Wisdom From the Younger Guy

...Continued from before :)

So now I will share the meat of what Elihu said to Job and the three friends. And let me tell you, he straight up gives it to them. He doesn't hold back on his words and he is not afraid to call them out on wrong view points and incorrect attitudes. So fasten your seat belt!

In verse 6 of Chapter 33 Elihu says, "I am just like you before God; I too have been made from clay." I think that this is an excellent example of how you should start off a confrontational situation. To say, "Look. I am no better than you. We were both made from dust. Don't take what I have to say as looking down on your or myself having a high and mighty attitude." I think it is super awesome that he starts off this way.

Verses 8-14 crack me up. Elihu quotes what Job has said to them. Job had said that he was "pure and without sin; I [Job] am clean and free from guilt." Then he goes on to completely tell Job that he is wrong.

"But I tell you, in this you are not right, for God is greater than man. Why do you complain to him that he answers none of man's words? For God does speak-now one way, now another- though man may not perceive it."

I love that Elihu is saying "YOU ARE HUMAN". Just like everyone else. We all mess up. Who are you Job to say what God must have done wrong or that you don't deserve what you are getting. We cannot understand his reasons. Elihu goes on to talk about the different ways that God speaks. In verses 15-22, Elihu says that two ways that God speaks to us is through dreams and suffering. These were very come ways to hear from God in these times.

Now if you feel like OK this Elihu kid has some good things to say just wait for what comes next.

"Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, 'Spare him from going down to the grave; I have found a ransom for him' - then his flesh is renewed like a child's; it is restored as in the days of his youth. He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous sate. Then he comes to men and says, 'I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light.'"

If that doesn't give you chill bumps or make your heart race, then go put your head in cold cold water and then come back and read that again. What Elihu didn't know is that we do have someone who finds and gives a ransom for us. A man who restores us to God by a righteous state. A man who redeems our soul and allows us to live in the light of the Creator forever. Than man is Jesus! He saved us and has given us mercy! We are given WHAT WE DON'T DESERVE! All because the Lord our God is full of love, mercy and grace. Jesus paid the ransom for our lives with his own. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus paid the ransom and I am forever thankful that I can become the righteousness of God. Not because of who I am or what I have done but because of the Great I AM and what Jesus has done.

When I was reading this, I was loving the parallels to Christ. It made me so thankful that I don't have to look forward to the hope of a savior but that I have one now.