Responding Positively to God's Discipline - Job 32 - 38

In any circumstance in which you find yourself, if you have the patients to wait and listen, someone will come along that can tell you something new or different about the cause of your condition and how to remedy it if it is flawed. Personally, I like to listen to some of the old Baptist patriarchs like D. L. Moody, B. H. Carroll, W. O. Vaught, and others that have written commentaries for our enlightenment. My father taught me to always respect my elders and I have never drifted away from that practice. I remember two years ago when I turned eighty, I jokingly made an announcement in the Church library and in our Sunday school class and reminded those listening that it was Biblically correct for the younger ones to stand when I entered the room. It didn’t work!

The practice of honoring older people is a biblical teaching and even before the first book, Job, was hand written on a scroll there was a young man by the name of Elihu that had stood aside and listened as Job and his three friends had conversed for several days. In chapter thirty two this young man entered the conversation by reminding all present that he had waited patiently his turn and had shown due respect—and now he wanted to speak out against Job and his friends. Unlike the first three, Elihu had some insight into the situation and shed some true light and gave Job sound counsel that he desperately needed. He was wound up tight because what he had to say covered six long chapters. Today, as we study the life of Job, we too should pay attention to what Elihu had to say because he must have been more correct than the other friends and Job had been. The reason I say this is that God rebuked Job and his friends in Job 42:7-9, but God did not rebuke Elihu for what he had to say. Here is a case where the younger was the wiser.

If you will read the entire 32nd chapter you will find that it can be summed up by saying Elihu, a younger man had waited his turn and was now anxious to help Job understand what his problem really was. He was angry with Job because he refused to acknowledge his sin of pride that was obvious because of Job arguing that he was not a sinner and Elihu rebuked the three friends for failing to rebut Job’s arguments. The first indication that the young man knew what he was talking about was when he told them that true understanding is only found in God. We are young only during our first few years of life but unfortunately some of us remain immature all of our earthly lives. The bible stresses that this young man was mature beyond his age; however, he too, was not completely right. One example was his feeling that God had told Job why he was suffering and that Job just did not hear him. God does not always completely explain why things occur as they do and the reason is very simple. God wants us to accept our trials, our discipline as being within his will and he wants us to grow our faith until we are able to accept what ever comes our way. We must truly believe that all things will work together for our good—only if we meet the criteria.

Job never did lose his faith in God but he did a lot of complaining and made some accusations against God. JOB DID NOT RESPOND POSITIVELY TO GOD’S DISCIPLINE and this is what our lesson today tells us to do. If God answers all of our questions—so that we always know without a doubt—this would eliminate the use of our faith. This was one error that Elihu made—he assured Job that God had answered him and that Job just did not hear. I do not believe that God will ever answer all of our questions—we must accept his grace by our faith and we must also be willing to accept God’s discipline by faith. Job had lost everything including his health and was in a lot of pain—but this was not his greatest test. His greatest test was that he did not know why he was suffering and God would not tell him. I have painful Arthritis, you have devastating Cancer, our friend has Diabetes and has lost a foot or leg and we do not know why our lives are going this way. We have been looking at these conditions as our test—but they are not the main test. Our greatest test is that we must learn to trust God’s goodness even though we do not understand why we must suffer physically. Think this way…God is good and we can trust him—but life is not always good to us and we cannot put our trust in life.

Elihu told Job that God had not left him without a witness as Job was accusing. Ht told Job that God had been talking to him all along through his suffering, witnesses, dreams, and nature but that Job had forgotten how to listen for God’s voice. Elihu was successful in getting Job to actually hear God speak again and this came because he had recaptured a correct view of God.

In this entire encounter Elihu declares his anger toward Job but then he affirms that true understanding is found only in God and that any believer has no choice but to speak what he knows to be the truth. He is the first one of the speakers that called Job by his name and directed him to listen to him because he is compelled to speak the truth and nothing but the truth. Then he warns Job to not be afraid of what he has to say because it is the truth.

Elihu thinks that Job has sinned in his confessions. He quoted Job as saying, “I am pure and without sin; I am clean and free from guilt.” Then he pointed out his inconsistency because he had never claimed to be sinless and had even admitted being a sinner in 7:21.

Regarding Job’s argument that God has stopped talking to him, Elihu emphatically disagreed and added angels to the list of ways that God speaks to man…through angels. It appears to me that he may be considering himself as an angel sent to discuss Job’s trials with him and help get him back on track in God’s favor. Elihu seems to be explaining to Job that he has not listened…because if he had listened he would have heard God. The indication is that if Job would listen—it would be an indication that he wanted to hear; he had heard but he did not like what he heard—he had not really listened because he did not really want to hear what God was teaching him in and through his trials.

It appears to me that one of the greatest thought in this lesson today deals with the question—how do we listen to hear God speak to us? For some reason, I do not feel comfortable when someone tells me that “God told me to do—or say—something specific.” I do not believe that God speaks in an auditable voice to man today. To my knowledge, he has never spoken to me, and I will assure you that I would listen with awe and praise...I would listen because I want to hear.

On July 9, this Sunday morning, God is speaking to us by his written Word, the Bible. If you want to be in his will, you will listen to what he has to say. That means that you will listen to the teacher, the pastor, and your friends because you have a desire to know! You will read the Word and listen because you want to understand what God is saying to you. How can we be sure we are listening to hear the truth and utilizing it to grow?

The very first and most important thing is for us to realize, admit, and humbly react to the written Word of God. How? Just as if He were in this room speaking in an audible voice using the English language that we know and understand. We must believe that the Bible is the Word of God and therefore as the bible is read aloud—God is speaking to us. Secondly, as we listen, we should be alert. You can not sit in this class or in the sanctuary today and “hear” the teacher and/or preacher and please God—unless you listen to what the Word says. You can “hear” the preacher and me and at the same time “listen” to your own heart as it longs for your fishing gear, golf equipment, or deer or turkey stand. In the end we are the looser every time; God is not pleased and we did not get started one moment sooner that we would have…had we listened intently to the Word of God.

Third, we should exercise our intelligence to the max. God’s Word is a cognitive message and it requires us to think rationally and study intensely. I understand that the acceptance of Christ is a matter of the heart of man, but the Holy Scriptures does not come through a mystical experience that bypasses the mind. God works through human intellect in order to get to his heart. We are charged to rightly divide the Word. The last way to listen is with a true heart. We must be blameless. Before you listen to hear God speak…ask him to forgive any sin that would keep you from hearing His word. It is impossible for you to hear Christ as he says you should “Love your neighbor as yourself” while you are listening to your own heart tell you how much you detest your neighbor.

Elihu tried to convince Job that he was half right; Job believed that God was great but could not fully believe that he was good. He needed to understand that God was both great and good. He knew first hand that God had made him a respected and wealthy man by using his power and greatness and now he had to accept by faith that God would be good to him in the end and that all things would work out for his good. Elihu counseled Job to be patient and learn from his affliction, and think of his many trials as God’s means of teaching, and purifying him.

Some may wonder why the book of Job was canonized and many will become weary as they search for the central theme, or a basic overall meaning of the book. Search if you must, but you will not find a better lesson for Christians today who are down and out, who have lost family, friends and wealth similar to Job. If this describes your condition, you must realize that the hand of God that disciplines sinful believers is placed there by God for your benefit and it is absolutely imperative that you learn to RESPOND POSITIVELY TO GOD’S DISCIPLINE.