Sing and Shout!

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Pete

Through the prophet, the LORD spoke of a day. A day when enemies would be dealt with. A day when foreigners would become family. A day when, within the family, pride would be purged (Zephaniah 3:8-11). Thus, in that day, would be found “a people humble and lowly.” A people whose refuge is in the name of the LORD. A people who “shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid” (Zeph. 3:12-13). A people safe, secure, set apart, and at rest.

And what grabs my attention this morning is what such a people are called to do; Sing and Shout!

“Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
The LORD has taken away the judgments against you;
He has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
you shall never again fear evil.”

(Zephaniah 3:14-15 ESV)

Sing aloud and shout. Rejoice and exult with all your heart. That’s what a people do whose judgments have been taken away, whose enemies have been cleared away, and whose God is in their midst. Sing and shout!

We are in a season known for its singing and songs. Most of which, I suspect, we but listen to. Oh, but when we get the chance to sing those songs aloud, they should be loudly sung.

When we get the opportunity to open our mouths to make melody about a God who came into our midst so that He might remove the judgments our sins deserve; when we find occasion to take up some tunes concerning the King who has vanquished our enemies, sin and death; then, if our hearts and minds were really engaged with the music and lyrics, wouldn’t we find ourselves compelled to sing and shout? I’m thinkin’ . . .

Over the next number of days, let’s not allow to pass the chance to sing and shout. Whether it’s streaming a playlist, listening to the radio, or best of all, gathering with the redeemed, when you get the chance, sing aloud. Raise the rafters (MSG)! Be glad (NKJV)! Celebrate (MSG)!

This Christmas season, if we haven’t been already, may we sing like we’ve not sung in a long time as we sing to the King who is in our midst.

Singing of the King’s abounding grace. Shouting for the King’s all-deserving glory.

O come, let us adore Him!

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It Is Finished

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Pete

A much loved sister in the Lord went to be with Jesus yesterday. Though she may have known things hadn’t been “quite right” for some time, her family thought all things were well when they took her to dinner last Thursday to celebrate her birthday. But then came Friday . . .

The heart attack, it seems, was more a symptom than the cause of what beset her body. As the weekend progressed and the race to determine root cause continued, more of her vital organs showed signs of failure. In the wee hours of Monday morning she was sent to another hospital for life-saving treatment. Shortly after noon on Monday, she was promoted into glory.

Her family says that throughout, she assured them she knew where she was going and was ready to see her Savior. Though too short a good-bye, by God’s goodness they were all able to say their good-byes before this dear sister went absent from the body and present with the Lord (2Cor. 5:8). I missed the send-off by a couple of hours but was able to gather with the family as they completed their bedside vigil. It was finished.

It was finished, but there was a prevailing calm. A life well-lived was over, but still there was a sense of comfort. A season had past, and yet there was an abiding confidence for the future. This beloved sister was now in the place prepared for her and, as her Savior had promised, He had taken her to be with Himself, “that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1-3).

Calm, comfort, confidence . . . all a reality amid calamity because of a Savior who Himself experienced death, crying out long ago, “It is finished!”

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to His mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

(John 19:28-30 ESV)

It is finished . . . Those are the words in this morning’s readings that cause me to pause and reflect, to wonder and worship.

It is finished . . .

He who knew no sin had been made sin for us, “that we might become the righteousness of God” (2Cor. 5:21), fully qualified to be received into the presence of God.

He who was the Son of God, forever loved of the Father, had come to “be made like His brothers in every respect”, so that He could mediate with full knowledge on our behalf, even as we could know full atonement for our sin (Heb. 2:17) and fully trust His beckoning, “Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

He who rose from the grave on the third day, vanquishing death, swallowing it up in the victory of resurrection, removing its sting, so that we too could know victory over death “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Cor. 15:54-57). A victory known to a next level, in an unimaginable way, by a beloved saint, just a little after after noon yesterday. Her earthly pilgrimage over. Yet, her life just begun because of the finished work of Christ on the cross.

It is finished . . . and the best is yet to come.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Behold Your King (2016 Remix)

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Pete

I like gazing upon a Nativity scene. I can overlook the historical inaccuracies of shepherds and magi and angels gathered all together under a bright star to surround a new mom and a proud dad gazing down into a straw-filled manger. ‘Cause it’s not really about them. It’s not the bleating sheep or lowing cattle that primes the pump of imagination. No, it’s not the cast of beholders that grabs my attention, but the One who is being beheld.

“. . . you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

(Luke 1:31b-33 ESV)

. . . behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.”

(Matthew 2:1b-2 ESV)

Behold your King! The Nativity commands it.

Consider afresh God’s own Son, the Messiah, come in flesh to establish a kingdom. “Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end” (Isa. 9:7).

Immanuel. God with Us. No wonder angels shouted and sang with great joy. No wonder that we picture heaven and earth gathering together all at one time in one place to gaze upon Him declared to be born a king.

That’s the contrasting thought that runs through my mind as I read in John 19 another scene focused on the King.

No longer a baby carefully set in a manger, but a Man bloodied by a Roman flogging. No longer wrapped in swaddling clothes, but clothed in a mocking robe of purple wearing a crown of thorns twisted together and pressed down upon His brow. No longer the subject of heaven’s praise, “Glory to God in the highest.” Instead, the object of earth’s derision, the chorus about Him now chanting, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!”

So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

(John 19:13-14 ESV)

Behold your King! Born to die.

The serene Child in the manger come to be the sacrificial Lamb upon a cross. God in flesh “so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb. 2:9-10).

There’s a reason we don’t put up “crucifixion scenes” preceding Easter. Not the sort of scene that invites you to turn down the lights, grab a cup of coffee, and gaze upon it as Mary might have, who “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

So, be still and gaze upon the nativity. Ponder God’s great gift. And then remember that the manger lies in the shadow of a cross. That, while a glorious throne awaits, it was achieved through a nondescript tomb. That, though the King will one day be highly exalted — not just through the eyes of faith but face-to-face — and that one day every knee will bow and confess Jesus Christ is Lord, He first would humble Himself . . . becoming obedient to the point of death . . . even death on a cross (Php. 2:8-11).

Behold your King!

Wonder at God’s grace.

Worship for God’s glory!

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Keep Listening

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Pete

Dear Advice Columnist, Elihu: I have a problem. Actually, I have a lot of problems. Actually actually, I have a lot of REALLY big problems. I have lost my wealth, I have lost all my children and their families, I have lost my health, and as if all that weren’t enough, I’ve lost my reputation and standing in my community. What’s more, I have no clue as to why. And though I demand an audience with the Almighty who surely knows why, He’s not returning my calls. What do I do?

Dear Job: Keep listening . . .

This morning I’m in Job 37 and am wrapping up the two cents Elihu has thrown into the conversation between Job and his miserable comforters as to understanding what’s behind Job’s miserable condition. And while the kid has had words of rebuke for both Job and Job’s friends, his best words have been his words extolling Job’s God.

And so, he concludes his words with perhaps some unexpected counsel for Job.

“Keep listening to the thunder of His voice
and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
Under the whole heaven He lets it go,
and His lightning to the corners of the earth.
After it His voice roars;
He thunders with His majestic voice,
and He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard.
God thunders wondrously with His voice;
He does great things that we cannot comprehend. . . .

“Hear this, O Job;
stop and consider the wondrous works of God.”

(Job 37:2-5, 14 ESV)

His voice . . . His voice . . . His majestic voice . . . His voice . . . His voice. Guess what I’m picking up from what Elihu is laying down? Guess what I’m hearing? His voice.

Job, quit demanding that God speak to you about what you feel needs to be talked about. Instead, keep listening to what He’s already spoken. Relinquish your bordering on belligerent requests for your day in court. Instead hear what God is saying to you this day through creation. Stop trying to comprehend what God has not made known, but try to capture the awe associated with the great and incomprehensible things which He has made known. Keep listening to the thunder of His voice.

It’s what we need when we don’t know what we need. It’s what brings sanity when everything around us is insane. It’s what stops the ground from shaking when everything has been shaken up. To hear His voice.

And we don’t need some new voice addressing our latest concerns. We need the voice we have heard time and time again. The voice which spoke all things into being. The voice which speaks each morning as the sun rises and whispers each night after the sun has set. The voice of creation can still the heart laid siege by calamity. Keep listening . . .

But wait, there’s more! Beyond the voice of creation there’s the voice of revelation. God has spoken “at many times and in many ways by the prophets” (Heb. 1:1) and through His apostles. No need to demand an audience with the Almighty, He’s ready to “give an answer” every time we open His word. Keep listening . . .

But wait, there’s still more! Beyond creation, beyond revelation, hear the voice of incarnation. “In these last days He has spoken to us by His Son” (Heb. 1:2). “The Word became flesh . . . and we have seen His glory” (John 1:14). The Word who was in the beginning with God, the Word with God, the Word who was God (John 1:1-2). Thus, the Word who knows the whys of our season and is able to be the source of our endurance. The Word who beckons us, “Come to me, all you labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). So, keep listening . . .

Hear this, stop and consider . . . the wondrous works of God . . . the wondrous word of God . . . the wondrous Son of God.

And then, trust. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Even as you keep listening to His voice.

Only by His grace. So that, in the end, it will be all for His glory.

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Take Care, Remember, and Behold

Posted on December 11, 2024 by Pete

In order to try and track with Elihu’s counsel to Job, I’m reading ahead in my Job reading plan, taking in bigger chunks so as to try and grasp the big ideas. This morning, there’s a quotable quote that I think gets to at least part of the heart of the young guy’s message to the suffering senior saint.

“[God] delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.”

(Job 36:15 ESV)

While Elihu isn’t as condemning of Job as were Job’s other “friends”, Elihu is also a realist. Though Job may in fact have been a “man that was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1), nevertheless Elihu knows enough about the sons of Adam to know Job ain’t perfect. And, the youngster knows enough about his God to know that He is perfect. Thus, Elihu concludes something about how a perfect God deals with a less than perfect, though for the most part righteous, suffering saint.

“[God] does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous,
but with kings on the throne He sets them forever, and they are exalted.
And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction,
then He declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.
He opens their ears to instruction
and commands that they return from iniquity.”

(Job 36:7-10 ESV)

God doesn’t turn His back on the righteous. In fact, His default posture is to exalt them. But, should the righteous find themselves in cords of affliction, God uses those cords to refine the not-yet-perfect righteous one. He wants to open their ears so that they would turn from iniquity. Thus, God delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.

Hmm . . . worth chewing on I think.

But, while I was hooked by that quotable quote, what I’m hovering over this morning is Elihu’s suggested response to having one’s ears opened.

“Take care; do not turn to iniquity,
for this you have chosen rather than affliction.
Behold, God is exalted in His power,
who is a teacher like Him?
Who has prescribed for Him His way,
or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?

“Remember to extol His work,
of which men have sung.
All mankind has looked on it;
man beholds it from afar.
Behold, God is great, and we know Him not;
the number of His years is unsearchable.”

(Job 36:21-26 ESV)

Take care . . . and behold. Remember . . . and behold.

First, says Elihu, affliction can open our ears or harden our hearts. So, take care. Beware of allowing your suffering to lead you into sin. Instead, seek a perspective which views your calamity as a classroom. Look to the Almighty, in all His sovereign power, as to an instructor – unlike any other, unable of doing anything wrong — who wants to teach you something. Something about yourself. Something about Himself.

Next, know that suffering can limit our ability to see beyond our circumstance and so, rob us of awe and wonder. Therefore, remember who your Maker is and all that He’s done, and submit the confusion of your pain to the greatness of His being. Trust what you cannot yet understand to Him whose ways are unsearchable.

Could we receive such counsel? Might we be open to our affliction delivering us from eyes that may have dimmed as to God’s glory. Would we let our suffering open our ears to know and hear afresh the presence and power of the God who is holy and righteous and just and has promised never to leave us nor forsake us?

Take care, remember, and behold.

By His grace. For His glory.

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“It’s What I Do”

Posted on December 10, 2024 by Pete

Jonah was on my reading plan this morning. Love this story! Just to observe again how God interacts with everything — from stubborn prophets, to whirling winds, to raging seas, to shaking-in-their boots sailors, to big fish, to a city worthy of hellfire and brimstone, to a shade-giving plant, to a plant-eating worm — is enough to cause one to sit back and whisper to oneself, “Behold your God!”

It’s also a story of prayer. The sailors pray, Nineveh prays, and, of course, Jonah prays — first because he’s so afraid to die, then because he’s so angry he wants to die (go figure). Not only do they all pray, but God responds as a sea is calmed, a fish gets indigestion, and a reluctant prophet gets a talking to. And it’s something that God says to Jonah which, this morning, has me thinking.

Jonah tries to flee the presence of God because he doesn’t want any part in the plans of God. The LORD says to Jonah, “Go to Nineveh.” Jonah says to the LORD, “I’m going to Tarshish.” The LORD says, essentially, “I know the evil of your enemies in Nineveh, and I want to give them a chance to repent. Go talk to them.” Jonah says, essentially, “Nope!” Yet, in a battle of wills between God and a man, guess who wins? And so, Jonah ends up walking through Nineveh with the word of the LORD warning them of judgment. And Nineveh ends up believing the word of the LORD and repenting. And the LORD ends up doing what the LORD does best.

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it.

(Jonah 3:10 ESV)

He did not do it. God did not judge Nineveh. And Jonah was ticked!

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

(Jonah 3:1-3 ESV)

“I knew it!” Job says, “I knew You’d forgive them! It’s the just the sort of thing You’d do!”

Think about it. Job’s saying he’s okay with God being gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, as long as it results in Jonah being delivered from the belly of a big fish with an appetite for disobedient prophets, but extend that same grace and mercy to other people who have also sinned against God? No way!

To which, God replies, “It’s what I do.”

“. . . should not I pity Nineveh, . . .” (Jonah 4:11 a ESV)

Should I not care? (CSB) Should I not have compassion? (NASB) Should I not be concerned? (NIV) Jonah, it’s what I do. You know that.

So thankful that God delivers and relents of just judgment . . . when it comes to me and my “lesser” sin and to others of like “lesser” sins. But I wonder if, like Jonah, I don’t have a line drawn in my own mind and heart which, when crossed by others, though I know not beyond God’s power to forgive, I might think should be beyond God’s prerogative to forgive. Transgressions which I view as too much or too many and should be beyond God’s will to redeem, restore, and reconcile. Wondering if my view of “boundless grace” might, in fact, have bounds.

To which God reminds me this morning, “It’s what I do.”

It’s what a God who is gracious and merciful, who is slow to anger and abounding in love, does when sin — all sin and any sin — is repented of. He pities. He cares. He’s concerned. He relents of disaster and determines to deliver. And He does so justly because of the once forever payment for sin by His Son on the cross of Calvary. Steadfast love overflowing because of Jesus’ completed work of atonement forever. It’s just what He does.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Another Approach

Posted on December 9, 2024 by Pete

Job, and his friends were both pretty clear on “what” had happened. Where they differed was on the “why.”

For Job’s friends it was pretty clear, “You’re suffering because something’s wrong with you — you must have sinned some pretty great sin.”

For Job, effectively he’d been wrestling with the conclusion that, “I’m suffering because there’s something wrong with God.” There was something He had missed about Job. Something He had gotten confused about as to how the righteous on earth should be treated by a Sovereign in heaven. While Job didn’t want to actually say God is unjust, if it walks like a duck and it talks like a duck, well then . . .

(That may be an over-simplification, but hey, I only have a few minutes to get this thought down).

Elihu, the youngster who’s decided to add his two cents to the conversation, presents another approach to processing and responding to the enigma of Job’s suffering.

“Has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more; teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?”

(Job 34:31 ESV)

Teach me what I do not see . . . Those are the words I’m chewing on this morning.

Job’s friend are so sure they know what must be going on behind the curtain they indict Job with no evidence. Job’s thinks he knows all there is to know about the quid pro quo of blessing for righteousness obedience that he is increasingly emboldened to demand his day in court — not just before the Judge, but to question the Judge. But Elihu presents another way.

Teach me what I do not see.

Point out what I’m missing. Direct me towards the key which opens the door to understanding.

“God,” Job might say, “I know me and that I have a lived a life that has been blameless and upright, a life as one who fears God and has turned away from evil (Job 1:1). And God, I know that You know me (Job 1:8) because You know all things (Job 21:22). And I know that with You, LORD of all, is all wisdom and might and counsel and understanding (Job 12:13). So, help me make sense of what’s going on right now.” Teach me what I do not see . . .

Job’s suffering led his friends to a hardening. So sure were they as they theologized that they were unable to sympathize.

Job’s suffering ultimately led him to a certain hubris. So sure was he of himself that he ended up calling into question the righteousness and justice of his Sovereign.

But says, Elihu, what if we let our sufferings lead us to humility? What if our bewilderments concerning life’s circumstance moved us to bowing before the One who knows everything, as we admit that, in comparison, we really know very little? What if our confidence in God’s holiness and goodness comforted us in our pain and beckoned us to be still and ask to grow in understanding?

What if the petition of the psalmist — who would write well after Elihu spoke — had become Job’s prayer?

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

(Psalm 139:23-24 ESV)

Teach me what I do not see . . .

That’s another approach.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Kind of Gospel-Like

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Pete

Trying to hear what the kid has to say this morning. Elihu has listened long enough to the back-and-forth of the grey-heads, now it’s his turn.

Job has already had his “drop the mic” moment (Job 31:40), and now the younger and respectful Elihu, burning with anger (32:2-3), is compelled to grab the mic from Job’s miserable comforters to try and set some things straight. First, he addresses Job’s three friends (32:11-22). Then, the kid turns his attention to Job.

As I read Elihu’s opening discourse, what grabs me is how gospel-like it sounds.

” . . . man prays to God, and He accepts him;
He sees His face with a shout of joy, and He restores to man His righteousness.

He sings before men and says:
‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me.
He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’

“Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man . . . ”

(Job 33:26-29a ESV)

Read it again with Peterson’s words . . .

“Fall on your knees and pray — to God’s delight! You’ll see God’s smile and celebrate, finding yourself set right with God.

You’ll sing God’s praises to everyone you meet, testifying, ‘I messed up my life — and let me tell you, it wasn’t worth it. But God stepped in and saved me from certain death. I’m alive again! Once more I see the light!’

“This is the way God works. Over and over again . . . ”

(Job 33:26-29a MSG)

Sounds pretty New Testament to me, how about you? Maybe God really is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Elihu get’s to this gospel summary by first pointing out that God, though greater than man (33:12), condescends to speak to man, even when man might think he is as great as God. And that God has a couple of ways to “turn man aside from his deeds”, to “rebuke man”(33:19a, 23b). God can speak to man through revelation so that man might hear the words of God (33:15-16), or God may use pain and suffering so that a man might feel his way to God (33:19). Either way, it is so that God might show man “what is right for him” (33:23b). And what is right is that God longs to be merciful, and seeks to deliver, and can do so because He has “found a ransom” (33:24).

And why does Elihu try and get all this through to Job?

“Pay attention, O Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak. If you have any words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.”

(Job 33:31-32 ESV)

I desire to justify you . . .

Job, you’ve been trying so hard to justify yourself. Listen, I want to justify you. I want your name cleared as much as you do. I want your righteousness, too. But it’s not found in your clinging to your self-righteousness nor in your feeble demands to stand before God in order to justify yourself.

It’s found in a merciful God who longs to keep your soul from the pit and your life from perishing (33:18). It’s found not in you trying to convince Him of your own righteousness, but in a God who has Himself has provided a ransom for you. It’s found in redemption. It’s found in restoration. It’s found in another who wants to justify you. Then, will you know the light of life.

And how does God want to bring you to that realization, and ultimately to rest, Job? Through your pain.

How might He graciously work to bring His longing for you to remembrance? Through your suffering.

How will you stand justified? Only by Him, and in Him, as He alone can be your justifier.

Yeah, sounds kind of gospel-like to me. Maybe the kid knows a thing or two.

About God’s grace. For God’s glory.

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Sheltered, Shepherded, Soothed

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Pete

Hovering over a great multitude this morning. A great multitude that can’t be numbered. A multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. All standing together. Clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. And with a loud voice worshiping together (Rev. 7:9-10). And I worship through them, at my desk. And I wait to one day worship with them, before the throne.

And the thing I’m mulling over this morning is that, in that day and place when all those who have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14) are before the throne of God, they will be sheltered, shepherded, and soothed.

“Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve Him day and night in His temple;
and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and He will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

(Revelation 7:15-17 ESV)

Sheltered with His presence. Shepherded and guided to springs of living waters. Soothed as every tear is wiped away from their eyes. Chew on that for a bit.

What will the security of heaven be like? What safety? What shalom? I can only imagine what it will be like in that day to be sheltered with His visible glory.

But the journey doesn’t end at the throne. We’ll be guided to springs of living water by the Lamb who is our great and good Shepherd. We’ll drink deep an ocean’s fullness of eternal refreshment and revitalization.

But not before every tear is wiped from our eyes. The sorrow for sin, the suffering from sickness, the sobbing over death, all erased . . . blotted away . . . obliterated . . . remembered no more.

What a day that will be . . . I can’t wait!

But as I noodle on it, I realize afresh that I don’t need to wait for “that day” to be sheltered, shepherded, and soothed. Though not yet, that day is yet now.

The presence of God known through the Spirit given as a guarantee. Shelter available.

The guidance of God available through the Son who lives in me and His word before me. The Lord is (as in right now) my shepherd.

The comfort of God available through the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction” (2Cor. 1:3-4). Our souls soothed even as He knows and collects our tears (Ps. 56:8) for that day when they are forever removed.

What a day today can be . . . No waiting needed!

By His grace. For His glory.

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Time to Speak Up

Posted on December 4, 2024 by Pete

Up to this point, he was content to observe the back and forth between Job and his so-called “friends.” For 28 chapters he’s eavesdropped on their debate. After all, he’s just the kid in the crowd, thus considering it all propriety to yield the floor to the supposedly more-learned grey-heads. But after Job’s final soliloquy of self-justification, and after Job’s panel of exasperated critics falls silent, enough’s enough. Time to get in the game! Time to speak up.

Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.

(Job 32:2-5 ESV)

If repetition is exclamation in the Scriptures, then the Spirit is downright shouting out something he wants to make sure we get; that Elihu “burned with anger!” Literally, “his nose (aka his face) became hot!” As we used to say, he was “ticked off.” Annoyed. Irritated. Enraged. Furious. Incensed. Livid. Chew on that phrase a bit, and you gotta ask yourself, “How come?”

Glad you asked, says the Spirit.

Elihu’s anger burned at Job because Job was willing to throw God under the bus, as it were, “pitting his righteousness against God’s” (MSG). To be sure, Job was a man whose life was marked by being “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1, 1:8, 2:3) — that too, repeated for emphasis. Blameless, that was Job. He knew it. God knew it too. But in trying to reconcile being blameless before God with being blasted by God, Job wants a word with the Almighty because the Almighty must be doing something wrong. And accusing the Holy One of somehow not really being wholly holy? Well, that’s enough to make you mad.

Elihu’s anger burned at Job’s three friends because in there “either / or” world, there was no place for “both / and.” You were either good as evidenced by blessing on your life, or you were bad as evidenced by boils on your body (Job 2:7). There was no way one could be upright and yet still be laid low. No place for being God fearing and yet God disciplined. No world in which those who turn from evil are yet touched by evil (Job 2:7 again). And where’s there’s no place for “both / and” then there’s every manner of judgment of men where judgment is unwarranted, and reduction of God even though God can’t be reduced — His ways higher than our ways, His thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isa. 55:8-9). In a world with no “both / and” the best one can muster up is mixed up theology and empty platitudes. And how does that sit? Well, it’s infuriating.

Elihu burned with anger as Job crossed a line in questioning God and as his friends crossed a line in simplifying God. And so, it was time to speak up.

Did a bit of extra reading this morning on Elihu’s enraged response and it seems that, among commentators, the jury’s split on how Elihu is to be seen and how his words are to be understood. Split as to whether he’s to be commended for jumping in or castigated for adding to the confusion. (What we do know, however, is that while God addresses Job and rebukes Job’s friends, God says nothing about Elihu). But while what is about to come in Job 32 through 37 may be up for some debate, it’s clear that we are to know that Elihu was angry — like, really angry. And, that we are to know why. So, I can’t help but wonder if there’s not something here for us to be warned of, as well.

When it comes to questioning the character of God, don’t do it. Tempted to lower God down a bit in order to lift yourself up? Yeah, don’t do that either. Wanting to put your ways and wisdom above God’s? Nope, stay away from that, too.

Let God be true though every one were a liar . . .

(Romans 3:4 ESV)

Wisdom is found in looking at life from what we know to be true about God, not discerning what must be true about God from how we look at life.

When man becomes the arbiter of God, when man becomes the judge of other men, well, it’s time for a bit righteous anger. Time to speak up.

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.

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