Tag: I Just Have to Vent!! - Job 32-34

Job 32:20-22 (ESV Strong's)

I must speak, that I may find relief;

I must open my lips and answer.

I will not show partiality to any man

or use flattery toward any person.

For I do not know how to flatter,

else my Maker would soon take me away.

Tag: I Just Have to Vent!

How many times have people just “vented” to you about something they are upset about, don’t understand, or fuming over?   Venting seems to be a national pastime.   People love to simply tell you want they think of something and “vent” out their emotions.  The origin of the word “vent” comes from the Latin “ventus” and means “wind.”   Ha!!  So, venting is simply blowing out wind.  It has no meaning, other than to let the “wind” in our lungs out.   In the above passage, Elihu, the youngest of Job’s friends, gives us some insight into his boundaries or guidelines for venting.    He is in the middle of telling Job and Job’s other three friends what he thinks.  He his younger than they all are and he has “held his tongue” up to this point.   He has heard all the arguments of Job’s friends as they condemned him and he has heard Job’s arguments as he has attempted to justify himself:

Job 32:2-3 (ESV Strong's)

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.

Now Elihu is going to give them a “piece of his mind.”  Perhaps, in these brief verses we find some guidelines for our own human venting process.  Here are some take-a-ways from Elihu’s world we might use in our own venting:

1. Make sure we realize that our “venting” is coming from a place where we are attempting to justify God and not simply our own emotion.   Elihu is NOT simply expressing his emotion.  Elihu is speaking up for God by expressing himself.   He is saying, “I have to speak in this situation - God demands it in my soul.”  Note another man of God who said something similar:

Jeremiah 20:9 (ESV Strong's)

If I say, “I will not mention him,

or speak any more in his name,”

there is in my heart as it were a burning fire

shut up in my bones,

and I am weary with holding it in,

and I cannot.

2.  If we speak we should not attempt to show partiality toward one person and flatter another person.   True justice simply speaks truth.   Elihu reminds us that in our speaking we ought not to use charisma and charm.  We are to speak truth, no matter who we are speaking to in our “venting.”   

3. Remember, we ultimately answer to God for every word we speak to others.   Note Jesus’ words:

Matthew 12:36-37 (ESV Strong's)

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The next time we just have to “vent,” we might want to recall Elihu’s guidelines.