Looking Over His Shoulder

Posted on December 20, 2024 by Pete

I finish up Job 42 and I’m left to noodle on the last verse. Is God still talking about Leviathan, or has He switched things up and is revealing something about Himself? The answer? I think it’s, “Yes.”

Over these final chapters in Job, when God has taken center stage in the debate between Job & Co., God has presented to Job a primer on creation so that Job might gain insight as to his own arrogance towards the Creator.

“Will you even put Me in the wrong?
Will you condemn Me that you may be in the right?
Have you an arm like God,
and can you thunder with a voice like His?”

(Job 40:8-9 ESV)

And in illustrating “an arm like God” God talks about the biggest and most fearsome of His creation, Behemoth (40:15-24) and Leviathan (41:1-34). And if what distinguishes Behemoth is that he is big, what sets apart Leviathan is that he is bad — not bad as in evil, but bad as in you don’t want to mess with this dude! And God’s point to Job, it seems, is that if Job has no hope of taking on God’s creation, Leviathan, then what makes him think he can challenge Leviathan’s creator? For, “whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine” (Job 40:10-11).

And then, God’s “drop the mic” moment as He concludes His Leviathan lecture . . .

“On earth there is not his like,
a creature without fear.
He sees everything that is high;
he is king over all the sons of pride.”

(Job 41:33-34 ESV)

On earth there is not his like . . . he sees everything . . . he is king over all . . .

That’s what I’m hovering over this morning. Who is God talking about here? Leviathan? Himself as Leviathan’s creator? Like I said before, “Yes!”

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

(Romans 1:19-20 ESV)

Job, says the LORD God Almighty, look over Leviathan’s shoulder and his untamable power and presence, and behold His Creator. Leviathan’s creator, Job, He’s the One you want an audience with, the One you want to go toe-to-toe with. He’s the One you are calling out, demanding your day in court. Give your head a shake, brother! For on earth there is not His like . . . He sees everything . . . He is king over all!

But as I chew on it, I realize that, for a brief span of history, there was once on earth “His like” — the man Christ Jesus.

. . . who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

(Philippians 2:6-8 ESV)

In times past, God spoke to Job through the bone-shaking, fear-invoking reality of Leviathan — a creature unlike anything on earth — in order to illustrate God’s own one-of-a-kind, other worldly power and presence and rule. “But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son” (Heb. 1:2). Immanuel, God with us. Far from the frightening figure of a great water beast, God instead reveals Himself to us very much like the people of earth — “Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see; Hail, the incarnate deity.”

Though still the One who sees everything, though never not the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Jesus enters our world looking very much like our world, sharing in our “flesh and blood”, being made “like His brothers in every respect” (Heb. 2:14-17). God making Himself known — the Father sending the Son conceived by the Spirit.

On earth there is not His like . . . but for a while there was. Oh, let’s celebrate that wondrous time.

And as we celebrate, may we see more than just the babe in the manger, but instead would we look over His shoulder and behold our God — the One who on earth is not His like, the One who sees everything, the One who is King over all.

O come, let us adore Him!

By His grace. For His glory.

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The Faultfinder (2016 Remix)

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Pete

It’s a line that I don’t ever want to look back over my shoulder and see that I’ve crossed. The “fault” line. The line of finding fault with my God and Father. The line of reproving the One who is Righteousness. “Faultfinder” . . . This morning, that’s the word that caused me to be still and know afresh that He is God.

Then I went back through my journal and found the post that follows from Christmas 2016, the last Christmas with Sue. Two months after this post she would be home with the Lord.

Those days at the lodge were marked by everything you hope having all the family together would bring — a lot of fun and joy. And yet, it was also marked by Sue’s compromised condition. So, as I read the following post again, I think of how it was being used of the Lord to prepare me, readying me to find my Father only faithful when it might have been easy to find fault. Instilling a spirit of confidence in my God’s goodness that would combat any temptation to harbor a spirit of contention questioning God’s fairness.

Here are those thoughts from 8 years ago. In some ways it seems like yesterday . . .

Spent the last couple of days driving down to California to do Christmas with the family at the Scott River Lodge, the retreat center managed by my son-in-law and daughter. Although the lodge is more than big enough to accommodate all of us, communal living does have a way of disrupting routine. So, while I’ll continue to work my way through the last few entries in my reading plan, finding computer time to put down some thoughts could be kind of challenging. Likely to be hit and miss.

But this morning, for right now, I’m alone and chewing on something I read in Job.

I can’t imagine the fear factor experienced by Job when God decides to answer him “out of the whirlwind” (38:1, 40:6). Whatever storm Job may have thought he had been enduring through his suffering, it paled when compared to the tempest experienced when the Almighty Creator determines to enter the debate. For most of this book Job’s comforters have been answering Job’s complaint and Job has, in turn, been answering back at their answers. Now it is the Almighty’s turn to answer. And when He speaks it’s like being in the middle of a hurricane.

But, though the sensory overload due to God’s manifested presence must have driven Job to his knees, I think hearing God’s accusation against him is what really humbled and mortified this man of whom God Himself had said “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (1:8, 2:3).

And the LORD said to Job:

“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
He who argues with God, let him answer it.” . . .

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

“Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to Me.
Will you even put Me in the wrong?
Will you condemn Me that you may be in the right?

(Job 40:1-2, 6-8 ESV)

I think Job was shocked when He heard God summarize his arguments. While Job had certainly been defending his own record against his accusers (ahem, I mean “comforters”), I don’t think this man, who feared God and sought to bless the name of the LORD in all circumstance (1:21), ever intended to find fault with God. Or, to assert that God could be wrong. Or, to seek to put God down that Job might lift himself up.

And so, I’m thinking, how does a godly man like Job end up getting on the wrong side of his God? Short answer: he allows his world to revolve around himself rather than around his God.

He becomes so consumed with his own story that he forgets it’s but a subplot in a much greater narrative. He starts to believe that the ways he has planned, and the goals he has set, must somehow dictate the steps God should ordain for him. He develops a self-centered arrogance which, at least implicitly, asserts that his sense of right and wrong should define God’s sense of justice and purpose.

I don’t think Job consciously determined to find fault with his faultless God. I don’t think he said to himself, “Self, God must be in the wrong if I am to be in the right. Jehovah needs to be corrected so that I can be justified.” Rather, as Job allowed himself and the woe of his situation to increase, his view of God was forced to decrease. As Job’s circumstance became the paramount circumstance, God needed to find an orbit around Job’s planet. And before he knew it, Job the God-fearer had become Job the God-faultfinder.

O’ that I might learn a lesson from this man of God. Might I never cease to be always humbled before an all-knowing, all-powerful God.

By His grace, might I always see my circumstance in the greater context of His sovereignty. Trusting in His promised presence. Resting in His steadfast love. Quick always to say, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done.”

So that, above all things, He might always be given glory.

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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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