Job 34-37

0:09 So we explain the Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. Now, turn in your Bibles to the book of Job as we continue to wade through this lengthy book. We're in chapter 34. We have gone through 33 chapters of the book of Job. So God bless you for doing that with me. and let me just add a PS to that invitation to come to Israel. I've discovered our Wednesday night group. If you're a Wednesday nighter and you come to Israel, you are far ahead of the game when it comes to enjoying and apprehending what you see in Israel. Because as the tour guides go through a lot of the stories that have taken place that are Old Testament stories, if you're just kind of an average come-to-church-on-the-weekend, maybe kind of a Christian, a lot of it just sort of goes over your head. Wednesday-nighters who really study the Bible, they are familiar with all of those events. And then what happens when you go, not only is it cool to be there and super fun with incredible food, by the way, but when you get home, that's the best part because when you get home and you start reading your Bible now you can see it in your mind's eye you'll never read it the same again you can now visualize what you have seen because it all took place in a very small geographical plot of land that is that nation for the most part Father thank you for an opportunity to gather together give us your grace as we study through this book in Jesus' name.

2:10 Amen. Now let me jog your memory. Back in chapter 31, that chapter ended by saying that the words of Job ended. And when it says the words of Job have ended, some were saying hallelujah. But not only have the words of Job ended, but the words of his three friends have also ended.

2:43 So Job is done speaking. Job's three counselors are done speaking. God is going to speak in chapter 38 of this book to Job and to his three friends. but there's a period of silence. Job's done, his three friends are done, God hasn't started speaking yet, so there was this wonderful hiatus of however long silence, but that didn't last long. There was a young man who was on the sidelines, who was listening and who was watching and then listening as the arguments went forth and the counter-arguments, listening to Job, listening to Eliphaz, listening to Bildad, listening to Zophar, watching them go back and forth, taking it all in.

3:46 And once there was silence, it was his opportunity to speak. And so he does. And we're right in the middle of that monologue by this fourth individual, a younger man by the name of Eli Hu. Eli Hu? He was from Whoville.

4:10 There was, what was her name? Lucy Lou Hu? And then there was Eli Hu. Disregard that. Not everything I say is anointed. Okay? Okay, so Elihu, we discovered last time, this individual that we're about to read more of his talk, Elihu was a relative, it seems, of Abraham. Remember I said that this setting is patriarchal and it goes all the way back as a very early dating, perhaps the earliest of the books or the earliest of the personages of the Bible, at least one of them.

4:53 Elihu, we discovered, was a Buzzite. And just to jog your memory from last week, Abraham had a brother named Nahor. Nahor had a couple kids named Uz and Buzz. Yep, he was one of those kind of dads. And he named his sons Uz and Buzz. Job lived in the land of Uz. And now we have a Buzzite. who if it is the same one and it would seem that it is, it's the ancient rendering of that geographical spot called Uz and now we have a relative of Abraham, a nephew of Abraham, this young man Elihu, who is chiming in after the three are done. those three men that were counteracting Job's plaintiff wails and cries were telling Job over and over again that God was punishing Job, that what Job was experiencing was retributive.

6:07 Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz all said the same thing. Elihu has a different take on it. He said, nope, this is not retribution. This is correction. This is learning. God is trying to teach you something. And it's not that God punished Job because he sinned. His take is that he sinned, Job sinned, because God took him through this. And the sin was elevating himself and claiming that he was innocent. something about Elihu though I like what he says better than I like what the other three numbskulls had to say he's closer theologically and the last part of his monologue is probably the best theology in the book of Job so he's closer to being right where I find that he fails is he puts words into Job's mouth he quotes Job but Job didn't always say exactly what he claimed that he said.

7:11 He doesn't make an accurate quote. He's putting words in his mouth and then basing his assumptions on what he thought he heard Job say. What's interesting about this guy, Elihu, is that when God does speak in chapter, beginning in chapter 38, God rebukes Job.

7:36 And God rebukes Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar. But God says nothing to Elihu at all. Because of that, he becomes, Elihu does, he becomes an enigmatic person in this book. He's argued about by commentators. commentators, and I'm not going to make you wade through all the different opinions about him, but the opinions vary. From he's a young upstart who didn't know what he's talking about, spouting off, to he is a type of Christ, to some actually saying he is a Christophany, or he is an apparition, a pre-incarnate apparition of Christ himself in the Old Testament. So you can see that nobody He agrees exactly in who he is.

8:32 I'm not going to necessarily weigh in on what I think. I just think he was another guy that had some pretty good insight. But it is interesting, nonetheless, that he is not rebuked by God. Okay, something else before we get into it. And I made mention of this a few times as we've gone into this book. We are dealing with Hebrew poetry, right? And I've told you the different kinds of Hebrew poetry. and I bring it up again because it does become for some reading this book a little bit of a stumbling block in other words if you're dealing with an issue as profound as human suffering why have such eloquence and poetry from a guy who is suffering and from counselors who are trying to solve the puzzle as to why he's suffering it doesn't make sense that you would deal with this issue in such a grandiose, eloquent, poetic style.

9:38 But actually, it makes perfect sense, and here's why. In ancient Israel, the visual arts were greatly diminished because visuality was sort of talked down by God. You were to make no graven image of God, right? You don't have anything representing him, no painting, no statue. God is to be worshipped apart from that. So there became in Israel a sort of a ban

10:16 or a caution on what you display visually. Now, we're used to the visual arts storytelling by movies, by plays, by a number of paintings, etc. We're used to that in our culture. But in ancient culture, the visual arts were diminished because of the second commandment. Even in some cases to this day, if we were in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem, I could take you to an artist who is an incredibly famous artist in Israel. And when he paints people, he never paints their faces, always the back of the person. He'll describe a scene, a biblical scene, but you'll see the back of a person. You never see the details on a face because of the second commandment. But what they did revere in place of the visual was the aural, what a person heard, and the oral, the oral-aural art form.

11:18 So music was big. Spoken word was huge. And eloquence and Hebrew poetry was highly revered. So when you want to deal with a very profound subject, you do it with Hebrew poetry. So that should at least remove that stumbling block as to why you deal with an issue like this. Because the spoken word was so revered. Even Proverbs 25, words fitly spoken are like apples of gold and settings of silver. kind of comes from that idea. So we're beginning in chapter 34. We're continuing from chapter 32 where Elihu began. Elihu further answered and said, Hear my words, you wise men.

12:04 Now for the first 15 verses, verse 1 through 15, he's addressing, Elihu is now addressing these three individuals who counteracted Job. Beginning in verse 16, he's going to turn his arguments to Job. Elihu further answered and said, Hear my words, you wise men. Give ear to me, you who have knowledge. For the ear tests words, I like this, as the palate tastes food. Again, back to that art form of this spoken word. The word was very important. People listen and they weigh what a person says. just like when you take a bite of something you taste it and you decide too much salt not enough red chili etc etc you you examine food by putting a morsel in your mouth and having a taste and then you're deciding if you're going to come back to that restaurant if ever what you would order maybe the same thing or coffee right I mean I'm not going to tell you where I was but I was at a place this week, they should have been fined for the coffee they served. I mean, it was beyond horrible.

13:17 Anyway, I digress. for the ear test words as the palate tastes food. Let us choose justice for ourselves. Let us know among ourselves what is good. So he wants to weigh in with them and have his words be counted. For Job has said, I am righteous, but God has taken away my justice. Should I lie concerning my right? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression. Now he's quoting Job. Now, Job never said he was without transgression. He never said he was sinless. But what he did say is, I haven't done any flagrant sin that would merit this kind of divine intervention in my life and suffering as a direct cause and effect result. what man is like Job, he continues in verse 7, who drinks scorn like water.

14:23 What a description. It seems he is saying to these three as if Job is refreshed by the negativity you have given him and the negativity he has spouted back to you. He seems to wallow in it. He loves it. He drinks scorn like water, who goes in company with workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men. For he has said, it profits man nothing that he should delight in God. Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Remember, they're older than him. Remember, he's the young guy. If you remember back in chapter 32, he said, you know, now I'm young and you guys are very old. You remember that? Sort of put them in their place. He continues, far be it from God to do wickedness, which is true.

15:22 I agree with that. And from the Almighty to commit iniquity, for he repays man according to his work and makes man to find a reward according to his way. Surely God will never do wickedly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice. Yes. Job has been worried about God's justice in allowing him to go through this great trial. But it would be inconsistent to say that God is unjust. That's not according to his character. It's far be it from God to do wickedness. God gives people what they deserve. That is true. God gives people what they deserve. Although they don't always get what they deserve in this life. This is the shortfall and the shortcoming of the philosophy of Job and his friends.

16:21 Is they think there was always a direct cause and effect relationship between evil and punishment. Between righteousness and reward. That you get it in this life. Not always. This is, again, what Asaph was dealing with in Psalm 73. Considering the wicked, how they're so blessed, they seem to prosper. He said, my feet almost stumbled, my steps almost stumbled, I nearly slipped. And I just, I was thrown in my trust of God, I was just sort of thrown for a loop when I consider how the wicked seem to do so well, why the righteous seem to suffer. And he said, I had a hard time with this until, he said, until I went into the sanctuary of God and then I understood their end. I started thinking of the life of the unbeliever apart from God all the way through this life, even though he prospers, once he comes to the end of his life and faces God in judgment, it's like, uh-oh, I don't envy him anymore.

17:31 Until I went into the sanctuary and understood their end. Then he turns it around. So that is the short coming in the thinking of those who are involved in the book of Job. So far be it from God that he should do wickedness or that the Almighty would commit iniquity and he gives people what they deserve. Verse 13, who gave him charge over the earth? Now what's the answer to that? No one. God is the first uncaused cause. So that answers the question when people say, well, who made God? Nobody. There has to be a first uncaused cause to have everything as it is. So he is rhetorically asking, who gave him charge over the earth? Who appointed him over the whole world?

18:24 If he should set his heart on it, if he should gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish and man would return to dust. Do you remember when Paul wrote that little letter to the Colossians and he, in chapter 1, exalts the nature of Jesus Christ and his divine attributes? All things were made through him, through Jesus, and for him. Then it says concerning Christ, he is before all things, and in him, Paul says, in him, in Christ, all things consist or literally are held together. Jesus holds all of this world together. If he releases his grip, it's gone. And there is coming a day when he will release his grip and the earth and the heavens and the earth will be uncreated at the end of the thousand year period, the end of the millennial kingdom of Christ. After that is done, the heavens and the earth will flee away. They get uncreated. They go up in a flame. They get destroyed and God makes new heaven and new earth. So Elihu is making this point. If he should gather to himself his spirit, his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to the dust. If you have understanding, hear this. Now he's turning to Job. Listen to the sound of my words. Should one who hates justice govern?

20:15 boy what a good question to ask during election season take that question into the voting booth that will help you that will clarify things should one who is who hates justice govern if somebody is unwilling to prosecute a criminal if someone is going to be open to the borders and then once people come in give them more rights than the people who have been victimized, where there is no justice any longer? Should that person govern? No, I don't think so. Should one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is most just? Now, he's making this point, not the voting booth point. He's making the point that if God is unjust, then how can God govern the world which he has created? He created it, he sustains it, and he governs it. And the only way he can is because he is just, and he is perfectly just.

21:17 He's perfectly just because he is omniscient. He knows all things. Not only is he omnipotent, is he all-powerful, but he is omniscient. He knows every thought of every person in every city of every country at all times. Now, God is sovereign. and Elihu asserts that God is sovereign as Job has asserted that God is sovereign.

21:47 But let me make a fine point on the sovereignty of God, though I uphold it. It's a cardinal doctrine. There are some people who take the sovereignty of God almost to the extreme that they come to like the edge of the cliff and even fall over, and will say, well, God is so sovereign that there really, he not only allows evil, but that is his will. God orchestrates everything that happens, even all the evil. Instead of trying to say God has his own perfect will, but then his permissible will, they go, oh, no, I don't buy into that. God is too sovereign for all that nonsense. so even all the evil that happens in the world is according to God's will. Well, if you make that God's will, then you are saying that all the evil that happens in the world is right because everything God does is right.

22:50 God is good. And if it's right, now you have eliminated the category of good and evil. you don't have those two categories if everything is good and everything is right you've solved the problem of evil there is no such thing so it's a slippery slope you have to be careful with the sovereignty of God and balance it out with other teachings other doctrines in the Bible but I find often that the Calvinist will go to the extreme of going to the edge of the cliff and then jumping headlong over that. will you condemn him who is most just? Is it fitting to say to a king, you are worthless and to nobles, you are wicked?

23:47 It would be inappropriate to go into the king's court and say, you're a horrible king. You're a wicked, evil king.

26:01 Elihu is a little too simplistic when it comes to good and evil in the world and good and evil people doing good and evil things and that, well, they're getting what they deserve, but the evil people are getting what they deserve. Not always immediately, but always ultimately. That's the part he's leaving out, the ultimate part. He's still looking at good and evil and rewards and

27:36 and what Elihu is saying is, you know, how dare you insist that God go down to your terms, that God stoop to your terms, your demands. I demand that God show me. If God is mighty and God sustains the world, then he says, should he repay it according to your terms in verse 33. Verse 34, men of understanding say to me, wise men who listen to me, Job speaks without knowledge. He doesn't know what he's talking about. That's what those three were saying. His words are without wisdom. Oh, that Job, now he quotes them, but notice the quotes are closed. Okay?

28:29 So wise men are saying, Job speaks without knowledge. He doesn't know what he's talking about. His words are without wisdom. Close quote. That's what they're saying about Job. Now Elihu says, Oh, that Job were tried to the utmost because his answers are like those of wicked men. Elihu is both right and wrong here. He is right to scold Job in demanding that God do what he's telling him to do, that God answer him according to his terms, stoop to his terms. Where he is wrong is his attitude. He has the same heart attitude as those three. In that statement, oh, that Job were tried to the utmost.

29:24 Like, if he hadn't suffered enough, oh, that he would suffer even more. We'll squeeze it out of him. Because his answers are like those of wicked men. For he adds rebellion to his sin. He clasps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God. This really is Elihu's main contention with Job. is that in exalting yourself, Job, you are dethroning God. You're talking smack about God. You're making God to be less than who God really is. That's his main contention. He multiplies his words against God. Moreover, chapter 35, verse 1, Moreover, Elihu answered and said, Do you think this is right? Do you say my righteousness is more than God's? What advantage will it be to you?

30:21 What profit shall I have? More than if I had sinned. Now, let me remind you that Job has indeed said, look, I've lived a righteous life. I haven't done anything to deserve this. I don't really know why I lived a righteous life. What benefit is it to live a righteous life if this happens to you? What is the benefit of living for God in righteousness, upholding the commands of God, living to obey God, if God doesn't help you become immune from the typical trials and tribulations that everybody has? Well, you can answer Job's question for him, can't you? If God made becoming a Christian at the same time the ability to be immune from all the hardships in life, everybody would become a Christian for all the wrong reasons.

31:25 we'll drill down on that as we go.

32:19 Look at those clouds coming around. If the heavens are higher than you, then the God who made them is certainly higher than you. Didn't God use this as an example in Isaiah 55? My ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways than your ways. So if the heavens are higher than you, Job, then God certainly is higher. And he also makes this point. If you sin, are you going to hurt God?

32:53 If you do righteous, will you benefit God? Do you help God? No, God is God. God is separate and distinct from his creation. Yes, God loves his creation, and yes, God is hurt, for God so loved the world. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. but if you sin, it's not like you're going to diminish the character and nature of God at all. And if you do righteous, you're not going to add to the character and nature of God at all. Because of the nature and character of God being unique, being holy, being separate and distinct from his creation, that of course would be an impossibility. But he's making a greater point here. Job is saying, what good is it to be righteous? I might as well be wicked because if righteous people don't get any immunity and it's no benefit to be righteous, then why should I live a righteous life? And so Elihu says, well, you're right and you're wrong. If you're righteous, you won't benefit God. If you sin, you won't hurt God or take away from God. However, your being righteous will affect other people.

34:09 And that's what you should be thinking of, Job. You shouldn't make it all about you, but about the fact that others are watching you. Notice he says, your wickedness affects a man such as you, verse 8, and your righteousness, the son of man. It affects other people. your decisions your righteousness or your sin affect others around you and that's what Job should be looking at and thinking about says Elihu from Whoville okay there's something I want you to pick up on because you're going to see it increasing as we continue. It seems that there is a storm brewing as Elihu is speaking to Job. He tells Job, notice the heavens, the clouds. He'll mention them. He's going to mention more cloud cover in a minute and even drizzle and rain in a minute. So there is a storm, I think, gathering outside when they're speaking. Because by the time we get to chapter 38, God answers Job out of the whirlwind.

35:23 The storm fully develops. It's a storm like no other. So there's the storm brewing.

36:20 Elihu brings up a very important point, that when people are in trouble, they pray. They instinctively cry out. All sorts of people, godly people, wicked people. I've seen wicked people never pray. Something bad happens. Oh God, oh God, oh Jesus, oh please. It's like, wow. Dude, you suddenly got religious. But they don't all pray with the same motivation. They want God to relieve them from their difficulty, but he is saying, but no one says, where is God my maker who gives songs in the night? You know, they want relief from the darkness instead of, Lord, make me a light in the darkness. They want relief from the pain instead of, I just want God.

37:19 You know, some people just say, I want God's help. Others say, I just want God in this. I want to know his presence. I want him as my maker. I want this relationship. I want him to give me the song in the night. Paul and Silas were in Philippi, and they were chained after being beaten with rods. And I love it. It says, And at midnight they sang hymns to the Lord. Songs in the night. I wonder if the other prisoners were saying, Shut up! It's midnight. But the chains fell off. The shackles fell off from their hands and their feet, and they were free. Now, they didn't sing in order that God would release them. They just sang in the midst of the pain, not realizing what would happen. they were singing and praying to God, their maker, who gives songs in the night.

38:17 So you can pray because you want something from God, or you can pray because you just want God. And so he is making the point that people cry out because of oppression. Verse 12, they cry out, but he does not answer. Now, let me just insert this. you may want to jot this down and look at it later. Isaiah chapter 59, the first two verses of Isaiah 59, says, the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save, nor is his ear heavy that he cannot hear, but your sins have separated you from your God. So it's not that God is restrained, but there is a separation between you and God, so God doesn't answer every prayer. Because some prayers have a selfish motive. So instead of saying, Lord, take the darkness away, just say, Lord, make me a light in the darkness. Oh, Lord, take away this heavy load. How about, God, give me a stronger back.

39:22 Surely God will not listen, verse 13, to empty talk. Psalm 66. The psalmist said, if I regard iniquity in my heart, do you remember the rest of the verse? The Lord will not hear me. Although you say you do not see him, talking to Job, yet justice is before him, and you must wait for him. And now because he is not punished in his anger, nor taken much notice of folly. Therefore Job opens his mouth in vain.

39:58 He multiplies words without knowledge. Okay, now I agree with that as well. Why do I agree with that? Because, well, I've read ahead. and in chapter 38, when God does speak out of the whirlwind, he addresses Job and he says, Who is this who darkens counsel and multiplies words without knowledge? Speaking of Job. So, Elihu and God are giving the exact same estimation of Job at this point.

40:45 Chapter 36, Elihu also proceeded and said... Now, this last speech of Elihu, chapter 36 and 37, is the best one. This is the best theology in the book of Job, apart from some of the sudden epiphanies that Job had along the way. Elihu also proceeded and said, bear with me a little and I will show you that there are yet words to speak on God's behalf. So he does claim to be speaking on God's behalf.

41:20 And just like your palate tastes food or coffee, your mind hears words and tests them. I have tested Elihu's words, and some of them I think are good, and I would say from God, because they agree with the rest of the Scripture, but not all of them. Now, he's claiming that I have a word for you from God. And I bring that up because that's an old trick. I can't tell you how many letters I've gotten from people who want to speak to me because they have a word from God.

42:02 And I always, you know, I always went, oh, dear Skip, you know, I've been thinking about you and praying for you. And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Go down and kind of see what it is. Okay, I see what they're up to. Then I turn it over. I want to see if they signed it. If they don't sign it, fair warning, I never read it. crumple it up and I throw it away. If there's not a, if, first of all, if you have a word from God, come see me to my face. Let's talk about it.

42:34 And otherwise, you go in the dustbin if I get a letter. So, fair warning. There are words to speak on God's behalf. I've got a message from God. I will fetch my knowledge from afar. I will ascribe righteousness to my maker, for truly my words are not false. Mostly, he's correct. Some of them aren't. But look at this. For my words are not false. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you. Well, he certainly is not lacking in confidence.

43:11 Although, he may not be referring to himself, because you will notice, even in your English translation, the word one is capitalized. So he could be referring to not himself, but he's referring to God. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you. God is part of this, and he is definitely listening, and he is leading me in saying this.

44:28 This is an important truth. God is mighty but merciful is a better way of putting that. He is mighty but he is also merciful. And he is not, you guys, Eliphaz, Bill, Dad, and Zophar, he is not punishing Job. He is, in fact, teaching Job. That's his whole point of Job's suffering. God is using it to teach, to instruct, which agrees with Hebrews, whom the Lord loves, he chastens. Do not despise the chastening of the Lord. It proves your sonship. so he is saying God is mighty but he's also merciful verse 10 he also opens their ear to instruction that's the purpose of suffering to get your attention to get you to listen you know you go through life you don't listen you don't pay attention to what God is speaking and you don't read your word so he allows a trial to come your way you start listening to God more than you've ever listened before.

45:33 You start praying like you've never prayed before. That's C.S. Lewis, right? God shouts to us in our suffering. It's God's megaphone to rouse the deaf world. So he opens their ear to instruction, commands that they turn away from iniquity. If they obey and serve him, they spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasure. They do not obey, they perish by the sword, and they will die without knowledge. Now, I generally agree with that. I agree that the best way to live your life is to live your life in obedience to him. The worst way to live your life is to live your life fighting him, fighting against him, disobeying him. Whatever you reap or sow, you will also reap. That generally, a life of pleasure is found when you live to please God, not please yourself. the more you do as you please the less you will be pleased with what you do the more you live to please him the pleasure increases the joy increases so generally i believe what he's saying is true however there's not again always a direct cause and effect relationship some wicked people are have a cush life and seem to not have a worry or a care. Okay, now consider their end. Now do what Asaph did. Go into the sanctuary and consider their end, and things will be different. Ultimately, things will be different.

47:11 He continues, verse 13, but the hypocrite and heart store up wrath. They do not cry for help. When he binds them, they die in youth, and their life ends among the perverted persons. He delivers the poor in their affliction and opens their ears in oppression. Here's a better translation of that verse. He opens their ears by means of oppression. That is, he uses the hardship, the suffering, the pain to instruct, to teach, to chasten. So he's comparing the godless with the godly. The godless get angry when bad things happen. They turn away from God, the godly, turn to God, and they learn from it. It's chastening of the Lord. Indeed, verse 16, he would have brought you out of dire distress into a broad place. This is where I disagree with Elihu, where there is no restraint and what is set on your table would be full of richness. But you are filled with judgment due the wicked. Judgment and justice take hold of you because there is wrath. Beware lest he take you away with one blow. Be careful, Job. With one stroke, one blow, one event, he could take away your life. For a large ransom would not help you avoid it. Now watch this. This is really good here.

48:43 This is some good wisdom. A large ransom would not help you avoid it. Verse 19, Job, you can't buy your way out of this. You were once very wealthy. You were the greatest in the land. You had flocks. You had herds. You had wealth that had been taken away from you by those raiders that came in and took it all. but you can't buy your way out of this. Don't try to buy your way out of it. Verse 20, do not desire the night when people are cut off in their place. Do you remember that Job longed for death? He said at night, I just want night to get done. I want the day to get done. Oh, that I could just go away in the night as if I didn't even exist.

49:38 he was wanting to see his life end so Elihu's saying don't try to buy your way out of this don't try to kill yourself and commit suicide to think you're going to get out of this Verse 21, take heed, do not turn to iniquity, for you have chosen this rather than affliction. Don't backslide and go sin again, like, well, I'm just going to go to that, the local Chaldean bar and go get drunk. I know when you're in a time of suffering, all you can think about at first is, how do I get out of this? Can I buy my way out of this? If I can, I will. Some people say, I'll just take my own life. I'll end it all. All they do is take the pain they're suffering and pass it on to their family and people who know them.

50:34 Pain doesn't end. They just give it to somebody else. or they go you know life is hard I'm just going to go back to what I used to be doing go get drunk again go get high again go live the old lifestyle again when you are suffering, when you are going through a tough time and you try to get out of it, you're trying to get out of the very lesson God is bringing into your life to instruct you. God puts us in fixes so he can fix us.

51:14 He wants to fix us. If you're trying to fix the fix that God has put you in, then, I mean, why would you do that? Just to get another one until you learn that lesson? Learn it. Every time I'm in a trial, Lord, I need to learn why, what you have, whatever lesson this is, I want to embrace it. Because I want school to be done here. I want to graduate.

51:46 Behold, God is exalted by his power. Who teaches like him? Who has assigned him his way? Or who has said, you have done wrong? Remember to magnify his work. Which men have sung, everyone has seen it. Men, look on it from afar. I like this. Remember to magnify his work. Instead of whining, try worshiping. Try glorifying God in it. Try being Paul and Silas in that prison.

52:25 Why? Verse 25, men, look on it from afar. People are watching. Christians are watching how is that person going through that period of chronic pain and suffering I'm going to watch them I need to learn from them behold God is great and we do not know him nor can the number of his years be discovered he draws up drops of water which distill as rain from the mist which clouds drop down now it's beginning to mist a little bit and sprinkle a little bit in this conversation. The clouds have gathered, heaped up, which clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man. Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, the thunder from his canopy? Look, he scatters his light upon it. There's a mix of clouds and sunshine, starting to rain a little bit and covers the depths of the sea.

53:22 What I love about Elihu here, he has the mind of a scientist but the heart of a poet. he's just eloquently talking about the hydrological system evaporation, condensation, precipitation and covers the depths of the sea. For by these he judges the people, gives food in abundance, covers his hands with lightning, and commands it to strike. His thunder declares it, the cattle also concerning the rising storm. Let's quickly go through this chapter, because then we get to the best part when God speaks next time. That is a great finale. At this time also my heart trembles and leaps from its place. hear attentively the thunder of his voice, the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Now, I think it's beginning to thunder. Clouds have gathered, starting to sprinkle a little bit. There's the sound of thunder, and he says so poetically, the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Now, that's a poetic description that God is using the thunder to speak. But do you remember in John chapter 12, when Jesus prayed and he said, Father, glorify your name. And God spoke and said, I have both glorified it and will glorify it. And people around who heard it said, it thundered. It was the voice of God, but it sounded to them like thundering. So just you could maybe look that up later. His lightning to the ends of the earth, after it a voice roars. He thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain them when his voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with his voice. He does great things which we cannot comprehend. For he says to the snow, now I don't know, maybe there's a polar vortex forming, and the rain is turned to a little bit of snow, which is not uncommon even in those desert regions from time to time. Likewise, to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of his strength, he seals the hand of every man. That is, everybody stops what they're doing when there's a storm

55:30 developing. That all men may know his work. The animals enter dens and remain in their layers. From the chamber of the south comes a whirlwind. The cold from the scattering winds of the north. Now the animals enter their dens and remain in their lairs. My dog hates when it thunders. I've had dogs who could care less, but this little Maisie, this little Welsh Terrier, man, when it thunders, she just, like, her tail goes down and she hides. Same with fireworks. You probably have a dog like that. by the breath of God, ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen also with moisture. He saturates the thick clouds. He scatters his bright clouds, and they swirl about, being turned by his guidance, that they may do whatever he commands them.

56:26 On the face of the whole earth, he causes it to come, whether for correction, or for his land or for mercy. God can use the same circumstances, the same storm for different reasons with different people. Remember what Jesus said? The sun rises on the evil and the good and the rain comes on the just and the unjust. Listen to this, O Job. Stand still and consider. Maybe he's fidgeting a little bit. Oh boy, would this guy just stop? The wondrous works of God. Do you know when God dispatches them? Causes the light of his clouds to shine? Do you know the balance of clouds? Those wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge. Why are your garments hot when he quiets the earth by the south wind?

57:25 Now the south wind in that part of the world does bring a hot air mass. when a hot air mass from the south, from Egypt, from that area, collides with a cool air mass, well, you know what happens. The storms come. With him you have spread out the skies, strong as cast metal mirror. Teach us what we should say to him, for we can prepare nothing because of the darkness. Should he be told that I wish to speak? If a man were to speak, surely he would be swallowed up. Even now, men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies. You can't look up tomorrow if there's full sunshine and just stare at the sun.

58:11 Well, you could, but don't. When the wind has passed and cleared up. So, in as much as you can't look at the sun, God is so glorious you could never take on the full presence of God. Moses wanted to see God's glory. God said, Moses, I love you too much. Dude, you'll fry. You'll die. You can't handle it. You can see my afterglow. I'll pass by, and you'll get kind of a hint of that, the afterburning effect, but that's the idea of this. You can't look up in the light in the bright skies. When the wind has passed and cleared them, he comes from the north as golden splendor with God is awesome majesty. As for the Almighty, we cannot find him. He is excellent in power, in judgment, and abundant justice. He does not oppress.

59:06 Therefore, men fear him. He shows no partiality to any who are wise in heart. Now, let me just say a word about that last phrase. second to the last phrase, last verse, therefore men fear him. he could mean that men fear him in the theological sense, or he could mean men fear God in the emotional sense, what we would call the practical sense. Theologically, we know what the fear of God is, the reverential awe, a reverential awe that produces humble submission to a loving God. That's the best definition I can come up with for the theological fear of God.

59:56 But there is also the actual fear, the practical fear, the emotional fear of God. You say, well, should anybody be afraid of that? Well, the writer of Hebrews says it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Jesus said, let me tell you who you should fear. You should fear him who can cast both body and soul into hell. That's a real fear. now fear I just want to say fear is not an unhealthy emotion I know psychologists will say the worst thing you're going to have is is fear so just wear the t-shirt no fear and you'll be okay well fear is good you teach your kids to be afraid of certain things look both ways before you cross the street so you don't get smashed that's a healthy fear wash your hands so you don't get sick. That's a healthy fear. Don't play with power lines. That's a healthy fear. Okay? We live by fear as adults. We're afraid of certain diseases and death. So we get checkups. These are healthy fears.

1:01:09 So there is a healthy emotional fear that if a person says, you know what? I'm going to give my life to Christ because I don't want to go to hell. You're smart. And for somebody to say, well, that's not the best motivation. So, it's a pretty good one if it's going to keep a person surrendered to God and afraid to face divine judgment and punishment, which is inevitable, by the way, for those who reject Christ. That's a healthy fear to have. then you graduate from that to the theological fear, that humble submission, that reverential awe, and a loving God. You enter into a relationship with your maker who gives you songs in the night. Let's pray.

1:02:04 Father, thank you that we were able to get through all these chapters by your goodness and your grace. we have considered, we have weighed the words of Elihu like we put food and tasted in our palate and even as he suggested, so we have done. And we have found that some of his words are quite excellent and some of them are a bit lacking. Thank you for the discernment that we have from the rest of your word to bring balance to all things that are said. that we might live in a way that glorifies you. We want to glorify you with our lives. In Jesus' name.