20240712

wrong assumption

Job 34:1-37 (JDV)

Job 34:1 Then Elihu continued and said:
Job 34:2 Hear my words, wise ones, and listen to me, knowing ones.
Job 34:3 Doesn’t the ear test words as the palate tastes food?
Job 34:4 Let us judge for ourselves what is right; let us decide together what is good.
Job 34:5 Because Job has declared, “I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice.
Job 34:6 Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.”
Job 34:7 What healthy man is like Job? He drinks derision like water.
Job 34:8 He keeps company with evildoers and walks with wicked men.
Job 34:9 Because he has said, “A healthy man gains nothing when he becomes God’s friend.”
Job 34:10 Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding. It is impossible for God to do wrong, and for the Almighty to act unjustly.
Job 34:11 Because he repays a person according to his deeds, and he gives him what his conduct deserves.
Job 34:12 It is also true that God does not act wickedly and the Almighty does not pervert justice.
Job 34:13 Who gave him authority over the land? Who put him in charge of the continents?
Job 34:14 If he put his mind to it and withdrew the breath and breathing he gave,
Job 34:15 every living thing would expire together and Adam would return to the dust.
Job 34:16 If you have insight, hear this; listen to what I have to say.
Job 34:17 Could one who hates justice govern the world? Will you condemn the mighty Righteous One,
Job 34:18 who says to a king, “Worthless man!” and to nobles, “Wicked men!”?
Job 34:19 God is not partial to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.
Job 34:20 They die suddenly in the middle of the night; people shudder, then pass away. Even the mighty are removed without effort.
Job 34:21 For his eyes watch over a man’s ways, and he observes all his steps.
Job 34:22 There is no darkness, no deep darkness, where evildoers can hide.
Job 34:23 God does not need to examine a person further, that one should approach him in court.
Job 34:24 He shatters the mighty without an investigation and sets others in their place.
Job 34:25 Therefore, he recognizes their deeds and overthrows them by night, and they are crushed.
Job 34:26 In full view of the public, he strikes them for their wickedness,
Job 34:27 because they turned aside from following him and did not understand any of his ways
Job 34:28 but caused the poor to cry out to him, and he heard the outcry of the needy.
Job 34:29 But when God is silent, who can declare him guilty? When he hides his face, who can see him? Yet he watches over both individuals and nations,
Job 34:30 so that godless men should not rule or ensnare the people.
Job 34:31 Suppose someone says to God, “I have endured my punishment; I will no longer act wickedly.
Job 34:32 Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I won’t do it again.”
Job 34:33 Should God repay you on your terms when you have rejected his? You must choose, not I! So, declare what you know.
Job 34:34 Reasonable men will say to me, along with the wise healthy men who hear me,
Job 34:35 “Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.”
Job 34:36 If only Job were tested to the limit, because his answers are like those of wicked men.
Job 34:37 Because he adds rebellion to his sin; he scornfully claps in our presence, while multiplying his words against God.

wrong assumption

Elihu insists that God must be in the right, therefore Job must have wronged someone for God to bring this suffering upon him. He feels he must say this in order to defend God. Believers need to be careful who we condemn. God is capable of fighting his own battles.

LORD, give us the grace to trust your judgment, but not to assume that it is happening.