Why Me Lord?

Innocent

As we break into this narrative we Job, who has lost everything but his wife, who by the way told him to cruse and die (Job 2:9);

Job is now surrounded by his friends and has spoken harsh words about God based on his own innocents;

Now we have Elihu, one of his friends, beginning to challenge Job’s assertions;

Job’s claims, to his three friends, center around him being pure and innocent and therefore is being incorrectly treated by God;

Now why did Elihu share his observation openly, in front of the other two, because Job shared it openly to the three of them;

When sinful acts are shared publicly they should be dealt with publicly with the intent of repentance;

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume Job 33:8–13

Those that sin before all rebuke before all.

Now Job, while he was an upstanding righteous man, felt that because of his standing he should never have to walk in a valley.

Misrepresentation

Elihu shares several of Job’s misrepresentations with him;

Job was acting like God was a bully a just wanted to pick on him and make Job His (God) enemy (Job 14:16-17, Job 13:24, Job 19:11);

Job claims God has restrained from getting away (Job 13:27);

Job presents himself as righteous while calling God out in unfair concern;

Do you, in your heart or publicly, misrepresent God’s dealings with you?

God’s Love Job 36:6-15

Elihu brings clarity to Job’s confusion;

Here Elihu points out several thing about God and His righteousness and promise;

God does not care for the wicked, He does not look away from the righteous;

There are times that the righteous ensnares themselves in sin, slip away and chain themselves to that sin;

God will point out your failures and your sin - He has that right and will use whatever He needs;

God wants your ears open to hear Him;

Yet there are those, which the writer calls hypocrites in v. 13, that will store anger in their hearts and chose not to call out for help but instead ring out in despair;

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 325: Hypocrisy

In Christian Reader Jim Corley tells of a conversation he had with a friend named Alex who attended his church. Alex was struggling over his many failures to live the Christian life the way he knew he should. One day they met at the car dealership where Alex worked. Corley writes:

That day in his office Alex got straight to the point. “Jim, I feel like a hypocrite every time I go to church because I fail to live for Christ so often.”

“Alex, what do you call this part of the dealership?” I asked, nodding to the area outside his cubicle.

“You mean the showroom?”

I smiled. “Yes. And what’s behind the showroom, past the parts counter?”

“The service department,” Alex said confidently.

“What if I told you I didn’t want to bring my car to the service department because it was running rough?”

“That would be crazy! That’s the whole point of service departments—to fix cars that aren’t running right.”

“You’re absolutely right,” I replied. “Now, let’s get back to our initial conversation. Instead of thinking of church as a showroom where image is everything, start thinking of it as God’s service department. Helping people get back in running order with God is what the church is all about.”

Church, Discipleship, Failure, Guilt, Obedience, Sin