Bible teacher works through Job 29–37, focusing on Elihu's speech about suffering and God's purposes
A sermon on the book of Job, delivered by Tim Capill at Latimer: Listen, covering chapters 29 through 37.
Summary
Tim Capill works through a sermon series on the book of Job, focusing in this session on chapters 29 to 37. He recaps the earlier sections of the book — Job's suffering, his three friends' failed attempts at comfort, and Job's accusations that God is both silent and unjust — before turning to the speech of a fourth figure, Elihu, whose perspective on suffering he argues is distinct from and superior to that of the first three friends. The central claim is that suffering is not divine punishment for specific sin, but rather God's purposeful refining work in the lives of righteous people — a form of correction rather than condemnation. Tim Capill draws on C.S. Lewis, multiple New Testament passages, and a personal story about family trauma to reinforce this argument, concluding that the better question to ask in suffering is not "why?" but "what are you teaching me, Lord?"
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Introduction: How do you cope under pressure?
Speaker: Do keep your Bible open in Job. Someone was giving me a hard time for saying "Job" every time I read it off my notes, so you've got to forgive me if I do that as we work our way through this book. We're in the middle of a series where we're thinking about this book together. This is the third session. We've got a couple more, and then we'll have a Q&A time.
One of the adverts that keeps popping up in my Facebook feed at the moment — I don't know why, I must have hovered on it too long and now it keeps coming up — is an advert for a camping mattress. I hardly ever go camping, so I don't know where I got the idea that I'm interested. But it looks amazing, like I might need to get one. What the ad does is start with this old, beaten up, dirty, deflated camping mattress, and it says, "Are you tired of your camping mattress deflating?" I'm like, no. But anyway, I watch the ad, and it goes on to show this amazing thing. It's bright orange, it's clean, it looks very comfortable. And then this four-wheel drive truck drives straight over the top of it, and afterwards they hold it up and there's not a mark on it. It's just like the truck bounced off it. They put it under the most intense pressure, and yet it absolutely stands up to that pressure like nothing else.
Well, let me ask you: how do you cope under pressure? How do you cope when life puts pressure on you?
Recap: Job's suffering and the question of why
One of the things that is inevitable in this life is suffering. And we've said that each week as we've looked at this book. Job is a book about this man, Job. And Job suffered terribly. He was once the greatest man in the East in his day. He was rich, he was popular, and he was blessed. But then he almost lost everything overnight. He lost his wealth, his health, and his family. And he's reduced to sitting in the dust, mourning. Absolutely heartbroken. And this man, under pressure, is confused. And so he asks, why? Why, God? I loved you, God. Why would you let this happen to me?
We'd like to think that suffering just bounces off us, like the truck bouncing off the camping mattress. But it doesn't, does it? Many of us can relate, at least to some degree, to the man Job. We can relate to this feeling of confusion. There are times when suffering just doesn't make sense. And we not only feel the deep sadness and hurt that suffering brings, but we also, in the thick of that, ask, why? Why, God? Why are you allowing this to happen to me?
I think there is a particular pain in the midst of suffering that is unique to Christians. If you're a secular person and you don't believe that there is a God who is good and in control of this world, then when suffering comes, you've got no reason to ask why. If you ask why, I'd say, well, why would you expect things to be different? Why do you think there should be some justice? Why do you think it's unfair? Isn't it just the way things have evolved? But if you believe there is a God who is good and who is totally in control of this world, and then you suffer — well, then you have to ask why. Because at least to some degree, your suffering and your pain has come from this good God who is in control.
Why does God allow his people to suffer? Why does he allow us to grieve the sudden death of those we love? Why does he allow us to go through months of miserable dark depressions? Why does he allow our marriages to fall apart and our relationships to crumble? Why doesn't a good God who's in control of this world give you the spouse that you long for, or the kids that you pray for? Why does a good God allow his people to fade away in pain through a battle with cancer or dementia or some other illness? Why doesn't a good God who's in control of this world listen to your prayers and give you the longings of your heart? You see, it's a question that as believers we have every reason to ask, because we believe God is good and God is in control.
Job's speeches: God accused of silence and injustice
That is the question that this man Job has been wrestling with. Last week we covered the big section from chapter 3 to chapter 27, where Job is wrestling with that very thing. Job is a righteous, devoted, God-fearing man, but he suffers miserably. And he's no super camping mattress. The suffering doesn't just bounce off him. As we read the chapters, we see a man who is deeply grieving. He feels utterly alone. And he feels that even God is against him.
Look at these verses. In chapter 16, Job says, "God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me. My opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes." Or later in the same chapter, Job says he is angry with God. It's like Job is camping out in a tent — he's vulnerable in the field, and he peeks out in the morning and opens the tent door, and outside is parked the whole American army, the whole US military, with their cannons pointed at him and the air force flying over and dropping bombs. That's how Job feels. The God of heaven and earth is against him. His archers are pointed at him. God is his enemy who has come against him. And Job cannot understand why.
The three friends: miserable comforters
Last week we saw his three friends try to comfort him and try to provide some answer. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. And they were useless. "Miserable comforters," Job says. Because their basic answer was that the reason Job was suffering was that he must have sinned against God. That's why.
Job's friends view the world like a vending machine with one vending machine maker who sets the rules. Put in a coin of goodness, and out pops a can of blessing. Put in a coin of badness, and out clunks a parcel of poison. In other words, you just get what you deserve, Job. And because God is good and he's in control, you must have done something evil, and therefore God is giving you your just deserts. It's a miserable way to treat someone who is suffering, isn't it? And they're totally wrong.
The more they talk, the more frustrated Job becomes. The conversations, as you read through the chapters, get shorter and sharper. And all the way through, the man Job maintains his integrity. He says, I've done nothing wrong. I don't deserve this.
Now, as the readers of the book, we know that Job is right. Remember chapters 1 and 2, which set the scene for us. We got that peek into heaven. We listened in to this secret conversation which Job never heard — between God and Satan. God is not punishing Job by allowing him to suffer. What's going on is that God gives Satan permission to bring suffering to Job to show that Job's faith is genuine. That's why Job is suffering. He's not suffering because he sinned, but because Satan is out to try to destroy his faith, and God is proving that Job's faith is a genuine faith. But Job doesn't know any of that. He just feels abandoned.
Job puts God in the dock: justice and silence
In fact, so much so that as Job wraps up his speeches, he essentially puts God in the dock. And he questions God about two things: justice and silence. Turn with me to chapter 30, verse 20. Job says:
"I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer. I stand up, but you merely look at me. You turn on me ruthlessly. With the might of your hand, you attack me."
God, says Job, is both silent — he won't answer when Job cries out — and, Job implies, God is unjust, because God is being ruthless and harsh with Job. He doesn't deserve what he's getting.
And so in chapter 31 — we're not going to read it, but in chapter 31 — Job seeks to prove his innocence. He goes through a long list of sins and says, I've done none of these. I've not looked at a woman lustfully or been unfaithful in marriage. I've never been dishonest. I've not denied justice to my servants. I've loved and provided for the poor. I haven't trusted in my wealth or my gold. I haven't gloated over my enemies. I haven't got some kind of secret sin hidden in my heart like others do. So why, God? Why are you treating me like this?
And I love Job because I can relate to him. Can you? In the midst of suffering, God just seems like he's being harsh. And when we cry for help, sometimes he just seems silent.
Enter Elihu: a new voice
So at the end of chapter 31, the speeches between Job and his three friends come to an end, and you could almost cut the atmosphere with a knife. With seemingly brash arrogance, Job has challenged God to answer and explain himself. Why are you silent? And why are you treating me so unfairly?
God does answer Job. But before he does, another friend speaks. The first three friends go silent, but then enters this man, Elihu. Have a look at chapter 32, verse 1.
"So these three men stopped answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. But Elihu, son of Barakel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He was also angry with the three friends because they had found no way to refute Job and yet had condemned him. Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he. But when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused."
Now, Elihu is often portrayed as a negative figure, much like the first three friends. As you read Elihu's speech, he comes across as a bit arrogant and hot-headed — a young, angry man. And I don't think Elihu is right in everything he says about Job. But interestingly, as we read Elihu's message for Job, which runs from chapter 32 through to chapter 37, his message for Job is very different to the message of his friends. And at the end of Elihu's speech, Job never argues with Elihu like he did with the other three. And when God does finally speak in chapter 42, which we'll look at next week, he condemns the first three friends — but not Elihu.
And so I take it that Elihu is actually someone worth listening to, someone worth learning from. He offers a new perspective on suffering which, as we'll see, the rest of the Bible affirms as being correct. Elihu seeks to answer Job's objections and accusations against God.
Elihu's response to Job's accusation that God is silent
Job thought God is silent. Job thought God is treating him unfairly. Well, Elihu says it's not true. Have a look at chapter 33, verse 13, which was read for us. Let me read that little section again. This is Elihu's response to Job saying that God is silent:
"When deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing by the sword. Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in their bones, so that their body finds food repulsive and their soul loathes the choicest meat."
Do you see what Elihu is saying? This is before the Bible is written. And so Elihu says, God speaks to men in lots of different and varied ways. He speaks in dreams and visions. And notice — he speaks in suffering. When a person is on their sickbed, drawing near to death, the sickbed is placed right alongside visions and dreams as a way God speaks to his people. Don't you love that? You want God to speak, and so you want visions and dreams — and suffering? You're like, oh, maybe not the suffering. Hold the sorrow, I'll take a dream. But no — Elihu says God speaks in both.
And then we're given the purpose of what God is doing. In verse 17, he speaks to turn them from their wrongdoing and keep them from pride, to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing by the sword. In other words, God's purpose for the righteous in these dreams and visions, and God's purpose in this sickness, is not to punish, but to save. To save a person from their evil deeds, from pride, and ultimately from death. God is not silent in suffering. God is speaking to save us from the pit.
In fact, this pit is mentioned all through chapter 33. Verse 22: "They draw near to the pit." Verse 24: "Spare them from going down to the pit." Verse 28: "God has delivered me from going down to the pit, and I shall live to enjoy the light of life." Or verse 29: "God does all these things to a person twice, even three times."
Here is the picture. Elihu is not saying, Job, you're suffering because you are wicked. Instead, he is saying, Job, your suffering is evidence of God refining you and restoring you and guarding your life from the pit. There is a refining purpose in the midst of suffering, and it's a good refining purpose. A person who listens to God in the midst of suffering will be delivered from the pit of destruction and see the light of life.
The righteous sinner: Elihu's new category (chapter 36)
Elihu says it again in chapter 36. Come with me there. In these verses, Elihu speaks about a righteous sinner. You're like, what? How can you be a righteous sinner? Well, Elihu says there is such a category of person — a person who is righteous, but still a sinner. And that's a new category in the book of Job. To Job's three friends, it was either one or the other. You were either righteous and God-fearing, or you were wicked and a sinner. But Elihu says you can actually be both at once.
Have a look at verse 6, chapter 36:
"He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their rights. He does not take his eyes off the righteous, but he enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever."
Now, if you stop reading there, you might think Elihu is actually saying the same thing as Eliphaz — the wicked suffer and the righteous prosper. Which is true in the long run. In the fullness of time and on the day of judgment, that will be seen to be true. God will punish the wicked and the righteous will prosper. But why then are the righteous, like Job, suffering now? Well, Elihu doesn't stop there. Look at verse 8. The word "people" is not actually there in the Hebrew, so in verse 8, he's talking about the righteous of verse 7 — the righteous who are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction. In other words, he's saying there are righteous people who are corrected through suffering. Suffering makes a righteous person sensitive to his remaining sin and helps him hate it and turn from it.
We see it again in the same chapter, a little further down in verse 13. Elihu contrasts two different types of sufferers. First, there are the wicked sufferers in verses 13 and 14:
"The godless in heart harbour resentment. Even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help. They die in their youth among male prostitutes of the shrines."
But then, verse 15, there are the righteous sufferers:
"Those who suffer, he delivers in their suffering. He speaks to them in their affliction."
Here is the person who, when they suffer, listens to God and learns. Now notice: both groups suffer — the wicked and the righteous. The wicked suffer and God's purpose is destruction. The righteous suffer and God's purpose is redemption.
So then, can you see what Elihu is saying to Job? He's saying, Job, God is not silent. He's not out to destroy you. In the midst of your suffering, he's speaking to you. He's refining you. He's calling you to trust him in a new and deeper way than you've ever had to trust him before. Yes, you're a righteous man. Yes, your suffering hurts. But it's there to save you. It's there to help you, not harm you.
The difference between punishment and correction
Now, this is different to what Job's three friends said. Elihu is not saying, Job, you sinned in some particular way and now you're suffering because of that. He's saying that in all of our suffering, God is refining us and helping us to get rid of sin. Do you see the difference?
Let me try to illustrate it. If one of my kids hits one of my other kids — thumps them in the face — and I send them to their bedroom, it's a punishment. It's because they've sinned, they've done something wrong, and I'm punishing them. But imagine a different scenario. What if my kids are just really tired? They're getting all wound up, overexcited, and it's bedtime. And so I want to correct them, and I send them to their room to calm down and read a book. Same thing — both sent to their room — but the second one is not punishment. It's correction. It's refining. It's training. And Elihu says the reason God is allowing you to suffer, Job, is that he's refining you. It's not punishment. It's correction.
Now I don't think Elihu gets this 100% right. Because we already know that the primary reason Job is suffering is actually not refinement, don't we? We know that the primary reason Job is suffering is to prove that his faith is genuine. God wants to show to Satan and the whole of the heavenly realms that Job is a righteous man. That's why he's suffering. But I take it suffering can have two purposes simultaneously. Suffering can be used both to prove the genuineness of a person's faith, and suffering can be used to refine that same faith and make it even deeper and stronger. And that's the part Elihu gets right.
It's a bit like a surgeon. I remember watching some of those medical programs growing up, and I can't believe that people willingly put themselves under a knife. There's the surgeon with the scalpel, and he just cuts someone open, and then the way they yank the skin apart — I'm really sorry if you're a bit queasy — and then you're in a hospital bed for weeks as you're recovering. Why would you willingly, voluntarily put yourself under the knife? Well, of course we know why. Because the surgeon is going to help them, save them. They're willing to go through the pain in order to be cured. And Elihu says, friends, that is suffering. It's painful. It hurts. It feels like God has abandoned you. It feels like God is silent. But don't believe it. He is your expert surgeon. And in your suffering, God is speaking. And God is refining you. Healing you. Not hurting you.
Suffering is not a sign that God has abandoned you. It is a sign he loves you. He's not being harsh with you. He's teaching you. Making us more like our Lord Jesus. Removing sin from us. It is a sign that the living God adores you.
What the rest of the Bible says about suffering
And friends, this truth is taught all through the Bible. Let me show you a few verses.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 1: "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the very sentence of death. But this happened, that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead."
Or Hebrews chapter 12: "They disciplined us — meaning earthly fathers — they disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God, our heavenly Father, he disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."
Friends, if you're a parent, you know that's right. I remember as a kid, one of the things I had to do every morning was get up at 6:30am and read my Bible and do some jobs before breakfast. And I hated it. I used to think my parents hated me, making me get up that early. It's cruel, it's harsh. But now I look back and I can see they just wanted to teach me self-discipline. It wasn't a punishment, it was refinement. So it is with God.
Or Peter, in 1 Peter chapter 1: "In all of this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed."
Or one last place, James chapter 1: "Consider it pure joy."
Do you see? Suffering is not a sign that God has abandoned you, but that he loves you. It's refining you.
A personal story: suffering as evidence of God's love
Tim Capill remembers going through a particularly hard time with his family many years ago. Awful abuse had happened within the family and had become exposed. The family was being torn apart. Tim's dad was sent to prison. It was an awful time. And Tim remembers in the thick of that moment telling an older Christian friend what he was going through. At the end of just listening and asking questions and listening — Tim told him everything that had happened — he looked Tim in the eyes and he said, "Tim, God must love you very much to allow you to go through that."
Wow. It felt like God was against me. But he was a wise and godly man. And he was absolutely right. God was teaching me. Training me. Helping me see that I needed to trust him more than anything else. Isn't that an extraordinary thing to be able to say? God must love you, because he's letting you go through this. Well, Elihu says the same thing to Job.
C.S. Lewis: suffering as God's megaphone
C.S. Lewis, the author of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the Chronicles of Narnia series — many of you will know him — he wrote a couple of books on suffering. The first one he wrote was called The Problem of Pain. And he penned this now famous quote. Listen to these words:
"The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it. Error and sin both have this property, that the deeper they are, the less their victim suspects their existence. They are masked evil. Pain is unmasked, unmistakably evil. Every man knows that something is wrong when he is being hurt. We can rest contentedly in our sins, but pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world."
Suffering is God's megaphone. God yelling to us in the thick of our suffering: trust me, learn from me, turn to me. He's yelling, I am God and you are not. I am in control and you are not. That's a really hard lesson for us to learn, isn't it?
Elihu on the greatness and justice of God (chapters 34–37)
But Elihu makes it very clear to Job. In fact, right at the beginning of his speech, in chapter 33, verse 6, he says: "I am the same as you in God's sight. I too am a piece of clay." In other words, Elihu is saying, who are you to question God, Job? You're a piece of clay, just like me. We're just things God has made. We're just men, but God is God.
In fact, all around these verses where Elihu speaks about God using suffering to teach and refine faith and turn a righteous person away from sin and save them from the pit, there are verses that speak about the power and the goodness and the majesty of God.
In chapter 34, Elihu defends God's justice. Verse 12:
"It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice. Who appointed him over the earth? Who put him in charge of the whole world? If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, all humanity would perish together and mankind would return to the dust."
God is perfect in everything he does. And who are we to argue with that? He's God. If he withdraws his intentions, we'd stop breathing. We rely on him literally for every breath. So who are you, Job, to question God?
Or in chapter 35, Elihu points out that God is not affected by our actions. We're only mortal human beings — people he made. Our actions have no impact on him. Have a look, chapter 35, verse 5:
"Look up at the heavens and see. Gaze at the clouds so high above you. If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself, and your righteousness only other people."
God doesn't have to do anything in response to our wickedness. It doesn't upset God. He's God. Now, because he loves us, he does do something about it. But he doesn't have to.
In chapter 36, verse 22, Elihu says God's ways are past finding out. We cannot understand God. We're mortals. But God is God. So stop questioning him, Job.
Or chapter 37 — as Elihu wraps up his speech, it's a great chapter. We don't have time to read it all. Go home and read it. Elihu starts the chapter by saying that when he looks at creation, his heart leaps. Have you ever had that experience? Some beautiful starry night, some beautiful snow-capped mountains, a beautiful beach, and you're like, oh, my heart just leaps. I don't understand it. Look at this world. God made it. With just a word. As you look at a raging storm with lightning flashing and thunder booming, when you see the way the weather changes from snow to rain, or gale winds to lakes iced over, and you see these massive weather storms just coming and going, and you think, God controls all of them.
Let me show you a couple of verses. Verse 3: "God unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the earth." Verse 5: "God's voice thunders in marvellous ways. He does great things beyond our understanding." Verse 10: "The breath of God produces ice and the broad waters become frozen." Or verse 14: "Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God's wonders. Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?" No, you don't, Job.
Have a look at how Elihu finishes his speech. Verse 23:
"The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power forever. In his justice and great righteousness he does not oppress. Therefore people revere him. For does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?"
That's a mic drop moment right there. He's landing his case. God is God, Job. Revere him. For his ways are higher than your ways. And in suffering, perhaps more than any other moment in life, that is what God is teaching you. Because if you were in control, you'd change it, right? You'd fix it in an instant. But you're not. I wish I was sometimes, but I'm so thankful God is.
Suffering strips away what we love — to teach us to love God
In suffering, God strips away the things we love. That's why it hurts so much. Whether it's our health — and he strips it away. Our wealth — and he strips it away. Someone we love — and he takes them away. Something we've worked hard to achieve and we lose it. We hate it when we lose things we love. But sometimes God strips them away to teach us to love him. To trust him. To hold on to him.
Friends, when we suffer, we can cry out to God, why? We're invited to do that. But in doing so, we must never forget our place before him. God is God and we are not. A better question to ask in suffering is not why. A better question to ask is what. What are you teaching me, Lord? What are you saying to me, Lord? What sin are you exposing in me, Lord? What areas of my life do I need to trust you more, Lord? Not, why are you doing this? This is so unfair. But, what are you teaching me, God? Help me to learn it.
The cross: God's ultimate proof of trustworthiness
And friends, as I finish — God has proven himself to be totally trustworthy and totally loving. As I've said each week, we know even more of God than Job because we live this side of the man Jesus. We've seen the love of God in a way that Job never did. God loved us so much that he came into our world of suffering. He experienced our pain. He experienced our grief. He experienced our death. As nails were driven into his hands and feet for us. Jesus is the only righteous sufferer. There's no sin in him. But he took our sin and suffered for it. Saving us from the pit of destruction.
And so friends, in the middle of your suffering, do not doubt God's goodness to you. He loves you enough that he gave up the precious blood of his Son for you. And he'll never stop loving you. Not even in your suffering. It is as Romans 8 famously says:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Friends, I don't know what suffering you're going through right now. I know some of you are in really difficult times. I don't know what suffering will come your way in the future, nor do I know when. But I do know God loves you. And God loves me. And in the hands of our all-powerful loving Father, suffering is like a scalpel — not meant to harm, but to heal. Removing any remaining sin from us. Teaching us to love him. Saving us from the pit. And refining us for glory.
So when you ask God, why? Alongside it, ask what. That's a better question. What are you teaching me, Lord?