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Job 34:10-12   “So listen to me, you men of understanding.  Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong.  He repays everyone for what they have done; he brings on them what their conduct deserves.  It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice.”

Elihu was the youngest of Job’s ‘comforters’, and stands in Scripture for us as an example of the problem of always being ‘right’ – especially when we’re young.  (I write this with some feeling, because I was ‘Elihu’ for several years when I first became a committed Christian in my late teens!).  The Apostle Paul, in Philippians 4:5, uses a rare Greek word (‘epieikes’) which makes this point very strongly: “Let your ‘epieikes’ be evident to all. The Lord is near.”  The Greek word expresses the attitude Elihu should have had towards poor Job!  It is translated into our English versions by words like ‘gentleness’, ‘moderation’, ‘reasonableness’, ‘magnanimity’ – a kind of pastorally sensitive balance to ‘(arrogant) correctness’.  

Everything Elihu says about God IS true, but, in Job’s case, it only told one side of the story.  Like the other three ‘comforters’, Elihu was not privy to the background story about Satan’s challenge to God regarding the genuineness of Job’s trust in God.  What Elihu says is quite consistent with much of the teaching of the book of Proverbs, but, as Ecclesiastes reminds us, we live in a broken, messed up world which for the most part rejects the existence of our Sovereign, Ruling Creator, and is therefore suffering the inevitable consequences of such an ‘under the sun’ worldview.  The Apostle Paul also would want to remind the Elihus of this world: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those [like faithful Job] who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).  I have been helped greatly by Spurgeon’s observation: “God is too good to be unkind, and too wise to be mistaken – (and Elihu would agree!) – so when we cannot trace his hand – which is what Job was strugging with – we must trust his (God’s) heart”.  Let us always be very careful about how we judge others, allowing for the fact that our knowledge is always only partial, and that one day we will be able to see more clearly what the purposes of our Sovereign God were in his often very perplexing providence in our lives and the lives of friends and loved ones.

William Cowper carried much inexplicable ‘baggage’ in his emotionally troubled life, and he wrote: “God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform; he plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.  Deep in unfathomable mines of never-failing skill he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will.  Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take – the clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head.  Judge not the Lord by feeble sense but trust him for his grace; behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face.  His purposes will ripen fast unfolding every hour; the bud may have a bitter taste but sweet will be the flower.  Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain.”   It might have been helpful if Elihu had lived several millennia later and had known of Cowper’s struggles and faith, and the words of his wonderful hymn, not to mention what the truly righteous Lord Jesus himself suffered for us on the Cross!

– Bruce Christian