't believe you have a secret sin. I But Job I need to correct your thinking Because I don't think you're listening God is trying to get your attention Trying to draw you closer to him Think about it the most righteous man on the earth the most upright man The man who fears God turns away from evil God knows he still can be closer to me Closer to me more intimate with me Paul knew that Paul was a righteous man

Paul was an upright man Paul walked with God the boy cried to know God even all the more because he knew that there was so much more to know about his God Here's Job Miss all of his pain and suffering Saying God, are you gonna speak? Are you gonna say anything at all? Are you gonna vindicate me in front of these three miserable comforters of mine? Why are you so silent? Now he says Job Hold on a second. I'm not sure you're right here. I Really believe you need to understand that God has been dealing with you all along And maybe you haven't seen it

Maybe you don't recognize it, but it's probably because you're not listening very well And then he says these words he says Behold God does all these Oftentimes with men to bring back his soul from the pit that he may be enlightened with the light of life pay attention Oh job, listen to me

Keep silent Let me speak Then if you had anything to say answer me speak for I desire to justify you to to cause you to stand upright If not, listen to me keep silent and I will teach you wisdom What a great guy Totally different tone when he speaks than when the other men spoke Because I really believe he had Job's Whole demeanor in mind I believe he sat and listened and was so Irate with what these men were saying that he now when he has a chance to speak as a young man as he is He wants to really explain to job things from a very spiritual and biblical perspective To prepare him For when God does speak Because if he prepares him by saying, you know what God offers you no explanation when God finally does speak he's not looking for an explanation see Because God's just going to give him a revelation a revelation to his character Who he is? How he operates? This is Elihu What a great Individual You know, it's important to realize And we told you this before instead of hebrews When God disciplines you Remember it's either correctional Preventional or instructional correctional because you've sinned And you need to be corrected or it's preventional to prevent you from sinning that's paul and Second corinthians chapter 12 when he says that I was given this thorn to keep me from being puffed up or lifted up Being prideful, right? That was a preventional kind of discipline that that that paul experienced And then there's instructional discipline And this is where job is Right job doesn't need to be corrected because there's some sin in his life it doesn't need to be uh Dealt with because God wants to prevent him from some sin or prevent him from something in his life, but he's going to instruct job And all of them whether they're preventional correctional or instructional They're all Conformational, right? They're all designed to conform me to the image of god That I might better represent him and that's why uh Solomon says in ecclesiastes 7

He says consider the work of god for who was able to straighten that which he has bent I love that Who can straighten what god has bent in other words god god bends things he twists things He does it simply because He messes with your mind He doesn't want you to be think you're ever in control of anything So he uses it who can straighten what he himself has bent But he's twisted Answer you can't in the day of prosperity be happy in the day of adversity consider Consider what? That god has made the one as well as the other The very first thing you need to consider is that god made both days He made the day of prosperity and the day of adversity God didn't just make the day of prosperity and the day of adversity is just a bad day

No god made that day, too, right? So consider that god made one as well as The other And when you consider that note Is that man will not discover anything? That will be after Him In other words god says I made those days the way I did them So you'll never understand What i'm going to do next? Why because you need to trust me? You need to wait on me You need to believe in me Because unless you do that You're going to think you're you can do whatever you want You can't I I need you to trust me god wants us to trust him

He wants us to be dependent upon him He wants us to to to behold his beauty He really wants to reveal to us his beauty He wants us to see him for who he is not see him Maybe the way somebody else sees him or the way maybe we might read in the book But he wants us to see him for who he truly really is So the psalmist said in psalm 1 1975 In faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Why did he say that? He says simply because earlier he said in verse number 67 of psalm 119 before I was afflicted. I went astray, but now I keep your word Before affliction I did whatever I wanted to do. I went here. I went there. I went astray Why there was nothing hemming me in? But before I was afflicted I went astray but now now I keep your word why because affliction was god's megaphone to get my attention Suffering was god's god's voice yelling and screaming in my ear Listen to me pay attention to what I have to say So the psalmist says before I was afflicted I did whatever I wanted to do But now now I keep your word because before I wasn't keeping your word But now I do so the very next verse says Thou art good And do us good See affliction drove him to the word That I might behold the beauty of god's goodness God's goodness is beautiful Because it it enraptures his glory That's why when moses said lord, I want to see your glory and god said I can't let you see my glory exodus chapter 33 We're talking about this on sunday That but I will let all my goodness pass before you His glory is his beauty, but his beauty is seen in his goodness His graciousness his kindness And god wants you to see that He wants you to be able to behold the beauty of the lord And so the psalmist says Before I was afflicted I did whatever I wanted to do But god had to get my attention I wasn't listening So that affliction drove me to the word of god And when I was driven to the truth of god's word guess what I realized that god is good You know what? He does good What was good? The affliction The affliction was good Because without the goodness of his affliction, he would not see the good god How great is that See we missed the whole point and this is a lie Who trying to get job to see that god is speaking to you through the discipline through the through the chastisement through the pain that? You're experiencing and he's drawing you closer to himself that you might Be intimate with him and come to know him as he's meant to be known I have no idea The pain that you are experiencing this very moment I have no idea I have no no idea the magnitude of your loneliness the magnitude of your of your pain the Magnitude of of all the turmoil that's in your heart and the anxiety you feel every single day you get out of bed And have to face another day with a family that's unsaved or a husband or a wife that totally rebels against the lord or The affliction you might be facing because when you get up you're in pain all day. I have no idea But god does And god in his own way Has designed that affliction and faithfulness has almost said you have afflicted me God doesn't afflict you outside of his faithfulness He afflicts you because he is faithful And because he is faithful he's going to use that affliction to drive you to him Instead of looking at affliction as a negative thing always look at affliction as a very positive thing If you don't look at suffering as negative look at it as positive That somehow god is opening your ears opening your eyes to be able to see what god has for you on this day and for every day beyond this point That god wants to draw you closer to him

So you will see the beauty of his character And worship him for who he really is That's why the psalmist said one thing I desire That I might dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life Why That I might behold what the beauty of the lord the beauty of the lord You see that that's what affliction does it drives me back to where I need to be God has been driving job to a certain place And job was a righteous man a holy man An upright man A man who turned away from evil We saw last time He made a covenant with his eyes not to look lustfully upon a woman

We talked about his integrity And yet in spite of all that The intimacy that job needed to experience with his god Was not where it needed to be just yet For when god finally reveals himself to him in all of his beauty and all the splendor, right Job's only response is what I repent in dust and ashes I've been wrong about you all Along Because i've heard of you But for the first time My eyes have truly seen the beauty of the living god That's a lie use point a lot who is driving joe back so he appropriates The truth of god He enunciates the graciousness of god and now He's going to open job's mind to the majesty The mystery the ministry of god in all his justice Because god doesn't do anything wrong Everything he does is absolutely spot on Right and holy And that's why elihu Is not condemned at the end This is why God does not rebuke elihu Because elihu Is spot on Let's pray Father we thank you for tonight a chance to spend some time in your word and to be refreshed to realize lord that Whatever is happening in our lives, even as we speak right now You're at work Nothing happens by accident Everything by divine appointment Why because you are a sovereign god Who controls everything the day of adversity the day of prosperity? You've made them both And you want to make sure That we're in the process of trusting only you amidst them May that be the case for all of us tonight lord That we might live for the glory of your name until you come again as you most surely will In jesus name amen