Job 32:1-34:37

A fourth friend of Job now speaks up. Elihu had waited for his elders to speak, but he was now angered at both Job’s refusal to admit he had sinned and the three other friends inability to answer Job’s argument. Elihu believes that God is constantly interacting with people on earth; he believes that God is punishing, blessing, warning, causing illness, and bringing about healing. Therefore, Elihu concludes, we can know a persons standing before God by their condition on earth.

Elihu then asks, “Has there ever been a man as arrogant as Job, with his thirst for irreverent talk? He seeks the companionship of evil people. He spends his time with wicked men. He has even said, ‘Why waste time trying to please God?’” Elihu assumes that since Job is suffering he must be sinning, and so Job needs to ask God what sin he has committed.

If you are younger and your elders have already spoken to a situation and it still has not been resolved, sometimes that is the time to keep your mouth shut. I can look back on several occasions in my young life when elders had unsuccessfully worked to resolve a situation, so I decided to through my two cents in and wound up making the situation worse. It is a difficult thing to sit and listen to a situation and not speak. However, sometimes the wise action is to sit, and listen, and be silent.

Elihu did not have an adequate understanding of God to be helpful in this situation; he was still a spiritual novice. Before we try to help our friends we need to understand if we are mature enough to help. There is no shame in saying, “I am not yet mature in this area, let’s go talk to someone else.” The first step toward maturity is knowing when not to speak.

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