Job 34:31-37; 35:1-16
Q.1. Can sinners promise perfection, in order to bring their trials to an end? Does God intensify suffering when we ask Him for explanations? – (Job 34:31-37 c.f. Lk.7:18-23)
As so often happens in a disagreement, we tend to focus on some statements, while ignoring the rest. It was true that Job was seeking an answer from God about the reason for his suffering. It was also true, that in his extreme agony, he had searched his heart in order to discover a reason why he had lost his family and livelihood. However, he had also held to his confidence in God, acknowledging – 10 “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 11 “My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside. 12 “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. 13 “But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does (c.f. Job 23:10-13). Elihu was unfair to require Job to guarantee that he had learned the lessons from suffering, and to promise to never offend again (Job 34:31-33). He was also misinformed, in believing that God would intensify the suffering for those who question why they are passing through trials. It is cruel to state that to ask such questions is a rebellion that God must punish more severely (Job 34:34-37). That was not the way the Lord Jesus responded to John the Baptizer, when he passed through a valley of doubt (Lk.7:18-23).
Q.2. Why did Job think that his suffering was so unjust? How did Elihu turn this confusion against him? Did his view of God’s dealings with His creatures ring true? – (Job 35:1-16)
Elihu summed up some of his complaints, in which he questioned what had been the point of all the kindness that Job had shown to the needy and defenceless. Job was indeed searching for some light in his dark despair. Elihu presented a God Who is without compassion. Whether we do good, or whether we do evil, God remains unaffected as sovereign God. Elihu believed that God makes sinners pay for their failures (Job 35:1-8). He described God’s creatures as being generally unresponsive to His dealings with them and suggested that God will only answer the sincere cry … and only in His good time. He berated the suffering saint – 15 “And now, because He has not visited in His anger, nor has He acknowledged transgression well, 16 So Job opens his mouth emptily; He multiplies words without knowledge.” (Job 35:15-16). When God took on flesh and dwelt among us, He was much easier to relate to.