September 12, 2018: Day 32 – Job 32

What the who, Elihu?  It is interesting how the narrator describes how the friends of Job ceased to speak to him because he declared himself righteous in his own eyes.  They knew that there was no wiggle room for Job to declare the obvious sin that he was committing which resulted in God’s obvious punishment.  Job simply stated that none of this is obvious.  God’s providence stretches far beyond our wisdom.  That is nice to hear when we struggle, that God’s providence stretches far beyond our understanding, so when we don’t understand life, that’s okay.

But then comes Elihu who is not classified as a friend of Job, but rather as an innocent bystander who becomes curious and interested in this conversation and in the end becomes absolutely enraged at the lack of courage and lack of ability of these friends of Job to put him in his place.  Chapter 32 is basically a wind up for Elihu before he addresses Job and puts him in his place.  

He does strike me as someone who is a bit full of hot air and not necessarily one who is as gifted or skilled or full of wisdom as he might think that he is.  Be wary of anyone who states: I am full of words, the spirit within me constrains me.  Basically this person is saying that I would say a lot more but I know that I better not.  You normally find that this person then goes on to say way more than they should have said.  Look out for Elihu.