Job 33

Job chapter 33 is where we will be this evening. So Job chapter 33 is our text. Great text. Great text is where we're at this evening. So we're going to put our thinking caps just a little bit. But anyway, Job 33.

All right, let's go Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your faithfulness and goodness towards us. We thank you for this day. We thank you for the privileged opportunity it is to gather together as your people and open up your word.

And so we pray as we do so that you would help us to come to an understanding of it, that you would give us clarity of mind. Lord, remove every distraction and every hindrance and Lord help us to see it in its truth.

Help us to see it in its beauty and its wonder. Lord, we pray that the truth would find application in our lives. We ask in all ways that you would be exalted among us, that Christ be magnified throughout this place and all that takes place from the nursery to the youth to our time together as Bible study among every worker, every student, every individual. We ask that Christ be glorified.

Lord, help us to see you in each and every passage that we open up. And Lord, may we stand amazed at who you are. And we ask it all in Christ's name. Amen.

Job chapter 33. We are in the midst of the speeches of Elihu. If you were to read commentaries on the book of Job, which are very few and far between, by the way, we have not a lot of commentaries that want to be written on the book of Job because I don't think a lot of people want to study it that in depth. And it's very difficult to interpret. So it's one of those wisdom books. The wisdom books in particular have very few commentaries.

Now, I don't mean devotional commentaries. There are different type of commentaries in scripture. There are devotional commentaries. Those are great. Critical commentaries are the ones that are really getting into the word and already kind of sparsing the words and looking at it and trying to get to the truth of what it says.

So I'm leaning more towards the critical commentary side just so when I say that because you say, oh, I know all this great devotional writing about Job. Right, because there are some good passages we can pull out. I'm talking about those that really just dig into it. Anyway, great aside by your pastor.

Elihu is probably one of the most controversial figures that you find through Bible scholars historically. People just don't know how to take him. They don't understand. For one, we don't know where he came from. We just know he shows up on the scene. He starts talking. He gives the longest discourse other than God himself in all of the book of Job.

He talks without interruption. He is the youngest one among them. He begins to profess things to Job that nobody else has said. He begins to rebuke the friends of Job. So he's neither for Job nor for his friends. He is apart from and other than them.

He speaks great truth. But we know more about him genealogically than we do any other person in the book of Job. We know where he is from. We know who his lineage, his family lineage is, which leads some people to ascribe the authorship to Elihu.

I don't necessarily agree with that. But we are introduced to him in kind of a particular way among the characters within the book. But then there are some that when reading it critically think, well, Elihu seems to be a man of pride because he speaks of his own wisdom and he speaks of his own person.

And he speaks of his own leading and feeling and moving by the Spirit. Some think that he over-exaggerates his youthfulness in chapter 32. And then over-exaggerates his wisdom in chapter 33, which leads some people, and I would say this because I expect us to be students of the Word, which leads some people to say, well, so that means that we are intended not to take everything Elihu says at face value because he is too prideful in appearance.

He seems to be too overbearing in these things. Others think that he is just some young kid who is full of useless information, so to say.

And really there are many different stances you can take with a man. But I caution us about taking anything too critical of Elihu because following him is Yahweh.

Yahweh has a lot to say. Yahweh has a lot to say.

against Elihu. There's no call for Job to pray for Elihu to be restored. There's no call of saying that Elihu is wrong and he is given wrong counsel.

There's none of that. And so I tell us to be careful in how much we discount him as we did the other three friends. And you'll see why I say all this in just a moment.

Because the temptation is to say, well, none of them have it figured out. And I'm not saying that he has all wisdom and he has everything figured out. But none of them really know what's going on. So we just need to discount him.

And just like we did the others. And let's move on and let's see what God has to say. But if this is the word of God, and yet we find in the midst of this passage, the longest speech attributed to a single individual, and yet there is no rebuke for anything he says, maybe we ought to pay attention.

Maybe we need to slow down and say, okay, what's going on here? Now, I say this because there's a temptation, even in our passage tonight. I know this is a long introduction.

I know I haven't got to the passage yet, but it's okay. We can handle it. We're Wednesday nights. We can handle it. I got faith in you. We do not want to over-imagine any passage or typology.

There are different types throughout Scripture. There are types that are always pointing to the greater fulfillment. There are types that are always pointing to Christ. So one of the temptations would be to see Elihu as a type of Christ.

And I don't think the text tells us that. I don't think the text gives us. Now, I have to say that with caution, because tonight as we're going through it, and we're looking at it, you're going to say, well, that sounds a lot like Jesus. Well, that's intentional, because as Charles Spurgeon said, you can take any passage of Scripture and plow a course straight to the cross.

You dig your furrow straight to the cross of Calvary, because every passage will eventually lead you back to Christ, some a little bit more readily than others, but everyone, if you plow long enough, you'll get back to the cross of Christ.

But we don't want to say he is a type of Christ. He may be foreshadowing what we need in Christ. We will see a little bit of the foreshadowing tonight. He will be showing our longing that is only and ultimately fulfilled in Christ, but he's not speaking with perfect words.

He's not speaking absolute truth. There is truth, but he's not speaking on the level of Christ. I hope you understand what I'm saying there, because even before I give the message, I don't want you to, in your mind, say, oh, he's just like Jesus.

No, he's not. Jesus is unique. He stands alone. He is the ultimate one. So there's a foreshadowing, but not. So I say all that because we want to let Scripture speak where Scripture speaks.

And let us let God determine if we should receive it or not within the text. And within the text of Job, because I read it again, Job has a lot going on there.

Job's three friends have a lot going on there. Elihu is never rebuked. He's never told he's wrong. So he's serving a purpose.

Our job is to see what purpose he's serving and why. I'm going to give you a clue. I'm going to give you a clue, okay? God never tells Job why the trials happen.

But God may use someone else to tell Job why the trials happen. Because when God speaks, it's all about him.

But there may be another who kind of unlocks the key of why all of this, and I say this because I have read Job, I don't know how many times I thought, oh, Job never knew.

Maybe there is. Maybe the door's cracked open just a little bit where we do see why the trials happen. Now, if we come with prejudice and say we can't believe everything Elihu says, then we will miss it.

But if we come with openness and say God never says he's wrong, maybe we ought to listen. So what does the word of God say there in Job chapter 33?

However, now Job, please hear my speech and listen to all my words. Behold, now I open my mouth. My tongue in my mouth speaks, and my words are from the uprightness of my heart, and my lips speak knowledge sincerely.

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Refute me if you can. Array yourselves before me. Take your stand. Behold, I belong to God like you.

I too have been formed out of the clay. Behold, no fear of me should terrify you, nor should my pressure weigh heavily on you. Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words.

I am pure without transgression. I am innocent, and there is no guilt in me. Behold, he invents pretexts against me. He counts me as his enemy. He puts my feet in stocks. He watches all my paths. By the way, those are all quotations from Job.

Behold, let me tell you, you are not right in this, for God is greater than man. Why do you complain against him that he does not give an account of all his doings?

Indeed, God speaks once or twice, yet no one notices it. In a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men, while they slumber in their beds. Then he opens the ears of men and seals their instruction, that he may turn man aside from his conduct and keep man from pride.

He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from passing over into Sheol. Man is also chastened with pain on his bed, and with unceasing complaint in his bones, so that his life loathes bread and his soul's favorite food.

His flesh waste away from sight and his bones, which we're not seeing, stick out. Then his soul draws near to the pit, and his life to those who bring death. If there is an angel as mediator for him, one out of a thousand, to remind a man that what is right for him, then let him be gracious to him and say, Deliver him from going down to the pit.

I have found a ransom. Let his flesh become fresher than in youth. Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor. Then he will pray to God and he will accept him, that he may see his face with joy and he may restore his righteousness to man.

He will sing to men and say, I have sinned and perverted what is right, and it is not proper for me. He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit, and my life shall see the light.

Behold, God does all these, oftentimes with men, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may enlighten with the light of life. Pay attention, O Job.

Listen to me. Keep silent and let me speak. Then if you have anything to say, answer me. Speak, for I desire to justify you. If not, listen to me.

Keep silent, and I will teach you wisdom. Job chapter 33. I want you to see here an answer for the suffering. An answer for the suffering.

Up until this time, none of the friends of Job have been able to give an answer, really, of any weight whatsoever, for the suffering individual or for the suffering circumstances.

Job expressed the depth of his suffering in chapter 3 with his first lament where he cries out, longing to die. That lament was so appalling in the face of the three friends that they immediately began to rebuke and correct him because the weight of his suffering was beyond their comprehension.

And since it was beyond their comprehension and understanding, they assumed that Job must be guilty for he was saying things that nobody else had said. He was crying out that it would have been better for him if he had never even been born.

He was declaring it would have been better if even after he was born he was laid immediately in the grave. He was saying things in front of his three friends that to them were offensive.

It offended them and they assumed it must have offended God. And because of that offense, they never answer the suffering individual. They bring ridicule, they bring shame, they bring accusations, none of which are validated throughout the entirety of the discourse.

And so we have three cycles of rebuke and correction and response and we do it again. And each and every time it is the same thing. There is no answer, there's an accusation.

But then Elihu, after everyone is silent and after everyone has fallen quiet, all of a sudden in chapter 32, Elihu says, hey, I'm here too. I'm younger than all of you, so I remain silent.

But now there is this compelling desire within me. I am like an unvented wineskin about to burst. I have to say something. And he begins to speak. He makes it very emphatic from the very beginning that he is not for Job.

He is not for Job's friends. As a matter of fact, he has this against Job that Job has exalted his righteousness before God. That is, he seemingly has made himself more righteous than God.

And he has this against Job's three friends. Because they have not been able to back up what they have accused Job of doing. And they cannot answer Job. So he says that all of you are speaking without true wisdom.

And now the youngest, Elihu, begins his speech proper in chapter 33. And here he is addressing Job. Chapter 34, he will address Job's three friends.

And then he will come back again and address Job before God speaks. But here in the 33rd chapter, he is addressing Job. Now, if we, like some, I would even say most that you would read would say, well, Elihu is just another puffed up windbag who's going to say some niceties and say some things that may seem to be a little bit true, but we can discount the majority of it.

We would not slow down and say, well, what is this man going to say that God never corrects? And if God doesn't correct him, then why is he permitted to go on so long?

Maybe it would be beneficial if we were to back up just a moment and see exactly what it is that he says to Job because, by the way, I believe what he says here in the 33rd chapter is establishing what God is going to say when he begins to speak.

He introduces the concept, God is greater than man. And what does God say the entire time? Were you there? Did you do this? Can you do that?

Were you there? What does God do? Display his greatness over his creation again and again and again. He exalts his righteousness above and beyond not only Job but all those that are present.

And Elihu now is speaking to the suffering. Notice at the end of the 33rd chapter though there is something unique about Elihu that I do not want you to miss.

The three friends of Job were seeking to condemn him or console him. Elihu says his purpose is to what?

Justify him. I want to justify you. So he has no evil intent from the very beginning.

His intent is to restore Job. And he restores he begins the restoration process by speaking to the suffering.

And I think it's here that maybe the door is open just a little bit that we could see some of the reason for the suffering. Maybe not all of it but some of it.

But there's some things we need to notice about this one who speaks to the suffering. Notice first and foremost the proximity of the intercessor.

What did I say? He is going to be a foreshadow of Christ not a type of Christ. All of scripture foreshadows Christ. Miss Rebecca told me as I was walking in here she said hey I'm reading and studying about the red heifer and some people are like about the red heifer oh great about the red heifer I love studying about the red heifer by the way in the book of Numbers because the red heifer points all the way back to the book of Hebrews where he suffered outside of the camp and he has to suffer outside of the camp because the one that is unclean cannot come inside the camp so the red heifer's ashes are outside the camp so that you can find an intercessor who would make you clean so that you can go in the camp because you cannot get in the camp where God is tabernacle without the ashes of the red heifer that are outside the camp and then it tells us in Hebrews therefore he suffered outside the gates of the city why?

so that we who are unclean have a place to go and we can be clean so that we can go into the presence of God that is a good glory hallelujah amen story of the red heifer right? and there's all this foreshadowing of Christ every sacrifice in the book of Numbers foreshadows Christ Elihu is a foreshadow of Christ why?

because it's all about Jesus right? I mean it just really is it is the gospel is all through it but notice here the proximity of the intercessor it says then Elihu begins to speak to Job says Job listen to me if you will hear the voice is coming out of me my tongue is going to speak he gets kind of eloquent here it's poetry and in his poetry he's like I'm about to declare things to you but then he begins to speak of his proximity that is his nearness to Job because what was one of Job's cries Job was like oh I wish that I could stand before God you remember that Job's like I just want to and so we got to remember everything Job had said because none of what Elihu says makes sense until we know what Job had said Job said I wish I could go be in the presence of God then I would state my case but you remember what he said but even then if I were to his greatness would overwhelm me and the dread of him would fear me even though I were innocent I would not be able to speak for the wonder of God would overwhelm me so what did Job say even if

I could be in the presence of God I wouldn't be able to speak even if I'm innocent because God is too great he's too wonderful he's too grand but not Elihu he says Job I'm from God just like you I am molded out of clay just as you hopefully you can see the foreshadowing Job I can relate to you I'm flesh just like you but he declares here what is he saying the spirit of God has made me and the breath of the almighty gives me life by the way this is what drives some commentators crazy Elihu says here that he is going to speak on behalf of God he is saying I'm about to speak for God the spirit of God it's poetic what he's saying the spirit of God is about to flow through me and some people are so offended by that they're like who does this man think he is he's younger than anyone else

I remember another one that was younger than anyone else I think he was 12 he was sitting at the temple and everybody was confounded because he was speaking and they couldn't understand because he hadn't been I remember that foreshadowing here I remember another one they said you're not yet 50 and you're trying to teach us about Abraham but some people said see he is he is so bold here don't you think that when God does speak at the end if he didn't speak for God God said and who are you Elihu to think you could speak for me but he doesn't and so therefore we have to assume if we confine ourselves to the text not our opinions we have to assume God put his stamp of approval on this for he never rebukes him for saying that he did rebuke everything the three friends said but he doesn't rebuke Elihu and so now he says I'm going to speak through the spirit of God but there's no need for you to be afraid of me there's no need for you to be overwhelmed by me because

I am molded out of clay like you so notice the proximity you've wanted to hear a word from God but you knew that if you were in the presence of God you would not be able to stand it because of the glory and greatness of God but here I am and I'm just like you and I can intercede I can speak the truth of God he said I'm going to speak truth I'm going to speak wisdom and I'm going to be very aware of what I'm speaking into he says because have my ears not heard everything you said and he quotes Job extensively here he gives a quotation we'd have to go back and look over multiple chapters of all these things that Job had said and we're overwhelmed here we didn't even know he was there and yet he's been there the whole time and he's being moved by the spirit of God to speak nothing but the truth of God while the entire time being approachable by man and we see the proximity of the intercessor now there's approachability now we can hear a word from

God without being like everybody else we find in scripture falling on our face going woe is me I'm a dead man for I've just been called into the presence of God Isaiah Ezekiel John keep going down the list anybody that's in his presence wow woe is me Manoah each and every one of them now we have an intercessor who proclaims to speak the word of God in the truth of God into a situation he's aware of and I do not have to be overwhelmed I do not have to be terrified I do not have to be cowering in fear for he looks just like me the proximity of the intercessor and he moves forward and he declares all these things that Job has said surely you have spoken in my hearing and here's what he's heard Job say I am pure without transgression I am innocent and there is no guilt in me behold he invests a pretext against me he counts me as his enemy he puts my feet in the stocks he watches all my paths he says surely you're not right he said behold let me tell you you are not right in this for God is greater than man and he asked a question he says why do you complain against him

Job said do you see me why do you complain against him and he asked the question he said this is your complaint verse 13 that he does not give an account of all his doings so here's the key he says your complaint is that God hasn't told you what he's doing so notice the purpose of suffering he said all I want is God to tell me why this is happening and he said your great complaint is that God is silent God doesn't tell me what he's doing he said but God is not like you but notice what Elihu says indeed God speaks once or twice yet no one notices it what does he say God is not a silent God God is a God of revelations he's a God who speaks and he's a God and he goes into how he speaks he says he speaks in dreams he speaks in visions now we don't hold on to those too much now but now we're pre

Abrahamic covenant we're pre covenant we're pre law we're pre sacrificial system we're pre tabernacle pre temple we're pre all of that right and still even today there are certain particular regions of the world that God does speak through dreams and visions and we've kind of answered that here before but what he does say is that God is not a silent God like you're accusing him of being Job and you say God doesn't tell me why these things are going on he says oh but God does he speaks in deep sleep or even slumbering so he says that God will speak to you when you're sound asleep and you wake up in the middle of the night all of a sudden there's something going on and it's this dream he said or sometimes it may just be when you're just kind of slumbering kind of lounging around and God whispers something in your ear he even says that God closes the ear that is that God speaks to the ear the still small voice and then he gives a reason for why God does all that he says why would God do all this the answer to that is in verse 17 that he may turn man aside from his conduct and keep man from pride he keeps back his soul from the pit and his life from passing over into shield so he says that

God gives these dreams God gives these visions God speaks to the ear of the individual and he does it not necessarily as a rebuke for a! action that would be retribution theology but he's doing it because the man is on the wrong path and so notice God's gracious intervention he does it to guard man much like in the cool of the day where he cried out Adam where are you what have you done God knew that he knew the answer to that why was he doing it why did Adam have to tell him what he done Adam knew everybody on the planet earth knew what had happened it wasn't but two Adam and Eve both knew they were there God knew why did it have to happen we've found that it was 10 years ago so you probably don't remember that 10 years ago we were in the book of Genesis and the reason is because it wasn't until

Adam confessed it did God address it as soon as Adam said I did this this this this and this he said okay and he looked at Eve and as soon as Eve said okay and then he addresses the sin why because without confession there is no forgiveness and what is God doing why is he posing those questions why is he bringing it so that he can restore him it's restorative God is not asking the question so he can accuse Adam God already knows what has happened and when God comes to you there's this thing called conviction and the Holy Spirit begins to bring conviction deep within you and there's the conviction of the mind and you're like all God wants me to say it so that I can be condemned no God already knows he wants us to confess it so that we can be restored it's restorative in nature and so what Elihu is saying is that God gives these visions and dreams so that he can keep a man from going in the direction he's going again notice the initiative of God in the salvation of man it's a theme that runs throughout scripture that man may be considering something in his mind and may be considering all these things and

God intervenes to keep him and to keep him back from sheol or the pit depending on the translation you read and then Elihu makes this transition he says man is also chastened with pain on his bed and with unceasing complaint in his bones does that sound familiar so now he says and also the suffering also the suffering it doesn't have to be because you've done something wrong is what he's saying it's because he's trying to preserve you and call you back he said well but I thought Job was blameless in all of his ways he was among men there's no one like him among men you can be the best among men what does Jesus say about John the Baptist you will never find another one like him among men he's the greatest among men he's the greatest born of women but what does he say but he's the least in the kingdom of heaven the greatest born of women on the earth is the least in the kingdom of heaven why because our standing purpose and we have assumed here that we went through all this other stuff surely if we do wrong and we get wrong then we should say well that's what

I deserve I get that but then we see this where I have done no wrong I know no sin what is God doing it is this purpose so that he may turn man aside from his conduct that is to bring man to a state of realization of the holiness of God for the preservation of man to stop and consider Henry Blackaby when he was writing his experience in God study and other things he used to tell people when he spoke that you need to put spiritual markers in your life Ebeneezers you need to raise up some Ebeneezers so that you can look back and see characteristically what God was doing in your life and what was happening in your life circumstances you need to record on either mentally or physically and so you can know that if you hear the voice of God at this moment this is normal this is how God normally speaks to me so when

I look back in my life I can tell you that normally when God is doing something in my life it happens there are things that have happened in my life there is this world this was disruption I didn't see this coming and God was doing something else and there was doing something else and so I understood it was pushing me to him what if those disruptions of my world never came up what if those it was 25 years ago we just celebrated 25 years ago of the twin 11 25 struck our world and I knew God was calling me into the ministry it took a number of years before I went there but that was kind of God's confirmation like boom this is what the layoff wasn't great but the layoff was a reassurance that God had something better for me I ended up back there and

I could leave a lot easier the second time because I voluntarily left because I had the confirmation years before but there's just these things in my life that God would always disrupt my normal and what it would cause me to do is to draw closer to him and what he was doing was changing my conduct he was altering my course and what Elihu is saying is sometimes the purpose is that we don't even know the path we're on is the wrong path and God intervenes graciously and he does it at times through dreams and visions of life who says sometimes he even permits suffering to cause us to turn to him and to correct the error of our ways and to draw close to him so that he could keep us from the pit here's the purpose he gives of suffering but he says but there's the power of the messenger because that suffering means little without the messenger there and this is why

I think we can't discount Elihu because if there's an angel or by the way there's a really cool play on words right here you don't see in the original language some of you have it in your translation verse 22 it says then his soul draws near to the pit and his life to those who bring death is what the!

American standard says some translations say and those who are the death angels are the angels of death kind of the thought of someone carrying you away to death and then the very next phrase it says but if there's an angel that is near what angel do you have I don't want the angel carrying me away but what about the other angel and this is one of the most confusing passages for so many commentators if there's an angel as mediator for him the word angel just means messenger so it means now Elihu is not necessarily implying that it has to be a heavenly host angel but he's also not saying it can't be a heavenly host angel but he's what he's saying here is if there is a messenger of any sort then in the midst of that pain you had a messenger that

God commissioned and sent to you which by the way Elihu is propounding that he is that messenger and he's speaking into Job right now and everything he says following this happens to Job so again careful how much we discount he says if God in his grace sends an angel as mediator for him one out of a thousand simply just means they're hard to find it's a unique one of a kind messenger that can speak into that moment to remind a man what is right for him the angel the messenger comes for a purpose to remind a man of what is right what have the three friends done all they've done is tell Job what's wrong a lie whose stated purpose is to justify him not condemn him to remind a man of what is right he's already done that

Job don't doubt that God speaks Job don't condense and bring God down for God is greater than man he says then let him be gracious to him and say deliver him what is saying he says this messenger this powerful messenger would come and speak truth into his circumstance speak truth into his life and then let him be gracious to him and say deliver him from going down to the pit I have found a ransom great foreshadow by the way definitely in the mind of Elihu he could not comprehend the ransom of God's son in truth so we have no idea what type of ransom he had in mind but we do know the concept of a ransom would have been prevalent because all the way back to the garden of Eden there was a shedding of blood to cover the sin so what he is saying I will remind him what is right and

I have found the price of atonement I have found a ransom and he speaks the truth to him and he tells him and youth if you doubt that this happens to Job he lives 140 years after this he was an old man already okay another 140 years his flesh had to become like youth he had a lot more kids without getting too frank his flesh had to become like youth okay God did fulfill this message he brought this about and this is the power of the messenger to restore him and to remind him of what is right let his flesh become fresher than in youth and let him return to the days of his youthful vigor then he that is the sufferer the sufferer will pray to God and he that is God will accept him that he may see his face

God's face with joy and he God may restore! God's righteousness to man he speaks the truth into the circumstances speaks the truth into the midst of the suffering and in speaking the truth he reminds him there is a ransom already paid and that reminder of the ransom that's already been paid and of what is right restores the man the man that is suffering now cries out to God God hears the man God responds to the man and God imputes his righteousness because the messenger speaks the truth into the situation which brings us to the end and it is the praise of the redeemed we end with praise and he's still speaking of the suffering one that he will go from mourning to praise he will go from suffering to song and he says there in verse 27 that is the one that is restored the sufferer he will sing to men and say it's public praise by the way he will not just sing to himself he will sing to men and say

David is a man after God's own heart David is known for his penitent Psalms right Psalm 51 is probably the greatest what does he say restore to me the joy of my salvation why so I can walk around with a glad heart and a free mind and a clear conscience no he doesn't say that he says restore to me so that I may make your wonders known unto the multitudes he wants restoration so that he can sing praise to men just side note restoration is never for the purpose that we may have a clean conscience so that we can feel better as we go about our days restoration is so that we may proclaim his praises and declare his worthiness and exalt his glory among men and now the sufferer who is restored it says he will sing to men and say I have sinned and perverted what is right notice the minutes I wasn't you say well Job hasn't!

sinned! He's perfect! Job has sinned because he's man he's perfect among men but all of us have that the new American standard says he would sing I have sinned and perverted what is right and it is not proper for me literal translation I love the legacy standard a literal translation of it some go back and forth of what this translation is I think the legacy standard has it right!

the verse reads this way not done what is due me think about that I have sinned and perverted what is right and he has not done what is due me that's a song of praise even Job could sing that song how do we know it because it won't be long before Job puts his hand over his mouth and says wow I didn't know you were that I had heard of you but I had never seen you and in the end he would say he has not done what is due to me because

I tried to bring him to my level he has not done what is due to me but rather look at verse 28 he God has redeemed my soul from going to the pit and my life shall see the light notice the praise the praise is not Job gets the restoration of his wealth he gets the restoration of his prominent position he gets the restoration of his kids but the praise is not about all the things the praise is what we don't get and the restoration and redemption that is found in him behold God does all these often times with men Elihu says to bring back his soul from the pit that he may be enlightened with the light of life why does

God do it a life who says out of grace to intervene to say my child don't go any further I'm going to disrupt your world so that you don't walk away from me I'm going to hold you close and permit even the circumstances that may make you get closer because I want you here and it's grace and it's mercy pay attention oh Job listen to me keep silent and let me speak then if you have anything to say answer me by the way Job never answers Elihu because he has nothing to say to that speak for I desire to justify you if not listen to me and keep silent and I will teach you wisdom some will say oh

Elihu is just a young kid full of pride Job thought enough of him to remain silent God thought enough of what he said not to rebuke him so maybe we ought to consider what he says too sometimes God in his grace just draws us near and if a dream or a vision won't do Elihu says the suffering will and the suffering brings us close and maybe that's the answer for the suffering that we find in the book of Job chapter 33 thank you my brothers