Job 35 - Elihu (3)

This is the third of Elihu's speeches and is addressed directly to Job.

To Job it seemed that there was no advantage in obeying God and that God is not treating him properly.

Elihu starts by getting Job to consider life, the universe and everything. Now he is right in saying we need to be less self-centred and to consider the enormity of life. So often our thinking is so shallow and so self-centred. However, he is wrong in saying that our obedience or sin does not affect God. 

Verse 9-12 is true of so many atheists. We humans are fundamentally different from the rest of creation. That uniqueness is that we were created in the image of God, and we are the ones with whom He communicates directly and intimately, if only we will listen.

Then Elihu seems to be implying that Job cannot expect God to answer.

With Elihu, as with Job's friends, there is a mixture of true insight and a complete lack of understanding of God, and of what Job is going through. When we are in the midst of trials and God seems nowhere to be found, we should push our roots deeper and deeper into Christ, we should hold onto Him ever more tightly, we should open our hearts to Him, we should study His word all the more intently. This may be painful, at times it may seem pointless, as it did to Job, but in the end we will find greater treasure than we ever imagined, again as Job did.