Elihu Blathers On

My father was a science teacher, and a very good one. Sometimes, when I was in high school and couldn't understand my homework, he was very helpful in explaining it. But often he would begin by going right back to the beginning, and proving to me that the angles of a triangle added up to 180 degrees. I can remember how that drove me crazy when all I wanted was to understand a trigonometry problem. There are few things more annoying than being told what you already know. At length.

This is what Elihu does to Job. There's nothing wrong with what he says - except that Job knows all that. And it's worse. Look at v 36. He comes out with a theological cliché. "Just pray about it." "God rewards the good and punishes the wicked." (This is known as the "retribution principle.")

But this is exactly Job's problem. (The second most annoying thing is when a person answers a question you didn't ask.) Job is struggling with the fact that he doesn't understand God. His experience doesn't match his theology. This is the crux of the issue in the book of Job.

Peter Enns has written a book called The Sin of Certainty in which he explains how Christians mistake certainty for faith. It's when we ask honest questions about what goes on around us that we grow in a profound kind of knowing and become mature disciples. This is the kind of faith that God wants. He wants us to trust him, no matter what.

Job never does get "answers." In the end, he gets something far more important. Read on. Elihu does get some things right. But the real response from God comes when Elihu gets out of the way.

Respond in Prayer

God of the universe, help me as I grapple with things I don't understand. Help me to trust you, no matter what. For Jesus' sake, Amen.

Annabel Robinson

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®).