The Lessons of Job (4)

Finally, Elihu steps in. It’s important to note that Elihu specifically says he speaks from a foundation of revelation, of what God has revealed about Himself. He argues that God is just, and that we know this from God’s nature. In this, he agrees with Job. Where he doesn’t agree with Job, though, is in his perception of God’s justice. Job has tied God’s justice to this moment in time. This is an immature view, that God must punish now for sins committed a few moments ago, and it’s a view most of the world holds.

What lessons can we draw from this series of event?

First, that knowledge based on mystical experience, experience of the world, and human logic is not laid on a firm foundation. That each of these goes off in the weeds at some point or another, and leads us to the wrong conclusions about how to resolve our differences with God, or who God is. This is not to say that any of these three things is wrong, only that they cannot be used as a foundation for thought.

Nor can any of these things be used as an approach to resolving our differences with God. Mystical experiences are not the answer. Pragmatism is not the answer. Reasoning that one one attribute of God must be greater than all others, and hence we must attend to this one to the exclusion of others (like the Lordship of Christ, for instance), is not the answer, either.

The only sure foundation is the revelation of God about Himself—which is why the fundamental battleground is around the accuracy and truthfulness of the Scriptures, and what they reveal about God.

Second, that an argument from the human perception of justice is wrong. The bottom line argument we hear is:

If God doesn’t punish now, then He is either unjust, or simply doesn’t exist.

The Book of Job destroys this argument entirely. God is just, and God does punish. But it might not happen when we like. We must maintain our faith in God’s justice in spite of our current experience, or our feelings, or our rational thinking, because each of these things only guides us correctly when they are based on revelation.

Finally, we learn that we must maintain our faith in God above all. To trust in Him, rather than a system. The world tempts us to trust in our good works either to save us, or as evidence of our salvation. The world tempts us to trust in a new political system, or a new product, to fulfill our emptiness. The world tempts us to trust in a new experience for fulfillment. Many of these things even come from within the church, itself, in the form of “spiritual disciplines,” or Lordship Salvation, or other systems of the day.

We need to back out of all of this, and simply trust in God.

That’s the bottom line of Job’s life, and what we learn from the Book of Job.