When times get bad, people cry out for help.
They cry for relief from being kicked around,
But never give God a thought when things go well,
when God puts spontaneous songs in their hearts,
When God sets out the entire creation as a science classroom,
using birds and beasts to teach wisdom.
People are arrogantly indifferent to God—
until, of course, they’re in trouble,
and then God is indifferent to them.
Job 35:9-12
Observation: Elihu is the 'fourth' friend who shows up after the three elders have given up in correcting Job. He corrects everyone, and his message is this ... the Lord is the creator of all things and in control of the entire universe, so no one can possibly understand everything he understands and how he chooses to interact with his creation. He summarizes people's own reaction to the Lord this way: People turn to God when they are in need, but forget him when their lives are going good, and despite the fact that he has laid out all nature itself as evidence of his greatness, they usually ignore him completely (so of course he ignores them back).
Elihu probably does come closest to being accurate about the Lord, at least as far as the fact that humans cannot completely understand the Lord and thus should worship God at all times, in all circumstances. However, Elihu is still trying to explain God. The idea that creation itself is evidence of the Lord's greatness and love and power and complex mind is accurate, but the idea that the Lord ignores humans out of pettiness for us ignoring him denies the Lord's same love and patience and mercy.
And in all of this, Elihu is most wrong in this ... declaring he has it all figured out. Even when he is right, he is right due to his own intellectual judgment, and by human standards of correctness.
Application: When I read Elihu, I myself feel he is about 80 percent correct. If the wisdom of the three friends was sort of like reading Proverbs, and the wisdom of Job was sort of like reading Ecclesiastes, Elihu is some balance between them. He acknowledges God's greatness, states God is unknowable, and summarizes it by stating that the best we should all do is worship and trust in the Lord.
Yet, I find he is missing God's love. He declares understanding is a context that seems devoid of relationship. He has the concepts right, but the context wrong.
I am NOT declaring a better understanding than Elihu. I don't get the concepts and understanding right most of the time, and I fail to apply what I do understand almost all the time. However, I strongly believe in the context, which is God's great love, expressed most notably through Jesus Christ. The truth is, if that is all I really understand, it is enough.
Prayer: Lord, I thank you for your love. I do see your love and greatness all around me, but I also know it permeates our relationship with you. May I serve you better and better every day. Amen.
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