God Speaks Through Young People!
Reflection: For the last month or so we have seen the arguments going
back and forth between Job, who is trying to justify his own cause and asking
the question, “Why are these bad things happening to me when I have done
nothing wrong?” And his three friends,
who have not been much help either. They have been incessantly trying to get
him to see that he deserves what he is getting.
Then today, we meet Elihu. Elihu
is described as a younger man who has been listening to the arguments going
back and forth and has come to the point where he must speak even in his
youth.
He describes what is going
on inside him like this:
18 For I am full of words,
and the spirit within me compels me;
19 inside I am like bottled-up
wine,
like new wineskins ready to burst.
20 I must speak and find
relief;
I must open my lips and reply.
21 I will show no
partiality,
nor will I flatter anyone;
22 for if I were skilled
in flattery,
my Maker would soon take me away.
Importantly Elihu admits
he is a man of clay too and fallen, but he is relying on the Spirit of God
within him to utter some wisdom. He
acknowledges that it is not the age of person who gives them wisdom, but the Spirit
of God within them. In the Old Testament, although the Spirit of God had not
come in fullness yet, the Spirit came upon specific people in specific times to
speak on God’s behalf. Job is considered
wisdom literature for this very reason, as are the Proverbs.
Elihu goes on to say that none
of us could stand before God, as mortals cannot be on the same par with the
Almighty. He readily admits that there
are times we don’t know why things happen to us, but in the process of being
humbled in suffering there might be an angel, maybe one in a thousand, who will
be sent to us to give us help in our time of need. Even though we don’t deserve
it this, messenger will spare us from death.
This is a foreshadowing of the
ministry of Jesus who became a ransom for us that we might be saved from death.
Here is how the writer
describes it:
23 Yet if there is an
angel at their side,
a messenger, one out of a thousand,
sent to tell them how to be upright,
24 and he is gracious to
that person and says to God,
‘Spare them from going down to the pit;
I
have found a ransom for them—
25 let their flesh be
renewed like a child’s;
let them be restored as in the days of
their youth’—
26 then that person can
pray to God and find favor with him,
they will see God’s face and shout for joy;
he will restore them to full well-being.
27 And they will go to
others and say,
‘I have sinned, I have perverted what is
right,
but I did not get what I deserved.
Wow isn’t amazing that
right here in the midst of these heavyweights duking it out over Job’s
situation, young Elihu comes to preach the Gospel! Out of the mouth of babes!
Application for today: Do not despise the youth among
us, for they may speak the word of wisdom, the Gospel, into our lives when we
least expect it and need it the most!
Psalm 55:1-8
For the director of music.
With stringed instruments. A maskil of David.
1 Listen to my prayer, O
God,
do not ignore my plea;
2 hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and
I am distraught
3 because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down
suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.
4 My heart is in anguish
within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling have
beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had
the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;
8 I would hurry to my
place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.”
Job 32,33
Elihu
32 So these three men
stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 But Elihu
son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for
justifying himself rather than God. 3 He was also angry with the three friends,
because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him. 4 Now
Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he. 5 But
when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused.
6 So Elihu
son of Barakel the Buzite said:
“I am young in years,
and you are old;
that is why I was fearful,
not daring to tell you what I know.
7 I thought, ‘Age should
speak;
advanced years should teach wisdom.’
8 But it is the spirit in
a person,
the breath of the Almighty, that gives them
understanding.
9 It is not only the old
who are wise,
not only the aged who understand what is
right.
10 “Therefore I say:
Listen to me;
I too will tell you what I know.
11 I waited while you
spoke,
I listened to your reasoning;
while you were searching
for words,
12 I gave you my full attention.
But not one of you has
proved Job wrong;
none of you has answered his arguments.
13 Do not say, ‘We have
found wisdom;
let God, not a man, refute him.’
14 But Job has not
marshaled his words against me,
and I will not answer him with your
arguments.
15 “They are dismayed and
have no more to say;
words have failed them.
16 Must I wait, now that
they are silent,
now that they stand there with no reply?
17 I too will have my say;
I too will tell what I know.
18 For I am full of words,
and the spirit within me compels me;
19 inside I am like
bottled-up wine,
like new wineskins ready to burst.
20 I must speak and find
relief;
I must open my lips and reply.
21 I will show no
partiality,
nor will I flatter anyone;
22 for if I were skilled
in flattery,
my Maker would soon take me away.
33 “But now,
Job, listen to my words;
pay attention to everything I say.
2 I am about to open my
mouth;
my words are on the tip of my tongue.
3 My words come from an
upright heart;
my lips sincerely speak what I know.
4 The Spirit of God has
made me;
the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 Answer me then, if you
can;
stand up and argue your case before me.
6 I am the same as you in
God’s sight;
I too am a piece of clay.
7 No fear of me should
alarm you,
nor should my hand be heavy on you.
8 “But you have said in my
hearing—
I heard the very words—
9 ‘I am pure, I have done
no wrong;
I am clean and free from sin.
10 Yet God has found fault
with me;
he considers me his enemy.
11 He fastens my feet in
shackles;
he keeps close watch on all my paths.’
12 “But I tell you, in
this you are not right,
for God is greater than any mortal.
13 Why do you complain to
him
that he responds to no one’s words?
14 For God does speak—now
one way, now another—
though no one perceives it.
15 In a dream, in a vision
of the night,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they slumber in their beds,
16 he may speak in their
ears
and terrify them with warnings,
17 to turn them from
wrongdoing
and keep them from pride,
18 to preserve them from
the pit,
their lives from perishing by the sword.
19 “Or someone may be
chastened on a bed of pain
with constant distress in their bones,
20 so that their body
finds food repulsive
and their soul loathes the choicest meal.
21 Their flesh wastes away
to nothing,
and their bones, once hidden, now stick
out.
22 They draw near to the
pit,
and their life to the messengers of death.
23 Yet if there is an
angel at their side,
a messenger, one out of a thousand,
sent to tell them how to be upright,
24 and he is gracious to
that person and says to God,
‘Spare them from going down to the pit;
I have found a ransom for them—
25 let their flesh be
renewed like a child’s;
let them be restored as in the days of
their youth’—
26 then that person can
pray to God and find favor with him,
they will see God’s face and shout for joy;
he will restore them to full well-being.
27 And they will go to
others and say,
‘I have sinned, I have perverted what is right,
but I did not get what I deserved.
28 God has delivered me
from going down to the pit,
and I shall live to enjoy the light of
life.’
29 “God does all these
things to a person—
twice, even three times—
30 to turn them back from
the pit,
that
the light of life may shine on them.
31 “Pay attention, Job,
and listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.
32 If you have anything to
say, answer me;
speak up, for I want to vindicate you.
33 But if not, then listen
to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”
1 Corinthians 7:17-24
Concerning Change of Status
17 Nevertheless, each
person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to
them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the
churches. 18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not
become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not
be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing.
Keeping God’s commands is what counts. 20 Each person should remain in the
situation they were in when God called them.
21 Were you a slave when
you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your
freedom, do so. 22 For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord
is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is
Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human
beings. 24 Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should
remain in the situation they were in when God called them.
The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his
doings. Psalm 145:17
Paul wrote: I am confident of this, that the one who
began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus
Christ. Philippians 1:6
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