Job 32:1-3
So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.
Sometimes, when we observe how people counsel one another and how people respond to that counsel we want to say something. Often we don't!!! We hear people defend their situation and blame God and we don't say anything. Yet, we should. In the above passage, Elihu, is in our shoes. He has, unmentioned, and therefore been unnoticed thus far in the story of Job. Elihu has watched and listened as Job's three friends have worked at analyzing Job and wondered at why Job's "sin" has affected him so. Yet, as far as we know, Job has not sinned. Elihu has listened to Job defend his character and reputation against his three friends. He (Job) has argued fluently and, at times, violently on his own behalf. Job, as we look deep into his arguments, has had one things on his mind: The defense of his reputation against his three friends. This is what is wrong with this whole scene and Elihu has decided to speak up, despite his youth and in light of his inexperience. Elihu is about to come to God's defense ... not that God needs defending, but because He is angry that the friends keep pointing out the problems without solutions and Job keeps defending his character at the expense of God's. Job is not concerned about God's reputation. Elihu is interested in speaking for God and worshipping God, despite the issues in Job's life. Elihu knows this is NOT about Job!! It is about God!! When we hear people slam other believers with no solution for them, and only blame, we ought to be angry. That is what the Scripture tells us Elihu did. He was angry at this fact. But, he was also angry when he heard Job defend his own reputation and not God's reputation. Job had Job at the center of this story. If you and I read the book of Job with Job at the center of the story, we too, miss the point. The center of this story is God!! When Elihu hears Job simply justify Job, we should get angry. In the midst of a crisis, it is not us that matters, but God! The truth is that, like Job and his three friends, are not worried about justifying God. We are, or should be in the midst of coming to God's defense. Standing for God and justifying God is the solution for the panic they were all in as a group. We should be angry and wiling to stand up for God when trials and struggles come. We are not there to analyze those in the struggle, but to unpack it and unfold it to find a way to justify God in it.
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