Job 36:1-12
Verse 7 He does not take His eyes off the righteous; He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever.
Elihu continued his defense of God and His character by pointing out, though young, he had true knowledge of the Almighty. The other men had talked as if they knew God but Elihu was pointing out that he really did have a personal knowledge of God and he was about to show them where they had been mistaken.
While the man may not have had a perfect knowledge of God, he wanted his friends to have a better understanding of God than they had shown. First he reminds them how God is mighty but despises no one. This is one which wasn’t totally true because there are other places in the Bible which do talk about His despising some people (Proverbs 6:16-19 to give a couple of examples) but Elihu was far from wrong when he spoke of God being mighty. There is no one as mighty as the Lord. He can do anything He pleases by simply speaking the word, which is how He created the world after all.
God is mighty and firm in His purpose. This is an important thing for us to hold onto because it helps us remember how His workings in our lives don’t always make sense to our human thinking. The hardest thing for us to do is to be surrendered to His purpose. We like to be in control of our lives and not knowing what His purpose is for us in a given situation can be quite unsettling. But God is mighty and He is firm in His purpose because it fits with His plans.
Elihu continues listing things God does and does not do but none of them waver from His will and purpose. This is where we get off course in our lives. We tend to find ourselves believing if God doesn’t do it the way which makes sense to us, He is doing it wrong. The problem is the difference in standards. God’s standards are higher than we could ever set ours because His ways are perfect. When we set standards for a situation we will always set them in a way to benefit ourselves to some extent.
God sets the boundaries on both sides of righteousness and wickedness. We don’t get to decide what is righteous nor do we make the list of what is wicked. And since we don’t set the rules we can’t set the rewards or punishments either. We also can’t make set the timeline for His working. He has His purpose in when He will reward or punish people and we can’t know when it is.
Making It Personal
Have you questioned God’s being mighty because He wasn’t doing things when and how you thought? Why do you think it matters so much to you that He do it your way? Can you be satisfied with it being His will?
Making It Personal Kids
Do you sometimes wish Jesus did things how you think they should be done? Why do you think your way is better? Do you think you can learn to accept His way?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for loving us enough to do things as You know they need to be done instead of how we beg You to do them. Help us surrender to Your timing and decisions. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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