With Friends Like These (Part 4): Elihu
Notes
Transcript
Hey! Did you know there’s an election going on?
Raise your hand if you are tired of political ads?
Raise your hand if you are ready for the election to be over?
This one you don’t have to raise your hand for unless you want to: How many of you are feeling anxious about the election?
If you’re feeling anxious about the election, you’re not alone. A recent survey said nearly 7 out of 10 surveyed said they were feeling anxious about this election. And given the soundbites played over and over again (which by the way are often taken out of context in order to get you fired up) the news people have you where they want you. They want to instill in you a need to know. Political parties have two tactics: Early on it’s get you to like their candidates, then it seems to shift to getting you to fear the other party’s candidates.
The current presidential candidates have made statements in the past couple weeks intended to raise your level of fear if the other is elected.
May I say something? I think this is a truth we all need to take hold of in this time of uncertainty:
Fear is a Liar
Fear is a Liar
Our fear lies to us. It really does. Setting the politics aside for a moment let me share some examples.
As most of you know I’ve spent much of my life in aquatics, teaching swim lessons and the like. At one point I was teaching in 5 1/2 feet of water, and I was teaching pre-schoolers. On occasion one of the children would be scared, and I’d ask this question: “Do we swim on top of the water or on the bottom?” They’d answer on top. Then I’d have them look all around the pool and notice the top was at the same level even with the deck. That is truth - if you can float in one area of the pool you will float in another; if you can swim in one depth you can swim in another.
Another example: Our men for the past several years have journeyed up to Capernwray Harbour in Canada. And at the conference center there they have a pole they call The Screamer! It’s a 40 foot pole that you climb and then stand on the top of a disc mounted to the top. That disk is 8 inches in diameter. One year the man running the challenge shared a truth with us during the orientation. He had an 8” diameter log sticking out of the ground. He asked, “How many of you could stand on this?” Everyone nodded. He then said, “That’s the truth, you can. Even 40 feet in the air when we doubt that truth. It is still the truth.”
This morning as we turn again to Job we’re going to be looking at the speeches of Elihu. The truths he shares about God remain truths today. So for the moment, let’s set the election aside and let’s look to God and see if perhaps there’s something there to guide us as we journey through this season in life.
Finding Justice in the Storm: God’s Sovereignty Revealed in Job 36
Finding Justice in the Storm: God’s Sovereignty Revealed in Job 36
We’ve been talking for the past few weeks about what the friends got right, and what they got wrong. The main part they got wrong was that Job was guilty of something, perhaps something nefarious and downright evil - though they never mention exactly what it might be. What they got right is that our God is righteous, just, and wiser than any of us.
Elihu also speaks of God’s justice and righteousness, and his emphasis is on the sovereignty of God. This past week many celebrated Halloween with trick or treater’s knocking on our doors for the doling out of candy. I loved the costumes!
Tradition says there was another knocking on the door that happened in October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther posted 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church sparking the Reformation. You and I as presbyterians are a part of that Reformed Tradition of the Christian Faith.
1. Patience in Divine Justice
1. Patience in Divine Justice
As Elihu speaks in our passage this morning and he immediately speaks of God’s might, and understanding.
“Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding.
Yes, God is mighty, and understanding. No matter what you’re going through God is strong, mighty, and understands! That’s good news. He goes on to share that he is just - much like we’ve heard from Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness. But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
These are promises to us of God’s righteousness, strength, and justice.
AS we go on in the passage in the middle section Elihu speaks of the perils of resisting God’s righteousness.
2. Perils of Resisting Righteousness
2. Perils of Resisting Righteousness
Elihu points out there are consequences to rejecting God’s justice, and like the other friends he suggests that suffering may be a result of resisting God’s guidance.
When we think of suffering, the ultimate example for us as Christians is Jesus Christ on the cross. He knew what He was facing, and in a real way He was facing the justice of God. The penalty for sin was death - it’s repeated over and over again throughout Scripture. Yet, He went accepting God’s will and modeling trust in divine justice.
Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?
The message here is that god’s Justice leads to ultimate redemption and righteousness.
3. Power Seen in Storms
3. Power Seen in Storms
Have you ever been in a strong storm? Perhaps you’ve been caught in a severe lightning storm, or a wind storm. Years ago while I lived in Idaho we were having a nice evening outdoor concert when the winds began to pick up. Within just a few moments it went from a significant breeze to overturning tables, and then pummeling us with the wall of dust it’d picked up from the surrounding farm fields.
My anemometer measured a wind gust at 105mph! That’s a category 2 hurricane. My neighbor had the side door to his garage open and it created so much pressure inside the garage it blew the main door out buckling it to relieve the burst of pressure.
Elihu speaks: Job 36:29-30
Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea.
Ultimately God is in control.
Elihu understood that, even though he doesn’t understand why God would choose to allow Job to suffer in the way that he is. None of the friends understand that.
I was once confronted by a woman, she said, “You trained to be a pastor?” I said I had. “You believe in God?” I told her I did. “Where was God in the Holocaust in Germany? Where was he when men, women and even children were being put to death in gas chambers or shot to death and thrown into pits? Where was God then? Tell me what you believe about that God, where was your God then?”
You can imagine I was taken aback. I’d never been confronted with such a question so directly. She wasn’t done though, this wasn’t a passing challenge and run she waited for an answer.
All I could think to say was, “God was right there with them, weeping.”
Looking back on that moment I also reflect on Jesus on the cross,
Luke 23:34 (ESV)
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
What Should we take away from Elihu?
What Should we take away from Elihu?
When things are rough, when we encounter the storms of relationships in family and at work, when we encounter real storms and our lives may be threatened - wind, rain, snow, floods, earthquakes and the like, and even when we experience the storms of emotions - fear, anxiety, sadness, heartache, worry - we can remember the lessons from Job and his friends.
God is righteous
God is just
God is holy
God is strong
God is sovereign
Early in the Old Testament, in the Book of Joshua, God said to Joshua - Joshua 1:9
Joshua 1:9 (ESV)
Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
In the New Testament we read in the Great Commission these Words from Jesus, Matthew 28:18-20
Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
As we go into election week…
As we go into election week…
As we go into election week I offer this. As Christians this is an opportunity for us to demonstrate our faith. In our Psalms we read:
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
and finally, Matthew 6:34
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
God’s Word gives us much more hope and serves as a balm to our anxious thoughts than any candidate ever will. Please pray for our country. Please vote. Please, stand strong in your faith in the midst of the storm.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
all of this to the glory of God. AMEN!
