Job 35:1-16: a reflection

1Moreover Elihu answered, 2“Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’ 3that you ask, ‘What advantage will it be to you? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’ 4I will answer you, and your companions with you. 5Look to the skies, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you. 6If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? 7If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand? 8Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are, and your righteousness may profit a son of man. 9“By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty. 10But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, 11who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’ 12There they cry, but no one answers, because of the pride of evil men. 13Surely God will not hear an empty cry, neither will the Almighty regard it. 14How much less when you say you don’t see him. The cause is before him, and you wait for him! 15But now, because he has not visited in his anger, neither does he greatly regard arrogance, 16therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk, and he multiplies words without knowledge.”

Elihu's speech is a mixed one, but tucked inside it is a phrase of rare beauty. He complains that people cry out under the weight of oppression, and yet, he says, no one asks, Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night? People wail in their trouble, but they do not turn to the God who is able to give songs in the darkness. That phrase, songs in the night, catches something wonderful about God.

Notice what it says God can do. Songs belong to the day, to times of joy and light. But God, Elihu says, is one who gives songs in the night, who can put a song in the heart even in the darkest, hardest stretches, when there seems nothing to sing about. He does not only give joy when circumstances are bright; he can give a song in the very middle of the night, a joy and a praise that do not depend on the darkness lifting.

And notice Elihu's lament: that people cry out in their trouble but do not turn to this God, the one who gives songs in the night. When we are in the dark, we often cry out in our distress, which is right, but stop short of turning to the God who can give a song even there. If you are in a night season, do not only cry out; turn to God your Maker, who gives songs in the night. Ask him for the song only he can give in the darkness, the joy that does not wait for the night to end. He is the God who puts music in the dark.

Lord, you are my Maker, the God who gives songs in the night. When I am in a dark season, keep me from only crying out in distress; help me turn to you, who can put a song in my heart even in the middle of the night. Give me the joy that does not wait for the darkness to lift, the praise only you can give in the dark. You are the God who puts music in the night.