Job 36

“Those who have a godless heart harbor anger; even when God binds them, they do not cry for help. They die in their youth; their life ends among male cult prostitutes.  God rescues the afflicted by their affliction; He instructs them by their torment. Indeed, He lured you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and unconfined place.  Your table was spread with choice food. Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you. Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large ransom lead you astray. Can your wealth or all your physical exertion keep you from distress?” Job 36: 13-19 (HCSB)

Continuing from yesterday’s chapter, Elihu is proclaiming the goodness of God. Indeed, God is good, and for the most part, we find nothing wrong with Elihu’s proclamation, except for one majorly minor tidbit: Job is not being judged! So, while Elihu’s proclamations sound like praise, they expose a major error in his theology. Elihu’s faith (along with the rest of Job’s “friends”) could not comprehend the suffering of the righteous or the (worldly) prosperity of the wicked. He is not the only person in the Bible to wrestle with that concept. Consider these verses:

“Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead with You; Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?” Jeremiah 12:1 (NKJV)

“There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 8:14 (NKJV)

Our job is not to hold God accountable as if we could understand His ways and hold His wisdom and Lordship in contempt. Our job is to trust in His character (as articulated in His Word) and live obediently, knowing it will all make sense in eternity.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NKJV)

Yes, God resists the proud, but His greatest delight is when sinners turn to Him.

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10  (NKJV)

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8 (NKJV)