Job 34:33-37: a reflection

33Shall his recompense be as you desire, that you refuse it? For you must choose, and not I. Therefore speak what you know. 34Men of understanding will tell me, yes, every wise man who hears me: 35‘Job speaks without knowledge. His words are without wisdom.’ 36I wish that Job were tried to the end, because of his answering like wicked men. 37For he adds rebellion to his sin. He claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God.”

Elihu, one of the voices in the book of Job, delivers a harsh assessment of Job's many complaints against God. Whatever we make of Elihu, who is himself not beyond correction, he touches a real danger when he warns against Job's multiplying words against God, speaking, as Elihu sees it, without full knowledge, piling up complaints about the ways of a God whose purposes he cannot fully see. There is a caution here, even if Elihu applies it too severely: the danger of speaking too confidently, and too much, against God's dealings.

Notice the specific concern: multiplying words against God, speaking about his ways from a place of not fully understanding them. It is one thing to bring honest grief and even honest questions to God, which Job does, and which Scripture allows. It is another to pile up confident accusations against God's justice and wisdom, as if we fully understood his purposes and could pronounce them wrong. We see so little; our vantage is so limited; and there is a humility we owe to God in how we speak of his dealings, especially the ones we do not understand.

That is a needed caution. When God's ways are hard to understand, and we are tempted to multiply our complaints and accusations against him, as if we knew better, it is worth remembering how little we actually see. Honest lament and honest questions are welcome; but confident, multiplied accusations against the God whose purposes we cannot fathom are the fruit of pride, not knowledge. When you do not understand God's dealings, bring your honest grief and questions, but be humble in how you speak of him. Trust that his wisdom exceeds your sight, rather than multiplying words against a God you cannot fully comprehend.

Lord, there is a caution in Elihu's words worth heeding: the danger of multiplying words against you from a place of not understanding your ways. When your dealings are hard to grasp, help me bring honest grief and honest questions, which you welcome, without piling up confident accusations against your justice and wisdom, as if I knew better. Remind me how little I see, and how much your wisdom exceeds my sight. Give me humility in how I speak of you, and trust in your purposes even when I cannot understand them.