Year 2, Day 130: Job 36

And The Human Influence Appears

Unfortunately, all good things are eventually corrupted by humanity.  In today’s case, we find that Elihu is the one being corrupted by his own humanity.  Elihu has been on a roll thus far, handing out some pretty good advice and bringing some good thoughts to the conversation.  But like all things, when we are on a roll and being successful we are the most vulnerable to self-inflicted failure.

Look at how Elihu continues his speech at the beginning this chapter.  He says, “I will show you.”  He then says, “I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.”  Then he says, “For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.”  These are some fairly arrogant words.  These are words spoken by a person who is fairly high on his own success.  Even though he does seem to throw God a bone when he adds, “I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker,” it is clear that Elihu is swelling with self-assurance as he steps into the spotlight and speaks to the older men around him.  He said some good things and experienced success.  But like most humans, that leads him too far.

It is always sad to see this happen, but it is completely and totally human.  It is precisely what drives our human competitiveness.  The more success we feel, the more invincible we convince ourselves we are.  The more invincible we think we are, the more bravado we display and the more we are convinced that we can take on the world.  What happens in the middle of all of this?  We completely forget to depend upon God.  Yes, we might give a platitude or two to God as Elihu does in this chapter.  But in reality, the more success we encounter the more likely we will fall into the trap of self-assurance and failing to depend upon God.  We must take this lesson seriously, because it is an element of what it means to be human.

The Fall

Let’s move along into the rest of this chapter.  Since I’ve developed a bit of a reputation in this blog for loving clichés, I’m going to come back to another cliché.  Pride comes before the fall.  We’ve just seen how Elihu becomes proud and boasting in this chapter.  The next thing we see in the chapter is bad theology.  Here comes the fall.

Elihu says, “He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right.  He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted.”  What is it that Elihu is now proclaiming?  This sounds an awful lot like a theology of glory to me.  It sounds like Elihu is declaring that the wicked are punished in this life while the righteous are exalted in this life.  From an eternal perspective this might be true.  Eternally, the righteous will be granted eternal life while the unrighteous will be in a place of “gnashing of teeth.” 

However, on this side of death it is not the case that the righteous are exalted and the unrighteous are punished.  I think every one of us knows plenty of examples of when a righteous deed didn’t receive any positive results and when someone acting in an unrighteous manner received far more benefit than they deserved.  The wicked often prosper.  Good guys often finish last.

Now we see that Elihu has actually fallen into the same trap as Job’s earlier three friends.  His self-righteousness has led him down the path of bad theology.  He is making the same flawed arguments that he originally stood up to speak against.  We should take note of this, because this is another flaw in humanity.  If we are not careful, we will find ourselves launching into the same error in judgment that drives us nuts when we see it in others.

The Solution To The Problem: Focus Upon God

Fortunately for Elihu, when he begins to focus on God at the end of this chapter he gets his story straightened out.  We are well served to extol His work.  We are well served to sing His praises.  It does us good to remember that there are none like Him and that He controls things that we cannot.

Hopefully it is clear what it is that allows Elihu to get back on track.  When Elihu focused on himself, his theology was weak and misaligned.  But when he focused on God his theology came back around and he began to speak meaningful words once more.  This seems like such a simple lesson, but it is a lesson that we must all learn and relearn over the course of our lives.

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