Enter Elihu, Part 2

Turn with me in your Bible to the book of Job, Job chapter 34. Job chapter 34. As we make our way through this great book, we are soon going to be done. But Job chapter 34 is where we're at. And as you're turning there, I want to read to you what St. Augustine said when he wrote these words, What then is the God I worship? You are the most hidden from us and yet the most present among us, the most beautiful and yet the most strong, ever enduring, and yet we cannot comprehend you. How true is that?

The incomparable nature of God, the incomprehensibility of God, is way beyond anything we can ever imagine. The psalmist has said in Psalm 95 verse number 3, For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. Chapter 96 verse number 4 says, For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His name. Or in the sanctuary, excuse me.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name. Bring an offering and come into His courts. Worship the Lord in holy attire. Tremble before Him all the earth. The fact that we are to fear God and tremble before Him because of His greatness is exactly where Elihu is going in chapter 38. As he moves toward the end of his speech when he says these words, Therefore men fear Him. The whole purpose of teaching people about the Lord is that they might learn to fear God.

To fear His holy name, to tremble before Him. To this man when I look, to him who is broken and of a contrite heart, and who trembles at my word. That's the kind of person God's looking for. And so Elihu is going to drive Job back to his roots to help him understand what it means to fear the Lord. The problem today is that we don't understand when we preach the Scriptures that we are to preach the God of the Scriptures. That people understand who He is and what He does. We live in a time in which we want to preach sermons dealing with relational issues and people issues and all kinds of feel-good kinds of sermons instead of helping people understand who their God really is.

That's unfortunate because we develop a wrong view of God. A.W. Tozer in his book The Knowledge of the Holy said, The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. That's the essence of idolatry. To entertain thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him, that are just not true about Him. We truly have created God in our own image. Instead of us understanding the true character and nature of God and learning to submit to Him for who He is, we kind of want to reinvent God and recreate God.

And so the essence of idolatry is simply that we have made God and think about God in ways that just are not true about Him at all. That's not good. And in essence, Job is coming to a place in his life where his view of God has been skewed. And Elihu is going to redirect that in Job's life. I firmly believe that Elihu was used by the Lord in Job's life to prepare Job for what God was going to speak to him in chapter 39. Or chapter 38. And so when you begin to read about these things, you realize that it was J.I.

Packer who wrote in his book, Knowing God, these words about God's greatness. This is knowledge which Christians today largely lack. And that is one reason why our faith is so feeble and our worship so flabby. We are modern men. And modern men, though they cherish great thoughts of man, have as a rule small thoughts of God. When the man in the church, let alone the man in the street, uses the word God, the thought in his mind is rarely of divine majesty. We are poles apart from our evangelical forefathers at this point, even when we confess our faith in their words.

When you start reading Luther or Edwards or Whitefield, though your doctrine may be theirs, you soon find yourself wondering whether you have an acquaintance at all with the mighty God whom they knew so intimately. Today, vast stress is laid on the thought that God is personal. But this truth is so stated as to leave the impression that God is a person of the same sort as we are, weak, inadequate, ineffective, and a little pathetic. But this is not the God of the Bible. Our personal life is a finite thing.

It is limited in every direction and space and time and knowledge and power. But God is not so limited. He is eternal, infinite, and almighty. He has us in His hands, and we never have Him in ours. Like us, He is personal, but unlike us, He is great. In all its constant stress on the reality of God's personal concern for His people and on the gentleness, tenderness, sympathy, patience, and yearning, compassion that He shows towards them, the Bible never lets us lose sight of His majesty and His unlimited dominion over all His creatures.

For us to understand God would require us to spend our lives studying about God, coming to grips with everything pertaining to His character and nature, and realize that He truly is incomprehensible. The majestic nature of God is far beyond anything that we can ever comprehend this side of eternity. And yet, it's the constant pursuit of our lives to get to know God. Elihu is a man who is going to redirect Job's thoughts above. Not that Job wasn't a righteous man or a holy man or a man of integrity or a man who feared God.

He did all that. But there are certain aspects in Job's life where he began to say things about God that were unworthy of God. And so Elihu is going to correct that by drawing his attention back toward the true and living God. My prayer for you, my prayer for me, is that in our study of Job, you have really come to understand God. Not so much the suffering of Job. It's about the sovereignty of God in the suffering of Job. It's about the majesty of God in the misery of Job. It's about how deity dictates difficulty.

How God is in charge of everything, not just some things. And we need to come to grips with the reality of who God is and how God operates. And while we might not ever fully comprehend that this side of eternity, it's the constant pursuit of our lives. For God is truly majestic in character. So Elihu, through what I believe is divine inspiration, speaks to Job. We began last week by looking at chapter 32, where there was Elihu who appropriated the truth of God to Job. In chapter 33, he would enunciate the graciousness of God to Job.

When we come to chapter 34 and chapter 35, he's going to accentuate the justice of God. In chapter 36 and chapter 37, he's going to articulate the majesty of God. So concise, so incredible as Elihu is used by the Lord. And he answers the question, chapter 34 is all about, how is it God who is just act righteously? And so he answers Job's question. He begins to move Job in a direction that prepares him to meet with God. And he wants Job to understand that the heart of everything is the justice and righteousness of God.

And those two words, just and righteous, are the same Hebrew word in the Old Testament and same word in the New Testament. It deals with the right wiseness of God. It deals with the straightness of God. God is absolutely straight in all that he does. He's righteous and he is just. In fact, Nehemiah said it this way. Remember in Nehemiah chapter 8, they gathered together in the early morning hours and Ezra begins to read the word of the Lord. He reads it for six hours. Six hours from early in the morning to midday.

And there was no bottle of water. There were no umbrellas. It was probably hot, right? And kids were probably running around and all kinds of things. But for six hours, Ezra would read the scriptures. That's all he did. And they weren't sitting down on comfortable pews as he read. They were standing. They stood for six hours as Ezra read from the law of God. We would have such a hard time doing that. We wouldn't know what to do without air conditioning, padded pews, and bottle of water. We wouldn't know how to function.

But they had recognized something about their God. And through that preaching of the word, they began to realize their sin and how the nation had experienced 70 years of captivity because of their rebellion against God. And God in doing so was absolutely righteous and absolutely just. So in Nehemiah chapter 9, Nehemiah says these words, And you have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous, or you are just. In other words, God was faithful in performing his promises by putting them into captivity because he promised that.

And he was faithful and just by taking them out of captivity and bringing them back as he promised. And then, later in chapter 9, verse number 33, he says, However, you are just or righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly. In other words, through the preaching of the word, there came this confession, there came this contrition, there came this capitulation to all that God is and all that God does. Because that's what happens when God's word is preached and taught.

Hearts that are softened by the preaching of the word come under great conviction. And with that conviction comes confession. And they realized that everything that God did to them was righteous and just. They were well deserving of their 70 years of captivity, for they had treated God wickedly. And God was just in what he did. The Bible says over in Psalm 89, verse number 14, Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne.

And then in Psalm 97, it says, Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Because righteousness and justice are the same thing. God is absolutely just in all that he does, because he's absolutely right in all that he does. He's never wrong. He is completely righteous. So Elihu once joked to understand that God is absolutely right in what he's done. He's not unfair. He's not unkind. And he's not wrong. But he's righteous and just. So the word righteousness and justice deals with God's actions.

And his actions are based on his holy character. He is a sinless God. He's incapable of sinning. He's incapable of doing anything wrong. We just can't fathom that. But that's something we need to trust. As we begin to understand our God. Job has begun to go askew from his understanding of God's justice. So Elihu is going to accentuate that justice and then articulate the majesty of God. In chapter 36 and chapter 37. Psalm 92.15 says, Why is the Lord our rock? Because he's upright. And there's nothing unrighteous about him.

Psalm 145.17 says, The Lord is righteous in all his ways, kind in all his deeds. Every way of God is righteous. Every way of God is just. Every way of God is straight. Every way of God is based on the fact that he is holy. True. And therefore, he is your rock. So let me explain something to you about Job.

It's not an excuse for Job. This is an explanation of where Job is. For Job has gone down this path of great ridicule by his friends. He has embarked on a journey that, I pray to the Lord, none of us have to be on. But he's on this journey of great pain and great suffering. Great loss. Great affliction. And we've told you over and over again, we cannot even begin to imagine all that he's gone through. So he sat in this ash heap with all these boils all over him. Oozing pus. And his cloak being stuck to his body.

And all the pain and misery that he went through with all of his friends accusing him of some great sin. And so Job, as he sits there, you have to understand how disillusioned he is. Because Job was the greatest man in the East. As God said, the greatest man on the planet. But there was another man who also was disillusioned by God. And that man was the greatest man born of a woman. And that was John the Baptist. And John the Baptist found himself in Luke chapter 7 in a dungeon. And he's literally in a dungeon.

But figuratively, he's in a dungeon of disillusionment. Because he can't begin to understand why. No, he's not suffering physically. He's in prison. Okay? So he doesn't have a physical capability of suffering. But he is disillusioned as to what's happening. Now John the Baptist is the forerunner to the Messiah. He was the special child of Zacharias and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was barren for as long as she was. Because God was not going to give her just any old baby. He was going to give her the forerunner to the Messiah.

So she couldn't get pregnant until the proper time that the Messiah was going to come on the scene. And so John the Baptist is that preacher who comes out of the Judean wilderness like a locomotive, preaching, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And he realizes that the Messiah is so great that he must increase, but I must decrease. That he wasn't even worthy to even strap on the sandals of the Messiah. Then one day he finds himself in prison. And he's disillusioned. And so he calls some of his disciples together in Luke chapter 7.

And they said to him, the disciples of John often fast and... I'm sorry, wrong place. One chapter, one page earlier. The disciples of John reported to him, Luke 7, 18, about all these things. What things? The healing ministry of Christ. Specifically the widow's son at Nain. Because that's the context in which he's in. I've been to Nain in Israel. We did a Jesus-only journey in Israel and went to the little village of Nain. Nobody ever goes there because there's nothing there. But we did. Because Jesus healed the widow's son at Nain.

Raised him from the dead. So it's a great place to go to understand the ministry of Christ and what he does. Well, the disciples report back to John all that's going on, right? And summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord saying, Are you the expected one or do we look for someone else? Now think about that question. John, the forerunner to the Messiah, summons two of his disciples and says, I want you to go to Jesus and ask him, Are you the expected one? Now the expected one is a Messianic term from Psalm 40, Psalm 118.

He's called the coming one. And the coming one is the one that Israel expected to come. The Messiah. But when the expected one doesn't meet your expectations, you're disillusioned. And so John the Baptist has all these expectations as to the kingdom of heaven. But it wasn't happening according to his expectations. So he says, I want you to go to Jesus and ask him, Are you the expected one? Because my expectations are not being met. And so they go to Jesus. And it says, When the men came to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, Are you the expected one or do we look for someone else?

Now, how do you think Jesus would respond to that? Jesus could have very easily said, What on earth is wrong with John? What a moron. What a fool. He is the forerunner to me. He knows that. How can he even begin to ask the question? But Jesus doesn't condemn John. Jesus doesn't ridicule John. Jesus doesn't scold John. He doesn't do that. Instead, he heals everybody around him. It says quickly, Verse 21, At that very time, he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits. He gave sight to many who were blind.

In a matter of moments, those who were blind could see. Those who were sick were healed. And then Jesus says this, Go and report to John what you have seen and heard.

The blind receive sight. The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. And the deaf hear. The dead are raised. The poor have the gospel preached to them. And here's the next phrase. Listen to this. Blessed is he who does not take offense at me. In other words, he says, Blessed are all those who never quarrel about how I do my business. Blessing comes to those who don't question me. Blessing comes to those who realize that the expected one meets the expectations of his father and only the expectations of his father, not the expectations of the people.

That's the blessed one. Blessed are all those who don't argue about how God does his business. And then he goes on and says, When the messenger of John had left, he began to speak to the crowds about John. He didn't say, Can you believe John? There's a rag on John. No, he says this. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind. But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing. Those who are slenderly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces.

But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you. I say to you, among those born of woman, there is no one greater than John. Yet, he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John. Christ's response is remarkable. He doesn't criticize John. He doesn't say, Oh, you have little faith. Instead, he points people to the forerunner of the Messiah.

And he helps them understand that this was the greatest man born of a woman. Except, whoever is least in the kingdom is greater than John. Not greater in terms of character and conduct, but greater in terms of understanding and comprehending the majestic nature of the Messiah. Because John never saw what others saw because he would soon die. He never understood things concerning the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling purposes of the Holy Spirit and the second coming of the Messiah and the rapture of the church.

He never understood any of that stuff. But we do. We get it. And we're least in the kingdom. None of us are John the Baptist. None of us are the forerunner of the Messiah. And yet, the least in the kingdom is greater than John simply because of what has been revealed to us through the teaching and preaching of the Word of God. That's just a remarkable statement. I say that to you because in Job, you have a man who's disillusioned amidst all of his pain and all of his suffering and all of his loss.

He's come to ask some very pertinent questions. Real questions. About, I need an audience with God. I need to speak with God. And a lot of you is going to challenge that. Say, are you sure you want to talk to God? Do you really think you can bring your case before God? That's why he deals with the justice of God and the majesty of God. Because he paves the way for the arrival of the Lord to say what he's going to say. And so the Lord never condemns Job, ridicules Job, or even calls Job to repentance.

He never called John the Baptist to repentance either. But he does call the other three friends to repentance. Because they totally misrepresented God to Job. Job, in his limited knowledge of God, is trying to comprehend what you and I can understand a lot better than he did. Simply because we have the entire Scriptures to be able to study and to understand and to read and to realize all the things that God does. And so Elihu becomes very intense, but you can't mistake his intensity for insensitivity.

On the contrary, usually the most intense person is the most sensitive person. The least intense person is the least sensitive person. Elihu was supremely passionate, supremely intense, because he didn't want Job to err in his thinking. He didn't want Job to have a hardened heart against the Lord God of Israel. He did not want Job to develop a wrong view of his God. And anybody who has that passion is going to be intense in their conversation. They can't be passive about that. So you can't excuse intensity for insensitivity.

On the contrary, Elihu's intenseness speaks to his passion, his love for Job, but more so his love for his God. Because he wants his God to be seen in the right light. He wants his God to be understood perfectly. And that's what he wants Job. He's protecting Job. He is trying to warn Job that he might, as Peter says, in 1 Peter 5 verse number 6, that we are to submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God. For God is opposed to the proud. Right? But he gives grace to the humble. He wants Job to understand that God's hand of discipline and God's hand of destiny and God's hand of deliverance is upon him.

But he needs to capitulate under that hand. Because if he doesn't, he's in danger of going down a wrong path that he'd be sorry for. So Elihu is the kind of guy that we need to be to help people understand a proper perspective of the true and living God. So in chapter 34 he accentuates God's justice and in chapter 36 and 37 he articulates the majesty of God. There's no way we can cover every verse, but let's at least embark on it in the next 19 minutes. In chapter 34, Elihu continued and said, Hear my words, you wise men.

Listen to me, for the ear tests words and the palate tastes food. Let us choose for ourselves what is right. Let us know among ourselves what is good. The intensity of his conversation is that I need you guys to listen because he's speaking for God. He's speaking inspirationally. He's speaking God's words. We showed you that last week in chapter 32 and chapter 33. We're going to see it again tonight as he once again is proving that God is speaking through him. And so in verse 5 he says, For Job has said, I am righteous, but God has taken away my right.

Should I lie concerning my right? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression. What man is like Job, who drinks up derision like water, who goes in company with the workers of iniquity and walks with wicked men? For he has said, It profits men nothing when he is pleased with God. Job is saying, hey, wait a minute. Why isn't God not dealing with me justly? And why is it, why is it that there is no profit in pleasing God? That's what Job is. And we can explain that. We're not giving an excuse for Job, but we can explain where he's at and what he's gone through.

Elihu knows that. And so he's helping Job understand in verse number 10, Listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness and from the Almighty to do wrong, for he pays a man according to his work and makes him find it according to his way. Surely God will not act wickedly and the Almighty will not pervert justice. So he's saying, you need to listen to what I'm going to tell you because this is the Almighty God. 31 times the book of Job uses the word Almighty. For God is all powerful.

And the book of Job was about the omnipotent God who rules and reigns over everything. He is sovereign. He rules. And the Almighty has nothing in him that's unjust, that's unrighteous. Verse 13, Who gave him authority over the earth and who has laid on him the whole world? Did anybody give God any authority? No. God is God. And let God be God, says Elihu. If he should determine to do so, if he should gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together and man would return to dust.

But if you have understanding and hear this, listen to the sound of my words. Shall one who hates justice rule? And will you condemn the righteous mighty one? He says in verse number 19 that he shows no partiality to princesses. He does not regard the rich above the poor, for they all are the work of his hands. In other words, God is just and righteous because a man is poor because God made him poor and a man is rich because God made him rich. He did it. So he's not going to be more partial to one than the other because he's in charge.

Verse 21, For his eyes are upon the ways of man and he sees all his steps. There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquities may hide themselves. In other words, God sees everything. God knows everything. God is not unjust because there's nothing he doesn't know so he can never make a wrong choice or a wrong decision. Man cannot hide from him. Verse 25, He knows all their work. Verse 29, When he keeps quiet, who then can condemn? And when he hides his face, who then can behold him?

Just because God is quiet and just because God is silent does not mean that God is not active. He's completely active. He's completely involved in all things. Look at verse 35, Job speaks without knowledge and his words are without wisdom.

Job ought to be tried to the limit because he answers like wicked men. Wait a minute. What kind of counsel is that? He's already been tried to the limit. How can he be tried more than he already is? How can he go through more trials than he's already gone through? What more can happen to Job? You have to understand the context in which he says this. He says, look, I want Job to know God so much that I don't want God to let up any part of the trial until he comes to grip with the reality of who God is.

That's the intensity of the man that doesn't lack sensitivity. In other words, he wants Job to understand the true character and nature of God no matter what it costs. And that's the way we should all be, right? Lord, do whatever you have to do in my life to teach me about yourself. Do whatever you have to do to make me and conform me to your image. Lord, never take your hand off of me until I come to grips with the reality of your character and how it works in my life. We should want that so bad that we don't want the Lord to let up until we come to a better understanding of who he is.

That's what Elihu is saying. That's his love for Job, but more so his love for God. When you come to chapter 35, he continues on with the justice of God because he goes on and says, look, no matter what you do, you cannot bribe God. You cannot change his mind. Your good works and good deeds are not going to change his mind. Why? Because God is a sovereign God and nothing you do is going to change his mind about how he operates because he can't be bribed. When you come to chapter 36, he begins to articulate the majesty of God.

And this becomes so powerful. Listen to what he says. Elihu continued and said, wait for me a little and I will show you that there is yet more to be said in God's behalf. He's speaking for God. Now listen carefully. I will fetch my knowledge from afar, meaning from heaven or from God, and I will ascribe righteousness to my maker. I will prove to you that he is just. For truly my words are not false. It can't be false because then he'd be a false prophet instead of a true prophet. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

And commentators say, well, see, that's just the arrogance of Elihu. He sees himself as perfect in knowledge. That's not what he's saying. How do we know that? Look at verse number 16 of chapter 37.

Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, the wonders of one perfect in knowledge? He's referencing God. Same thing he's doing in verse number 4 of chapter 36. He's referencing God. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you. In other words, God is here and God is using me to speak to you, Job, about these things. He has articulated once again the truth of God because Elihu is a man who is speaking for God. He's a prophet for God, paving the way for Job to come to grips with who God is, especially when God begins to speak to Job personally.

Look what he says in verse 5. Behold, God is mighty, but does not despise any. He is mighty in strength of understanding. He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives justice to the afflicted. He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne. He has seated them forever, and they are exalted. And if they are bound in fetters and are caught in the cords of affliction, then he declares to them their work and their transgressions that they have magnified themselves. He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from evil.

If they hear and serve him, they will end their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures. But if they do not hear, they shall perish by the sword, and they will die without knowledge, but the godless in heart lay up anger. In other words, he says, listen, God does what he does to open your ears that you might respond in a positive way to what he's doing. If you obey and you respond positively, there's prosperity. But if you refuse to listen to what he has to say, then there is destruction and devastation upon your life.

In other words, he wants Job to come to grips with the fact that God is the one who opens your ears. Look what it says down in verse number 15. He delivers the afflicted in their affliction and opens their ear in time of oppression. Do you know that only God can open your ears? Only God can do that. God opens eyes and opens ears. You'll never hear what God has to say unless God opens your ears. It doesn't mean you don't come with a prepared heart. It doesn't mean you don't train your ears to listen.

No, but God has to open your ears. But he says, the most needful thing that Elihu says, he delivers the afflicted in their affliction and opens their ear in time of oppression. He's giving hope to Job. Job, he's going to deliver your affliction. But he wants to open your ears that you might hear what he has to say. That's why he says in verse number 18, beware that wrath does not entice you to scoffing. 21, be careful. Do not turn to evil. Verse 22, Behold, God is exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him, who has appointed to Him His way, and who has said, You have done wrong?

Remember that you should exalt His work, of which men have sung. All men have seen it. Man beholds from afar. Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him. The number of His years is unsearchable. So Elihu is even admitting the fact that you're never going to understand God. He is to be exalted. He is to be esteemed. He is to be honored. He is to be glorified, even though you cannot comprehend Him, Job. Job, you're never going to understand why. Quit trying to figure it out, Job. But just know this, that God is just and righteous.

He's gracious and holy, and He's majestic in His nature. He is paving the way for God when He speaks because God is not going to explain anything to Job. He's not going to explain this conversation with Satan. He's not going to explain why he lost everything. He's not going to explain to Job why he waited so long to answer Him. Here, God doesn't owe you an explanation for anything. But see, Job thinks He is owed an explanation, just like we are. So we sit like John the Baptist in a dungeon, like Job in an ash heap, and it's nothing but disillusionment about God's response.

Why? Because the expectations that I have from the expected one are not met. That was John. That was Job. And everything Elihu says, Job is going to repent of. Do you notice that in the six chapters in which he speaks, there's never a discourse?

There's never a debate. And there's never an interruption from Job or his friends. You want to know why? Of course you do. It's because he's speaking the words of God. And when God is speaking through His prophet, man has to listen.

And they are listening to the words of God as Elihu presents them to them. They might understand the character of God. You read on, and he begins to go through this discourse in verse 22 of chapter 36 all the way to the end of chapter 37. It's all about the majestic greatness of God. It's about His greatness when it comes to the fall in verses 28 down through chapter, or verse number 5 of chapter 37. Then he speaks about the winter in verses 6 to 10. I like what he says in verse number 10. From the breath of God, ice is made.

You thought it was Jack Frost, didn't you? Uh-uh. Not in your life. From the breath of God, ice is made, and the expanse of the waters is frozen. God freezes water. God causes rain. God causes snow. Look what it says in verse 11. Also with the moisture, He loads the thick clouds. He disperses the cloud of His lightning. It changes direction, turning around by His guidance that it may do whatever He commands it on the face of the inhabited earth. Every cloud only moves at the command of God. You thought it was the wind that moved the clouds.

It was God who moves them. God changes the direction of the clouds, causes them to swirl around, and there's tornadoes and there are hurricanes. God causes all those things. Remember, He's in charge of everything, or He's in charge of nothing, whether for correction, verse 13, or for His world, or for loving kindness. He causes it to happen. Listen to this, though, Job. Stand and consider the wonders of God. Verse 15. Do you know how God establishes them and makes the lightning of His cloud to shine?

Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, the wonders of the one perfect in knowledge, you whose garments are hot when the land is still because of the south wind? Can you with Him spread out the skies strong as molten mirror? Teach us what we shall say to Him. We cannot arrange our case because of darkness. Job, we can't do anything. Job, if you can't explain the everyday occurrences of nature, if you can't explain the wind, if you can't explain the sun, if you can't explain the clouds and the rain and the ice and the snow, if you can't explain that, how on earth do you think that you can present your case before this God and still stand?

You have nothing to say, Job, because he's preparing the way for when God shall speak. Verse 22. Out of the north comes golden splendor. Around God is awesome majesty. The Almighty, we cannot find Him. He is exalted in power, and He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness. In other words, He will not violate His justice, nor will He violate His righteousness. He is almighty in power. He just does what He does, Job. Then He says, therefore men fear Him. In other words, this is where it's all going, Job.

It goes so man will fear Him. There's forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared, right? This is what is said over in the book of Ecclesiastes 3. Verse 14. I know that everything God does will remain forever. There is nothing to add to it. There is nothing to take from it. For God so worked that men should fear Him. In other words, whatever God does, He does. You can't change what He does. You can't add to what He does. You can't alter what He does. Why? Because God does what He does for one purpose.

One. That you might live in the fear of Him all day long. He is trying to move Job back to Job 1, verse number 1. That Job would live in the fear of his God. It's not that Job didn't fear God. He said Job wasn't an upright man or a blameless man, a man that turned away from evil. Yes, he did all those things. But there was so much more to happen in his life. He had to go deeper than where he was in Job 1, verse number 1. And the only way to go deeper is through the realm in which he found himself.

All the suffering, all the pain, all the hardship, all the loss. And Elihu just wants to protect him, warn him. See, Job, if you just can't explain the natural, everyday occurrences of the sun, the moon, the stars, the rain, the wind, the snow, the sleet, the hail, then how can you ever make a case before God who creates all that? Who makes it all happen? See, it leads you to the incomprehensibility of God. And Elihu realizes that God is almighty and he cannot be comprehended. And Job is trying to bring God down to talk to him that he might present his case before him and ask the question, Lord, what are you doing?

I'm an innocent man. I'm a man of integrity. I haven't done anything wrong. Why is this happening to me? And Elihu says, that's just the wrong question, Job. It's not the right question. The question is, God, who are you? And how can I submit myself to your authority and your majesty and your glory? That's the right question. And that's what happens when God speaks. And God will ask Job 77 questions. 77 questions. So Job will realize he knows nothing. He knows nothing. And therefore he has no case.

Except to repent and dust and ashes, and that's exactly what he does. He truly does repent. Why? Because his view of God had been skewed. He had thought, as Mr. Tozer said, unworthy thoughts of God. Did he purpose in his heart to do that? No. Was he looking to conjure up images of God? No. But all the things that had happened to his life had caused him to ask questions about his God. But God never condemns him for asking questions. God never ridicules Job. And God never demands Job repent. He just wants to explain himself to Job in terms of his character, his power, his righteousness, his holiness.

Because once Job understands the character of God, nothing else really matters. That's why he repents and dusts and ashes. He doesn't repent after he's given back twice as much as what he had before. He doesn't repent when his circumstances change. He repents long before his circumstances change. He just realizes that he has fallen short of his understanding of who God is. As much as Job walked with God, understood God, in Job chapter 1, it's a reminder that there is so much more he did not understand.

And so God is going to speak, not to explain himself, but that Job might obtain more understanding of the character and nature of God. You see, we need to understand that when we study Scriptures and we read Scriptures, we should never look for an explanation, only look for a revelation. How does God reveal himself through his Word? God never gave an explanation to John the Baptist while he was in prison, in the dungeon of disillusionment. He just did what he does and healed everyone. God never gives an explanation to Job, but he does reveal to Job when he comes and speaks to him.

And next week, as we open up chapter 38, God intervenes in the conversation. And the question is, was Job ready? Well, the answer, yes, because Elihu had prepared him. So when you come next week and God begins to speak, the question you must ask yourself, are you ready to hear what he has to say? Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight, a chance to be in your Word. As brief as it is, so much to cover, so little time to do it. But we are reminded of the greatness of your almighty power.

Lord, our prayer is that we just trust you, rest in you, believe in you, follow you. What is happening tonight in people's lives in the room, only you know. In the privacy of their homes, in the conversations and relationships in their homes, only you know. And yet, God, you are bigger than all of that. You are greater than all of that. And Lord, our prayer tonight is that we would always, always look to you, the almighty King of the universe, who sovereignly rules over everything and everyone, who performs your acts, however, whenever, and wherever you choose.

We just need to trust in you and live, trusting every single day in your Word. So as we go home tonight, keep us safe, protect us, that we might gather again together this Lord's Day to study your Word one more time. Unless, of course, you come to take us home. And that would be the best day ever. In Jesus' name, Amen.