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theological myopia

Job 36:1-33 (JDV)

Job 36:1 Then Elihu continued and said:
Job 36:2 Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you, for there is still more to be said on God’s behalf.
Job 36:3 I will get my knowledge from a distant place and ascribe justice to my Maker.
Job 36:4 Indeed, my words are not false; one who has complete knowledge is with you.
Job 36:5 Yes, God is mighty, but he despises no one; he understands all things.
Job 36:6 He does not keep the wicked alive, but he gives justice to the oppressed.
Job 36:7 He does not withdraw his gaze from the righteous, but he seats them forever with enthroned kings, and they are exalted.
Job 36:8 If people are bound with chains and trapped by the cords of affliction,
Job 36:9 God tells them what they have done and how arrogantly they have transgressed.
Job 36:10 He opens their ears to correction and tells them to turn from iniquity.
Job 36:11 If they listen and serve him, they will end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness.
Job 36:12 But if they do not listen, they will cross the river of death and die without knowledge.
Job 36:13 Those who have a godless heart harbor anger; even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.
Job 36:14 They die in their youth; their life ends among male cult prostitutes.
Job 36:15 God rescues the afflicted by their affliction; he instructs them by their torment.
Job 36:16 Indeed, he lured you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and unconfined place. Your table was spread with choice food.
Job 36:17 Yet now you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you.
Job 36:18 Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large ransom lead you astray.
Job 36:19 Can your wealth or all your physical exertion keep you from distress?
Job 36:20 Do not long for the night when nations will disappear from their places.
Job 36:21 Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity, for that is why you have been tested by affliction.
Job 36:22 Look, God shows himself exalted by his power. Who is a teacher like him?
Job 36:23 Who has appointed his way for him, and who has declared, “You have done wrong”?
Job 36:24 Remember that you should praise his work, which people have sung about.
Job 36:25 All mankind has seen it; people have looked at it from a distance.
Job 36:26 Yes, God is exalted beyond our knowledge; the number of his years cannot be counted.
Job 36:27 For he makes waterdrops evaporate; they refine the rain into its mist,
Job 36:28 which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind.
Job 36:29 Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?
Job 36:30 See how he spreads his lightning around him and covers the depths of the sea.
Job 36:31 For He judges the nations with these; he gives food in abundance.
Job 36:32 He covers his hands with lightning and commands it to hit its mark.
Job 36:33 The thunder declares his presence; the cattle also, the approaching storm.

theological myopia

Elihu assumes that God only works in one way and for one reason. He fails to see the big picture that reveals why Job was suffering. He was guilty of theological myopia.

LORD, forgive us for being so myopic. When we don’t know the whole story, keep us from publishing what we think we know.