Job 34

Didn’t Elihu say he had something new to add to the conversation? Instead, he ends up repackaging and regurgitating the arguments of his older, supposedly-not-as-wise counterparts: “Job claims that he is innocent, that God refuses to give him justice. He asks, How could I lie and say I am wrong? I am fatally wounded, but I am sinless. Have you ever seen anyone like this man Job? He never shows respect for God. He likes the company of evil people and goes around with sinners. He says that it never does any good to try to follow God’s will.” (vs 5-9)

In reality, Job had said nothing of the sort. The idea that Job was only following God because of what he could get out of the deal was Satan’s charge in chapter 1, but Elihu and the others had to try to make sense of the situation. In their minds, they couldn’t see any possibility under which both Job and God could be right. In their minds, if God was right, then Job was wrong, and vice versa. Author Mike Mason said this about Elihu’s state of mind: “What most alarmed Elihu about Job was that somehow this man had the cheek to blame God for his problems, and yet still to consider himself righteous and faithful.”

In Elihu’s mind, simply questioning God was bad enough: “To his sins [Job] adds rebellion; in front of us all he mocks God.” (vs 37) Elihu would never have thought of talking to God the way Job talked to Him, yet in the end, Job was vindicated as having been the one who said “what was right” about God. Have you ever wondered about that?

I mean, Elihu and the others didn’t say everything wrong about God. They got a lot of things right. In this chapter, for instance, Elihu talks about God knowing all about what men do. He talks about God not perpetrating evil. He extols God’s role as Life-giver. Certainly, all these things would fall under the category of saying “what was right” about God.

Job, on the other hand, misunderstood a great deal about his suffering. He wrongly thought that God was against him, when in fact, God was on his side all along. Yet Job was never chastised for having said “what was wrong” about God.

What made the difference?

I think that Job said “what was right” about God in terms of demonstrating the quality of relationship God longs to have with us. Job was real with God. When he suffered, he didn’t put on a brave, happy face, he cried out—sometimes most bitterly—to his friend. When his friend didn’t respond right away, Job demanded to know why. Whatever was on Job’s mind, whatever was in Job’s heart, he was honest about it. He put it right out there for God, and everyone else, to see.

Elihu and his counterparts, on the other hand, warned Job not to be so open with God. They advocated for a much more reserved relationship—one where the creature is supposed to “watch out” and try not to offend the Creator. This, I believe, was the major “wrong” thing they said about God—to suggest that we be afraid of Him and what He might do to us.

God actually doesn’t want us to approach Him like that! (Every time He met someone in the Bible, the first words out of His mouth were always, Don’t be afraid.) He wants us to be real with Him. He wants us to know that we can cry out to Him as Job did—even with our deepest, darkest fears, angers, and hurts. He wants us to know that we’re safe with Him. He wants us to know that we can be friends.

And when we’re friends with Him and we help others to understand that God wants to be friends with them, too, we say “what is right” about God, even if we don’t get every little detail correct. The relationship is what God is most concerned about—He has an eternity to fill us in on the details.

So, how long has it been since you’ve been honest with God? I mean, really honest? With God, you don’t have to hide or sugarcoat your feelings. He wants you to be real!