The Bible Recap - Day 012 (Job 32-34) - Year 3

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Today, for the first time in almost a week of reading, someone new showed up on the scene. And what we know about him right away is that he's very angry. Elihu, this new angry man, is angry not only at Job, but also at Job's three friends, because they were all kind of self-righteous. Chapter 32, verse 4, makes it sound like Elihu had been there all along listening to the whole back and forth from everyone

Starting point is 00:00:37 and had been holding his tongue. Perhaps out of some humility since he was younger than everyone else, but also out of fear of man as we find out in verse 6. But then, after listening to the Maltaugh, it turned out that these three older men had nothing good to say, so he spoke up. Age doesn't always equal wisdom, and youth doesn't always equal foolishness.

Starting point is 00:00:57 Eli who points out in verse 8 that it's God, not time, who grants wisdom. It doesn't only come via time and life experience. Sometimes those of the means God uses, but sometimes he just dispenses wisdom at will. And for Elihu, he believed God had advanced his wisdom beyond his years, and we'll have to wait a little longer to see if we think he was right. He starts out by rebuking Job's three friends and telling them that in all their speeches they were never able to offer a proper rebuttal to what Job said. Then in chapter 3 he goes on to rebuke Job, even though he approaches it initially with

Starting point is 00:01:33 a little more gentleness than the other three did. He says, My pressure will not be heavy on you. I too was pinched off from a piece of clay. He seems to stay humble in his approach to rebuking Job, unlike Job's other friends. Elihu gets a few things wrong in his rebuk of Job, though. In verse nine, he says, Job had claimed to be without transgression, and Job never actually claimed that.

Starting point is 00:01:56 The very fact that Job offered sacrifices meant he knew that he wasn't innocent before God. If he sat before God as judge, he knew there would be claims against him. In verse 29 through 30, Elihu points out that sometimes God brings hardship in the temporary in order to bring healing in the eternal. He says, behold, God does all these things twice, three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life. Elihu is basically saying here that God plays the long game.

Starting point is 00:02:28 God's eternality allows him a vantage point that you and I don't have. And it also solidifies his patience toward us when we're going through trials. It's easier to be patient when you can guarantee the process and outcome will be worth it. God has that kind of guarantee because of his eternality, because of his sovereignty, because of his omniscience, which is just a big word, meaning that he knows everything. But here's the thing about all of that. It's true that God sometimes does allow hardship to turn people's hearts back to him. But by adding this idea to his speech, Elihu starts to take on the same themes that

Starting point is 00:03:05 Job's friends presented repeatedly, basically saying God let all this happen to bring back Job's soul from the pit, or in more direct terms, so Job would turn from his transgression. I'd hoped it would play out differently this time around, honestly. I thought Job would finally found a friend who understood, but it's all starting to sound very familiar. He starts to accuse Job of walking with the wicked men of being foolish and not only of sinning, but also rebelling against God. Are you guys exhausted of the way Job is misunderstood? Imagine you just lost your job and your home and your family was killed and God feels distant

Starting point is 00:03:40 and your friends all just keep rebuking you and you can't, for the life of you, think of what you might need to repent of. And on top of that, you're covered in boils. I do not envy Job, but I'm so God, His story is recorded in Scripture, because I think we've all experienced seasons of life that feel like this to some small degree. And if you haven't yet, you will.

Starting point is 00:04:02 Tomorrow, we'll finish up Elihu's speech. But as for today, what was your God shot? For me, it was the part where Elihu was talking about how God plays the long game. Much of what these men say about God is true. It's when they talk about Job that they really get it wrong. So when Elihu points out that God will allow us to struggle in our lives as it serves to turn our hearts from darkness to light,

Starting point is 00:04:26 it made me grateful. Maybe this feels cruel to you, but isn't that what all good parents do? If you're a parent, don't you let your child learn the lessons the hard way sometimes, especially if you know that the long-term consequences of learning something are less detrimental than the short-term consequences of the lesson. I want the kind of parent who lets me scream through the terrors of a swim lesson if they

Starting point is 00:04:48 know what means I won't drown when they take me to the ocean. I love that God isn't always lined up with my desires in the moment, and that he can see further than I can. It makes me trust him more. It reminds me that I might only be right here in the pain and uncertainty of the moment, but if I can connect to him and learn to trust him in that, then I can access something more than my current emotions. In fact, that's when I selfishly want to connect with him

Starting point is 00:05:12 most because I know he's where the joy is. [♪ Music playing in background, music playing a bonus episode on helpful tools for Bible study. We'll be sending that out to patrons who have joined at the bonus content tier or higher. If that's you, just log into your Patreon account to get your perks, or if you've selected to have it emailed to you, you can look for it there. If you're part of our Patreon at a different tier and you want access to this perk, you can log into your account and adjust your membership accordingly. And if you're not part of our Patreon family yet, this is a great time to jump in. Check out today's show notes for a link to our Patreon so you don't miss out on this, or click the Patreon link on our website, thebibelrecap.com.

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The Bible Recap - Day 012 (Job 32-34) - Year 3

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