False Presumptions
Elihu in a nutshell:
1. He is mad because Job's three friends could not refute Job's claims and by doing so condemned God.
2. He was mad that Job kept insisting he was innocent and accuses him of blasphemy against God.
[From the NLT Living Faith Study Bible]
Yesterday and today's reading focuses on Elihu, the young man who listens to the three "comforters" and Job go back and forth between accusations of sin and acclamations of innocence.
From Elihu's point of view Job was suffering because God was correcting him.
He was trying to restore him and keep him on the right path
God was speaking, Job just wasn't listening.
Elihu was trying to speak for God.
In Elihu's estimation, because God is concerned about the destiny of His creation, He uses affliction to correct and purify human kind.
[From the Lutheran Study Bible]
He was thinking if Job would respond correctly to his suffering, then it would go away.
Elihu thought that Job's complaint of wanting to know why this was happening to him was unbelief.
While Elihu may have been off base in his presumptions, we can learn from what he was saying.
Sometimes afflictions and difficulties come to us to strengthen our faith and to refocus our lives on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
May this be our prayer:
Gracious Lord, grant that the varying circumstances of our lives will always serve to strengthen us in faith and life.
Videos by Shannon Mullins on Elihu's speech:
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