Links & Quotes

Some links and quotes that caught my eye this week.

Stop praying to yourself! God isn’t impressed with your “powerful” prayer! Jesus tells an interesting story about two men: one thought very highly of his spiritual status and the only could barely lift his eyes. Jesus said that the proud man’s prayer received no help from God, but only the humble man’s prayer was heard. This is a short clip from my series called Kingdom Praying. I have lots of…

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WIP!

Elihu Proclaims God's Majesty

1 “When I hear the thunder, my heart pounds.    It beats faster inside me. 2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice!    Listen to the thunder that comes from him! 3 He sends his lightning across the sky.    It reaches from one end of the earth to the other. 4 Next comes the sound of his roaring thunder.    He thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice fills the air,    he doesn’t hold anything back. 5 God’s voice thunders in wonderful ways.    We’ll never understand the great things he does. 6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth.’    He tells the rain, ‘Pour down your mighty waters.’ 7 He stops everyone from working.    He wants them to see his work. 8 The animals go inside.    They remain in their dens. 9 The storm comes out of its storeroom in the heavens.    The cold comes from the driving winds. 10 The breath of God produces ice.    The shallow water freezes over. 11 He loads the clouds with moisture.    He scatters his lightning through them. 12 He directs the clouds to circle    above the surface of the whole earth.    They do everything he commands them to do. 13 He tells the clouds to punish people.    Or he brings them to water his earth and show his love.

14 “Job, listen to me.    Stop and think about the wonderful things God does. 15 Do you know how he controls the clouds?    Do you understand how he makes his lightning flash? 16 Do you know how the clouds stay up in the sky?    Do you understand the wonders of the God who has perfect knowledge? 17 Even your clothes are too hot for you    when the land lies quiet under the south wind. 18 Can you help God spread out the skies?    They are as hard as a mirror    that’s made out of bronze.

19 “Job, tell us what we should say to God.    We can’t prepare our case    because our minds are dark. 20 Should he be told that I want to speak?    Would anyone ask to be destroyed by him? 21 No one can look at the sun.    It’s too bright after the wind has swept the skies clean. 22 Out of the north, God comes in his shining glory.    He comes in all his wonderful majesty. 23 We can’t reach up to the Mighty One.    He is lifted high because of his power. Everything he does is fair and right.    So he doesn’t crush people. 24 That’s why they have respect for him.    He cares about all those who are wise.” — Job 37 | New International Reader's Version (NIRV) Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. Cross References: Exodus 9:18; Deuteronomy 33:22; 2 Samuel 22:14; Job 5:9-10; Job 9:8-9; Job 12:14; Job 26:8; Job 26:14; Job 28:24; Job 36:4; Job 38:29; Psalm 104:21-22; Psalm 147:15; Romans 8:26; Romans 11:33; 1 Timothy 6:16

Job’s complaint that he is treated as a criminal, and that there are many innocent sufferers in the world, is wrested [unjustly by Elihu] into an assertion that 'virtue pays no better than vice'. Such a doctrine appears to Elihu to undermine the 'utilitarian foundations of society'. No one, he thinks, would be good if goodness were not profitable; no one would shun vice if vice were not unprofitable. It is here that Job and his creator differ toto caelo from Elihu and the good Rabbi who uses him as a mouthpiece. The Book of Job was not written for timid utilitarians, but for people who believe— whatever else they may doubt— that goodness is eternally and unconditionally good, and therefore hold it fast even in the extremity of suffering.

James Strahan; Commentary on Job 35

A View of Suffering (Job 36:1-23)

Most situations are complex and defy simple explanations or solutions. It is foolish to make assumptions based upon circumstantial evidence. Wanting quick and easy answers to the problems we face as humans is the path of simpletons.

“The Wrath of Elihu,” by William Blake (1757-1827) Elihu continued: “Bear with me a little longer and I will show you    that there is more to be said in God’s behalf.I get my knowledge from afar;    I will ascribe justice to my Maker.Be assured that my words are not false;    one who has perfect knowledge is with you. “God is mighty, but despises no one;    he is mighty, and firm in his…

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The Greatest Gift of All

1 Then Job answered the Lord and said: 2 “I know that you can do all things,     and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,     things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;     I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ 5 I had heard of you by the…

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Job 37:5 Always Doing Great Things

God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend. Job 37:5 It is sometimes amazing for a person to watch some expert do some great task. The average person cannot comprehend how someone is able to accomplish certain things. Some experts, in certain fields, are able to do things that most people cannot even understand what is being done but can understand…

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Woe to you blind guides

Job 33-34, Psalm 18:25-36, Matthew 23:1-39

"Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel the land and sea to win a single convert and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are."

There was a summer camp I worked at briefly (not my main one) that kept track of the number of kids who were 'saved' in a summer. They had the whole sinner's prayer mentality and I can't help feeling like this passage is aimed at that sort of evangelism. We knock on doors, travel overseas, and put on elaborate camps and youth conferences to convert people but what then? Are we blind guides too? Swearing to follow God is not, according to Jesus, meaningful at all. It's like a pyramid scheme, as in the point is not to produce something useful but to sell something regardless of its use. Are we, as Christians, producing something good for the world, i.e. the kingdom of God as described by Jesus: real community, charity, peace, and kindness? If we're not doing that, could we be guilty of being blind guides, focusing more on how many followers we have than where we are leading them? That just sounds like pride to me.

In the passage from Job this week a young man named Elihu steps up, and having waited his turn while the elders spoke, finally flips his lid and goes on an impassioned rant, saying that the others had failed to convict or convince Job of the true state of affairs and that he was going to succeed. He spends large chunks of poetry saying that he's going to start speaking and then proceeds to say the same nonsense as the other blind guides. I'm aware that this guy is a metaphor for me. But I hope to be kinder.

Elihu is arrogant and passionate that he knows the right thing to do. He alone understands God. Please understand that I am mostly not trying to talk about the nature of God in this blog, but about the nature of the interactions between God and humans and what our purpose on this planet is in light of the existence of God as recorded in the bible. It may be a meaningless distinction, but it will help us focus. And if we focus on what is required of us, Jesus has so much to say. But for now, he focuses on what the wrong message is.

"You snakes! You sons of snakes! How will you escape being condemned to hell?"

This passage reads like Jesus isn't sure that the teachers of the law are angry enough at him and wants to make absolutely certain that they fulfill their end of the prophecy by killing him.

Elihu, The Passerby

Jobby Léon Bonnat (1880) Elihu is the fourth person to address Job and provide an explanation for his suffering. Elihu is not mentioned in the prologue for being a friend of Job (Job 2:11). Elihu is also not mentioned among the friends for whom Job prayed for forgiveness (Job 42:9). Elihu was younger than Job and his three friends, “Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than…

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Elihu Reminds Job of the Greatness of God

Elihu Reminds Job of the Greatness of God

Job 36:22-37:24 22“Behold, God is exalted by His power; Who teaches like Him? 23Who has assigned Him His way, Or who has said, ‘You have done wrong’? 24“Remember to magnify His work, Of which men have sung. 25Everyone has seen it; Man looks on it from afar. 26“Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; Nor can the number of His years be discovered. 27For He draws up drops of water, Which…

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‘Psyche and Cupid’ by Elihu Vedder (1836–1923)

Pansies and Spirea, 1882 Elihu Vedder

Elihu’s Third Speech

1 Then Elihu answered:

2 “Do you think this to be just when you say, ‘My right before God’? 3 But you say, ‘What will it profit you,’ and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?’ 4 I will reply to you, and to your friends with you. 5 Gaze at the heavens and see; consider the clouds, which are higher than you. 6 If you sin, how does it affect God? If your transgressions are many, what does it do to him? 7 If you are righteous, what do you give to God, or what does he receive from your hand? 8 Your wickedness affects only a person like yourself, and your righteousness only other people. 9 “People cry out

because of the excess of oppression; they cry out for help because of the power of the mighty. 10 But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator, who gives songs in the night, 11 who teaches us more than the wild animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’ 12 Then they cry out—but he does not answer— because of the arrogance of the wicked. 13 Surely it is an empty cry—God does not hear it; the Almighty does not take notice of it. 14 How much less, then, when you say that you do not perceive him, that the case is before him and you are waiting for him! 15 And further, when you say that his anger does not punish, and that he does not know transgression! 16 So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; without knowledge he multiplies words.” — Job 35 | New English Translation (NET Bible) NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved. Cross References: Genesis 15:5; Exodus 2:23; Exodus 22:23; Job 4:17; Job 7:20; Job 9:11; Job 9:30; Job 11:8; Job 21:22; Job 23:8; Job 27:2; Job 27:9; Job 34:35; Job 34:37; Job 36:1; Proverbs 1:28; Proverbs 8:36; Jeremiah 7:19; Jeremiah 11:11; Matthew 6:26; Luke 17:10; John 9:31; Acts 16:25; Romans 11:35

Elihu [presents] a defective argument for the justice of God, [claiming that, in His] dwelling among the stars, God is too lofty to be either injured by the sins or benefited by the righteousness of so petty a creature as man. Being neither a loser nor a gainer by anything that His subjects can do, the great Sovereign of the skies is not tempted to swerve from rectitude. To Him the innocence or guilt of men is a matter of profound indifference. The argument is full of errors. Elihu exalts God’s greatness at the cost of His grace, His transcendence at the expense of His immanence. He sets up a material instead of a spiritual standard of profit and loss. He does not realise that God does gain what He most desires by the goodness of men, and loses what He most loves by their evil. He makes God so cold, distant, apathetic, heartless, that he creates for the imagination an impassable gulf between heaven and earth, and fosters the [false] belief that a religion worthy of the name is forever an impossibility. This is not the God of Israel! [Elihu claims] that human sin does not affect or trouble God, who metes out rewards and punishments with the cold precision of a machine. From a Prophetic or a Christian point of view, the ascription of such unfeelingness to God is self-evidently wrong. Imagine a true teacher saying to his pupils, or a father to his children, ‘Your wickedness may hurt yourselves, but not me; your goodness may benefit yourselves, but not me’! Contrast Ps 95! ‘Forty years long was I grieved with this generation,’ and Zeph 3! ‘Yahweh thy God... will rejoice over thee with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.’ [Nevertheless, although Elihu] is wrong in accusing Job of indulging in empty, worthless talk, nothing could be finer than his conception of "God my Maker," Who is so far from forsaking or forgetting His servants in the darknesss of affliction, that He gives them songs in the night, reminiscent of past happiness and prophetic of future joy, to be sung by those who know that pain is not the indication of God's anger against them, but the token of a grace which would save them from all their sin and raise them to their full moral stature.

James Strahan; Commentary on Job 35

Elihu Vedder - Young Marsyas (Marsyas Enchanting the Hares), 1878