WWUTT 894 Job Learns God Causes it to Happen?

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Everything happens for a reason. Yeah, I know that sounds like a corny platitude, but the

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Bible says so. Trust God that He is doing something good, as Elihu said to Job, when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Thank you for subscribing, and if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Job, chapters 36 and 37 today, the last of Elihu's discourse.

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Elihu is the young man who has been with Job and his three friends throughout their exchange, at least going back to chapter 3, when

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Job lamented the day of his birth. Then Job's friends spoke up and said, Hey, Job, the reason why all this bad stuff has happened to you is because you're evil.

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You've done something bad because bad stuff happens to bad people. So if you were to ask

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God for forgiveness, he would take all of this from you and restore you back to greatness. But Job said,

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Where is God that I might be able to plead my case before him? And though Job was right in rebuking his friends, he was wrong in justifying himself.

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And Elihu rebuked Job. He rebuked him in chapters 32 and 33.

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Then last week we read chapters 34 and 35, where Elihu rebuked him some more and said,

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Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it. How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him and you are waiting for him.

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In other words, there are people who never consider God until something bad happens to them. And then they cry out to God.

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Elihu is saying to Job, You have always sought God. But then when something bad happens to you, you don't seek after him.

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If he doesn't consider the person whose cry is empty, how much less is he going to consider you when you say that you do not see him?

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So now we get to Elihu's closing remarks in his discourse.

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He's still going to be rebuking Job, but he is doing so by extolling God's greatness.

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He is praising God's name and the work of his hands. So we start in chapter 36 here, verse 1.

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Elihu continued and said, Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God's behalf.

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Now, I want to say again that Elihu, he's kind of preparing Job. The Lord is using

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Elihu to condition Job's heart for when God speaks. And that's what we're going to get to next week, chapters 38 through 41, where God finally speaks into this situation.

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But Job would not have been ready for it. He would have melted under the pressure of hearing

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God speak. And so instead, he receives a rebuke from Elihu, conditioning his heart to hear the words of the

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Lord. And then God is going to speak into the situation. So again, Elihu says here, Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet to say something on God's behalf.

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I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker, for truly my words are not false.

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One who is perfect in knowledge is with you. So as he has said before,

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Elihu is saying, If you test my words, you will know they do not come from me. They come from the

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Lord. And this is like what Elihu has said before. If you are wise men, you will test my words and you will agree with what

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I say. My knowledge comes from afar. It doesn't come from me. Elihu even goes as far to say that the righteousness that he has is not his own and ascribe righteousness to my

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Maker. And this is what we as Christians have as our righteousness, one that does not come from us, but it has been granted to us by God.

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We have been clothed in the righteous robes of Christ. So it is God who is righteous.

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We merely have a borrowed righteousness. Verse 5, Behold, God is mighty and does not despise any.

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He is mighty in strength and understanding. He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right.

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He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne, he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

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And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction, then he declares to them their work and their transgressions that they are behaving arrogantly.

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He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity.

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If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness.

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But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.

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Now, I believe that there is kind of an earthly fulfillment to this, the words that Elihu is saying, and there is also going to be an eternal fulfillment to this in the sense that anyone who does wickedly will not ultimately get away with it.

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They will have to stand before God as judge, and he will pay each one according to their deeds.

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So no one gets away with evil in the grand scheme of things. God is just, and God will judge, and he judges righteously and perfectly.

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But there is kind of a foreshadowing going on here in a couple of ways. First of all, Elihu mentions in verse 7,

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God does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne, he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

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I believe that that is a statement in reference to David and the covenant that God made with David that through him he would establish his kingdom forever, and that, of course, was a reference to Christ, who was born in the line of David, who sits enthroned in heaven now, and thus the line of David reigns forever over all of creation.

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So that is prophetic in that sense from Elihu in Job 36 .7. I also think that there is some prophecy going on here concerning the kings of Israel and the way that they will prosper for a long time if they do righteously, or they will be punished and pulled off the throne when they do wickedly, and we see that played out through 1 and 2

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Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. So, again, all of these events that we're reading about here in the book of Job happened prior to any of those events that come in the books of the kings.

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So we go on here, verse 13, The godless in heart cherish anger. They do not cry for help when he binds them.

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They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes.

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As colorful as this is to say this, the cult prostitutes includes not only women but also men, men who have sex with men.

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And for such destructive, sensual behavior, a person dies young.

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They die of venereal diseases. That happened in Job's day as much as it happens today as well.

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I wrote a blog earlier this week about Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, who died at the age of 45 of AIDS because of his homosexual behavior.

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It was a very destructive sensuality that he lived in and ended up dying young. That was the case even several thousand years ago when all of this was going on in Job's day.

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Elihu goes on in verse 15 to say, God delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.

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In other words, he uses the kind of adversity that a person gets caught in to point out a person's sin to them, that they realize that they're doing evil, that they've been ensnared by temptation, so they may repent of it.

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I pointed out in that blog too that you can find it in Freddie Mercury's lyrics. He knew exactly what it was that he was doing, and there are even hints of the fact that he may have even cried out to God, asking for deliverance, but it was a very loaded request because he did not really see that his sin was his fault.

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He thought his sin was God's fault. He blamed God for it. Therefore, with wrong motives,

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God did not deliver him from the enticement that he was in. Indeed, he was caught in that adversity, and he realized his sin and called out to God, but with wrong motives, and so God did not deliver him.

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Verse 16, he also allured you out of distress, Elihu now says to Job, into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness.

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But you are full of the judgment on the wicked. Judgment and justice seize you.

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Beware, lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

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Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress or all the force of your strength?

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Do not long for the night when peoples vanish in their place. Take care. Do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.

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Behold, God is exalted in his power, who is a teacher like him, who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, you have done wrong.

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In other words, Elihu is saying to Job here that instead of praising God in your affliction as you should have, you have blamed

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God. You have chosen the sin rather than the affliction. And going back to James 1, which

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I read yesterday, James 2 -4, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

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And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

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Toward the start of the story, Job did well. Even after all of this disaster came upon him, it says

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Job did not sin by blaming God, but he didn't keep that up. As things went on, as his friends continued to press him, he didn't say, hey,

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God is not even there for me to be able to plead my case with him. Where is the Lord that I may call upon him?

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Now, of course, Job was kind of wishy -washy in all of that, because sometimes he would say the right thing, and then other times he would say the wrong thing, but it was still in his heart he doubted

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God. And he chose to be sinful in his thoughts rather than giving praise to God even though the worst had come upon him.

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Now, even though Job sinned by doubting God, and even though he justified himself, he did not compound his sin by adding to it scoffing or mocking

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God. And that's one of the things that Elihu points out here in verse 18. Beware, lest wrath entice you into scoffing.

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Beware the trajectory that you're on, lest it become scoffing at God. And let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

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In other words, what's happened to you? This disaster that has come upon you, it is great indeed.

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And don't let the greatness of the ransom, that which will deliver you from this, because he's kind of alluding to the fact that God will deliver you from this, but don't let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

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Like, you're looking at this situation going, this is so serious, I cannot deal with this, it's too big for me, it's hopeless, and so why bother at all?

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And then Job would result in scoffing. So Elihu warns him in that sense. Job hasn't done that yet, but he warns him that if he continues this route that he's on, by doubting

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God's presence and justifying himself, he will become a scoffer. In 2 Peter 3, verse 3, we are warned that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

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Elihu is saying, do not become one of them. So he goes on into verse 24. Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung.

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All mankind has looked on it. Man beholds it from afar. Behold, God is great, and we know him not.

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The number of his years is unsearchable, for he draws up the drops of water.

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They distill his mist in rain, which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly.

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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, for by these he judges peoples.

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He gives food in abundance. He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.

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Its crashing declares his presence. The cattle also declare that he rises.

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The power of God is clearly seen in his judgment. The power of his judgment is even observed in general revelation, in creation.

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We see how powerful things are that he has created, and God is even so much greater than this.

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You consider about the most powerful thing in nature that we can set our eyes upon.

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The sun. And you would not dare to look at the sun for more than a second, or you're going to burn your eyes right out of your sockets, okay?

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That's just looking at the sun. And yet, how much greater and more powerful is

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God than the sun? And yet, any one of us would think that we could presume to stand in his presence and tell him how to do his job?

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How ridiculous we are. Sin makes people do stupid things. And indeed, the case could be said of Job as well, that sin has made him say some dumb things regarding the

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Lord. So Elihu continues to proclaim God's majesty here in 37. Verse 1,

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At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place. Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

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Under the whole heaven he lets it go and his lightning to the corners of the earth.

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After it his voice roars. He thunders with his majestic voice and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.

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Whenever you were a kid and you were scared of a thunderstorm, there was the lightning and then there was the thunder, and you asked mom and dad, hey, what's going on?

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Why is the sky so angry? What's happening? I don't understand why there's these lightnings and this noise.

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What is going on? And your parents probably said something to you like it's God playing bowling or something or something like that.

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You know, they weren't too far off the mark. For Job says here in chapter 37 that after the lightning his voice roars.

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It is a reference to the thunder and God's voice is even greater than the thunder as the thunder hurts our ears.

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So the voice of God would be even more powerful. He thunders with his majestic voice.

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He does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard. So parents, remember that passage, all right?

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Job 37 about verse 4 when you're giving your kids an explanation of what's going on during a thunderstorm there.

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All right? General revelation. We can know that the voice of God is indeed powerful.

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Verse 5, God thunders wondrously with his voice. He does great things that we cannot comprehend.

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For to the snow he says, fall on the earth. Likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour, he seals up the hand of every man that all men whom he made may know it.

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Then the beasts go into their lairs and remain in their dens. From its chamber comes the whirlwind and cold from the scattering winds.

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By the breath of God, ice is given and the broad waters are frozen fast.

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He loads the thick cloud with moisture. The clouds scatter his lightning. They turn around and around by his guidance to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.

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Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.

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I want you to consider the context in which Elihu has just said what he has said. This whirlwind that struck the house of your children and it fell upon your children and they all died.

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Job's seven sons and his three daughters. Elihu is saying to Job, that was from God.

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God did that. And yet you need to praise him for how great he is.

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Because he is sovereign and he is good and you must know that what he did was ultimately for something good.

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Boy, that is a humble pill to swallow. Let me tell you. But that is nonetheless the context in which

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Elihu has just said this. The clouds turn around and around by his guidance.

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How did Job's children die? By a whirlwind that struck the house. Elihu is saying all this that has happened has been by God's hand.

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He has not ceased to be sovereign. He has not ceased to be on his throne. And he is still good and he is still just.

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And you must praise him. You must recognize this and you must praise his name.

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Why does he do this? Why does God cause such kinds of disasters to happen?

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Well, Elihu said, verse 13, whether for correction or for his land, maybe a practical purpose in it, or for love, he causes it to happen.

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He has a purpose. He has a meaning. God is sovereign. You are not.

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He knows the end from the beginning. You don't. You must trust him and know that he is doing all things together for good for those who love

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God and are called according to his purpose. Romans 8, 28. My friends,

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God is good and he has provided for us through his son, Jesus Christ, who has died for our sins and risen again from the grave.

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No matter what happens, may it be to make you rely more upon God who raises the dead.

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There is comfort in this. There is comfort in knowing that he is the father of mercies and the

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God of all comfort who is working all things out to something glorious.

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Verse 14. Hear this, O Job. Stop and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know how

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God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine? Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge, you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind?

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Can you, like him, spread out the skies hard as a cast -metal mirror? Teach us what we shall say to him.

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We cannot draw up our case because of darkness. Shall it be told him that I would speak?

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Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up? And now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them.

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Out of the north comes golden splendor. God is clothed with awesome majesty, the almighty.

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We cannot find him. He is great in power, justice, and abundant righteousness.

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He will not violate. Therefore men fear him.

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He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.

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That is a rebuking statement of Job because that's what's happened with him as the dialogue has gone on and on between Job and his friends.

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Eventually Job becomes wise in his own conceit and he settles himself and speaks no more and his friends don't say anything anymore because they realize

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Job's just justified himself in his own sight. What else can we say? He's not going to be open to anyone's words anymore.

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But then he lie who speaks up and he speaks up not to make himself great or put himself in the story that he might be written down in the pages of scripture for all time.

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It's not the reason why he did it. He did it to praise the name of God. And notice the last words that he has said here.

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Out of the north comes golden splendor. God is clothed with awesome majesty.

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The almighty we cannot find him he is great in power justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate.

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Therefore men fear him. He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.

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And this is Elihu making an entrance for God who speaks next in chapter 38.

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And that's where we'll pick up next week. This has been when we understand the text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes.

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For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

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and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.