Elihu reminds me of a friend I have who always tells it like it is.  She is blunt and straightforward, and I absolutely love her for it.  She must be strong in the spiritual gift of discernment, because she can cut through nonsense like a warm knife through butter. It is interesting to me that the younger Elihu — not the windbaggy friends — is the one who speaks to Job immediately prior to God speaking to Job.  The order is significant.  Oftentimes the Lord sends people or circumstances to soften our hearts to truths we need to hear, doesn’t … Continue reading Job 35-37: Straight Talk

Elihu is filled with righteous indignation at Job’s complaints against God.  And he makes a lot of sense in his arguments! I especially liked these verses: It’s impossible for God to do anything evil; no way can the Mighty One do wrong. He makes us pay for exactly what we’ve done—no more, no less. Our chickens always come home to roost. It’s impossible for God to do anything wicked, for the Mighty One to subvert justice. He’s the one who runs the earth! He cradles the whole world in his hand! If he decided to hold his breath, every man, … Continue reading Job 32-34: Elihu weighs in

People let other people down.  The same people who loved Job, who hung on to his every word and honored him, turned their backs on him as soon as bad things started happening.  In today’s world, we’d call them fair weather friends.  Job went from a respectable pillar of society to an untouchable seemingly overnight.  That had to hurt.  No wonder he complained! Job blamed God for all his tragedies and repeatedly asked for a hearing to find out what the charges were against him.  He did not see God’s ultimate purpose in allowing all the hurt; all Job could … Continue reading Job 29-31:The Canvas

Wisdom is a treasure greater than gold, silver, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and any other precious gem.  That tenet is often found throughout the Proverbs in various places.  But it also shows up in Job. I’ve been sitting here for twenty minutes trying to describe the profound way Job reveals the path to wisdom, but I just can’t improve on his technicolor words. Miners penetrate the earth’s darkness, searching the roots of the mountains for ore, digging away in the suffocating darkness. Far from civilization, far from the traffic, they cut a shaft, and are lowered into it by ropes. Miners … Continue reading Job 24-28:Gold Nuggets of Wisdom

I can’t blog about Job without delving into one of those “can’t touch this” topics that I usually push to the back burner.  How does a thinking Christian reconcile Romans 3:23 with the book of Job? Romans 3:23 says: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (NIV) And the beginning of Job, which says that Job was perfect: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name [was] Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. (KJV) Job himself has spent many of the previous … Continue reading Job 21-23: A Perfect Man?