Readings for today: Job 33-36
Elihu is a strange figure in Job. He appears seemingly out of nowhere and disappears just as quickly. He is not mentioned at the end of the book when God judges Job’s three other friends and commands Job to pray and offer sacrifices for them. This leads some scholars to believe the Elihu discourse is a later addition to the text. However, I think Elihu is there to represent the folly of youth. The latent chronological snobbery that all of us engage in when we are young and think we have all the right answers. Elihu doesn’t add much to the equation except to repeat the tired old argument that suffering is the direct consequence of human sin. There must be something Job has done to deserve his fate. His words, though perhaps asserted with more certainty, ring just as hollow as the others who have come to “comfort” Job.
I have raised four great kids. Four great humans who are making a difference in our world. I am so proud of each of them but it’s not always been easy. There were seasons, especially when they were in high school, when I went from the smartest man they knew to the dumbest. Almost overnight. Everything was an argument. I could say black and they would say white. I could say night and they would say day. I could say the sky is blue and they would say it’s actually a “blueish purple” but we only perceive it as blue because of how the wavelengths are impacted by the Earth’s atmosphere. If you’ve ever been the parent of a teenager, I am sure you understand. I remember one conversation where my oldest daughter was trying to convince me of the virtues of communism as a political philosophy. I had to remind myself over and over again that she had never seen the Berlin Wall fall. She had never experienced the Cold War. She had not yet studied the history of the 20th century where millions lost their lives under Communist regimes. Eventually, I told her I could introduce her to someone who had experienced the “virtues” of communism firsthand. A friend of mine who is a survivor of the “Killing Fields” of Pol Pot in Cambodia. This sobered her up a bit and it reminded me yet again of the folly of youth.
I was much the same way at her age. Convinced of my own righteousness. Utterly certain of my own thoughts and ideas. I engaged in all kinds of chronological snobbery as I dismissed the wisdom of those who came before me. Thankfully, life taught me some hard lessons. I’ve been humbled in any number of ways. I’ve learned to value the wisdom of those who’ve come before me and listen to their words. I’ve learned to not take myself too seriously or falsely assume I bring anything new to the table. I don’t. A wise man once said, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” I agree. Humanity seems forever locked in a cycle of “wash, rinse, repeat.” Our addiction to sin can only broken by the power of the gospel. What Elihu and Job’s other friends need is a fresh encounter with God and a reminder that no one speaks for God except God Himself.
Readings for tomorrow: Job 37-40:5, Psalms 19